The General Nelson M. Walker was a 622.5-feet-long P-2 class
troopship, launched at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California, on November 26, 1944. She was first commissioned the Admiral H.T. Mayo but her name was later changed. She could carry as many as 5,000 passengers at speeds up to 25 knots.

    The ship served during the latter part of the war and continued postwar service from West Coast ports to Okinawa, earning the nickname the “Okinawa Express.” During the Korean War she transported soldiers and Marines, and brought home the first shipload of former American POWs in 1953.

           
     In 1965 she was refurbished and activated for Vietnam War transport service, making numerous voyages to Vietnam until December, 1967. During this time she usually transported men to Southeast Asia, but on some voyages returned soldiers and Marines to West Coast ports. In 1966 she rescued 27 crewmen from the sinking freighter SS Rockport, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands.