The U. S. S. WEST POINT, the largest vessel of the Naval Transportation Service, has carried a greater number of troops than any transport except those gigantic twins, QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH. Throughout the war years she has a record of sustained operations, strict adherence to high-pressure schedules, and minimum harbor time unsurpassed by any transport.

In a little more than four years of service, this largest and fastest American transport has sailed with more than 450,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines of almost all nations carrying them more than 400,000 nautical miles (450,000 statute miles) to be placed in strategic areas for deployment against the enemy. This record by a single American ship takes a high place among the accomplishments contributing to the successful conclusion of the global war.

The 35,000-ton WEST POINT, formerly the S. S. AMERICA, was built for the United States Lines in 1940 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. She was designed and constructed with the knowledge and ingenuity of the past, coupled with an eye to the future. Her engines, her navigation bridge, her lounges and her passenger and officer quarters epitomized the modern luxury liner.

Her commercial life was of short duration, for on June 15, 1941, the Navy commissioned her the U. S. S. WEST POINT (in commemoration of the military reservation on the west bank of the Hudson River which was selected by General Washington as his headquarters in 1779), and placed her under the control of the Naval Transportation Service. In a few days she was stripped of much of her splendor and fine raiment. Gone were the magnificent dining rooms, cock- tail bars, the carpets and deck chairs. But the engines, the navigation bridge and the streamlined hull were not disturbed. Navy gear was brought aboard to augment or re- place the equipment already on board. The open decks were equipped with a powerful anti-aircraft battery consisting of four 5 inch 38's, four 3 inch 50's, four 1.10 inch quads and sixteen 20 millimeter Oerlikons. The black hull, the white upper decks and the red, white, and blue stacks were painted with the familiar combination blue-grey camouflage. One feature which has not changed has always made the WEST POINT easily recognizable by those who have seen her once her slanting tear-drop stacks. The forward stack had no function other than artistic design and balance, but the Navy added a range-finder and computer, lookout posts and telephones, and it has since served efficiently as Forward Fire Control.

At this time of conversion and in subsequent months much varied Naval equipment was installed-from radar, radio receivers and transmitters, auxiliary Diesel booster pumps and an evaporator plant, on down to new dishwashing machines and mechanical cows.

The Commanding Officer of the WEST POINT commencing on the day she was commissioned and continuing thereafter until May 8, 1943, was Captain Frank H. Kelly, USN, of Seattle, Washington. The ship was manned largely by Naval Reserve Units from the New England States. It was Captain Kelly's task to mold these men into a practical working unit; to imbue them with a love for their new life, and to condition them to the rigors of the sea prior to her world travels.

After five days of exercises and a trip to New York where the work of conversion was continued, the WEST POINT sailed on July 16, 1941, for Lisbon, Portugal. Her mission on this trip was the return to Europe of German and Italian ambassadors, ministers and nationals. Because the United States was not yet at war and because of the particular human cargo she carried, this trip was announced publicly and the ship traveled fully lighted. This first trans-Atlantic crossing served as a shakedown cruise, and the next three months were spent in the Hampton Roads area where she completed her fitting out as a naval transport, and engaged in frequent operational exercises.

Early in November, 1941, she was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she embarked a load of British and Canadian troops destined for the China-Burma-India theatre of operations. Setting out November 10, with 5,538 troops, her capacity at that time, she stopped at Trinidad, British West Indies, and was two days out of Capetown, South Africa, when the news of Pearl Harbor was broadcast to the world. From Capetown she traveled to Bombay where she was held for three weeks before being ordered to Singapore. There the troops were disembarked and the following day the Japanese attacked Singapore from the air. The U. S. S. WAKEFIELD, which was tied up just astern of the WEST POINT, was hit by a bomb. The WEST POINT'S open decks were scattered with shrapnel, but the damage was superficial. Waiting only for civilians trying desperately to leave Singapore before her imminent fall, she got underway for Batavia, Java on January 30, 1942, with approximately 2,000 passengers of diverse nationalities and interests, their one common bond being an eagerness to leave the war area. Five days after leaving Singapore a baby was born on the WEST POINT. The WEST POINT continued her travels visiting Colombo, Bombay, Aden, Suez, and Freemantle, Adelaide, and Melbourne, Australia, before returning to San Francisco, on May 19, 1942, after an absence of six and one half months. There followed a return trip to Australia, a stop at New Zea- land, through the Panama Canal to New York, thence to Nova Scotia, England, Scotland and again to New York.

On these trips in the early part of the war the WEST POINT was often in the company with the U. S. S. MOUNT VERNON, the U. S. S. WAKEFIELD, and escorts. She was enroute from The Clyde, Scotland, to New York when the WAKEFIELD caught fire September 3, 1942. From this time on the WEST POINT always traveled alone, and was escorted only in pilot waters.

Plans had been made in the meantime for increasing the troop carrying capacity of the WEST POINT and during the next two months bulkheads were torn out and 3,000 .additional bunks were installed, making her new capacity approximately 8,000 passengers.

On November 1, 1942, just one week prior to the North African invasion, the WEST POINT set off on another round the world cruise. When the invasion occurred, she was three days out of Rio de Janeiro. It seemed then that the WEST POINT was moving away from the scene of operations; yet by tracing her travels and considering them in conjunction with the broad outlines of the war, it can be seen that her primary function was to carry large numbers of troops rapidly into areas where there would be vital future need - areas where invasion plans were still in the development stage. It required 60 days for most of the smaller transports to carry one or two thousand troops to the China-Burma-India theatre. In 28 days the WEST POINT
carried 8,000 Air Force specialists to Bombay. This was at a time when the future of the Burma area looked most grim.

From Bombay, the WEST POINT went on to Melbourne, Australia; and to Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. Before returning to the West Coast she was given two additional missions. In the early morning hours of Christmas Day, 1942, she left Auckland with 7,500 homesick New Zealand troops bound for Noumea, New Caledonia. While she was enroute to Noumea, ComSoPac requested of the Chief of Naval Operations that the WEST POINT's next mission be to move 8,000 "Guadalcanal Marines" from Brisbane to Melbourne, Australia. These malaria-suffering Marines were in need of a climate more conclusive to the restoration of their health. The transportation system of the Allies was so burdened in the South Pacific that ComSoPac said troop movements for the next six weeks would be delayed if the services of the WEST POINT could not be utilized for ten days. CNO promptly consented. The ship, her approach limited by her thirty-two foot draft, anchored seventeen miles from Brisbane, and 8,600 of these convalescent Marines were placed aboard from barges, and soon found themselves in Melbourne hospitals and rest camps.

After this mission the ship returned to San Francisco and in a few days was again on her way to Bombay and Suez. She left Suez with a group of Rommel's defeated but defiant Afrika Korps, her first prisoner-of-war contingent. At Suez and Massawa in the Red Sea, the ship also embarked passengers for Australia and New Zealand. Almost as soon as Massawa was cleared the Commander-in-Chief Convoy and Routing sent a dispatch to the Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Fleet saying that the WEST POINT was urgently needed in New York. The Australian and New Zealand passengers were put ashore two days later in Aden and the WEST POINT, with her war-prisoners, headed for New York, stopping only at Rio de Janeiro enroute.

On May 8, 1943, Captain Kelly was relieved as Commanding Officer by Captain Robert A. Dyer, USN, of Auburn, New York. There followed two fast trips to Casablanca with a total of 16,300 troops destined to be used in the invasion of Sicily and Italy after mopping-up operations on the African Continent were completed. The Atlantic was heavily infested with Axis submarines and the ship was given constant alterations of course by CNO until she finally reached a latitude as far south as that of Cuba before returning to Norfolk, Virginia.

On July 10, 1943, her mission in the Atlantic having been completed, the WEST POINT began another round-the-world voyage. This time to Rio, Capetown, Bombay, Melbourne, and San Francisco. The latter port was reached on September 14, 1943, and then commenced a nine month period of Pacific operations. During these nine months the WEST POINT visited Sydney, Honolulu, Noumea, Milne Bay, Guadalcanal, and San Pedro, leaving 47,000 troops at overseas bases, and returning 11,000 patients, women and children, ambassadors, foreign students and trainees. On December 13, 1943, while at anchor in Milne Bay, New Guinea, an air raid alert was sounded and enemy planes were reported within twenty miles, but they were driven off by allied interceptors before they reached New Guinea's magnificent harbor.

April, 1944, was devoted to voyage repairs, overhaul, and a change of command. On April 8, Captain Dyer was relieved by Captain Webb C. Hayes, USNR of Fremont, Ohio. The ship had been underway from San Francisco only three days (April 30, 1944), when orders were received to sail the ship from Sydney, to Milne Bay, to the Panama Canal, thence to Boston. A few other fast transports received similar orders. It became evident a few weeks later that the purpose of this move to the Atlantic was to bolster the D-Day invasion forces with an ever-increasing flow of men and supplies from the time of the invasion until the end of the European war. The task in the Pacific was far from complete, but again the WEST POINT was called to the area where the conditions of large capacity and high speed were most urgent. On D-Day the WEST POINT was 24 hours west of Panama. She arrived in Boston on June 12, 1944.

This month of June, 1944, was the beginning of a new and more intense life for the WEST POINT. For the remainder of the war her vastly altered mode of existence, with its manifold and far-reaching changes in all departments, taxed the capacities and energies of all aboard.

The nature of her previous operations around the world and in the Pacific precluded high speed. On trips in excess of seven and eight thousand miles, the necessity for fuel conservation demanded that a moderate pace be maintained. These long trips, during which all submarine areas were given a wide berth, were planned to give maximum protec- tion to valuable auxiliary units. As this was not possible in the Atlantic she suddenly found herself in the midst of a long and lonely period of battling the enemy and the elements-the strength and cunning of the powerful German U-boat wolf packs and the raging might of the North Atlantic Ocean.

For security against the constant threat of the enemy's torpedoes, speed was the WEST POINT's most valuable ally. Instead of her normal Pacific long-run speed of 18 knots, the WEST POINT maintained her full powered speed of 22 to 24 knots, zigzagging constantly.

The demand, too, of the U. S. Army for meeting a tremendously high-geared program during the height of the American-German death struggle, necessitated a dramatic change. The WEST POINT had been accustomed to twelve to fourteen days in an American port after each voyage for fulfillment of her supply and fueling requirements and the ace accomplishment of minor but vital voyage repairs. At the debarkation end of her trip she had normally spent five or six days in port for the rest and relaxation of her crew, and the embarkation of returning personnel. The new demands were exacting and severe. Her usual allotted time in a U. S. port was soon reduced to five days, and on the debarkation end of the trip to 24 to 36 hours.. Thus her normal time in port was slashed two-thirds. At overseas ports it meant embarking personnel over one gangway as debarkation progressed over another. (In connection with the developments of the European War it is interesting to note that some of the troops carried to Gourock in February, 1945, returned as casualties on the following trip.)

There were new problems for the Navigator and quartermasters; the Communication Officer and radiomen, radarmen, and signalmen; the Supply Officer and storekeepers; the Engineer Officer and his force; the Army and Navy Transportation Officers. There were new problems for all hands requiring quickened tempo, sharpened efficiency, and an overwhelming zest for duty regardless of health or endless duty hours.

The next few weeks brought six successive trips to Gourock, Scotland, and Liverpool, England. Many valuable lessons were learned. In the Irish Sea, the WEST POINT for the first time came face to face with enveloping fog. She found herself in the midst of concentrated U-boat areas, and at night or in fog she was often surrounded by fishing vessels, small craft and units of the Allied Fleet in opposite-parallel or criss-cross traffic.

An estimated time of arrival based on a speed of 22 knots was always sent in advance. Punctilious observance of the arrival time as given was of the utmost importance to the authorities and even to the civilians of the area visited. For the vessel's load was such that in Liverpool and Gourock nineteen trains were set aside for the purpose of carrying these troops to camps or to points of departure for the European Theatre of Operations. In anticipation of the arrival of the 8,000 troops, business and civilian travel was sharply curtailed beyond the normal war-time restrictions. Therefore it was imperative that these enemy, friendly, and natural hazards interfere as little as possible with the forward movement of the ship.

To accomplish his objective, the Captain organized, instructed and supervised a team composed of the Navigator, the Assistant Navigator and the Communication Officer. This team, with its headquarters in the chart house or on the navigation bridge, as circumstances required, became the Captain's Combat Information Center par excellence. Onto the large chart table before them, poured information from the radar room, radio room, the signal bridge, the navigation bridge and Fire Control. Radar bearings on land, ships, and mysterious invisible objects were recorded on the master chart and the Captain ordered the necessary course changes in order to obviate the loss of time incident to speed reduction. The radarmen were trained to produce the position, course and speed of all contacts within a few seconds. As long as the ship was underway, radar, that incomparable ally, was never secured, for it had the happy faculty of seeing when the human eye failed. But the radar was only as efficient as those who operated it. The radarmen permitted nothing to slip by them unobserved or unreported.

The radiomen doubled up on watches during the 36-hour approach to Gourock and Liverpool. Often as many as six circuits had to be guarded in addition to the TBS and direction finders, for there were no accompanying ships to share the burden. The almost constant fog in the Western Approaches to the British Isles required long hours of watch on the direction finders as the Navigator was unable to learn the ship's position with the aid of the sextant.

On a single trip from Boston to Gourock and return in February, 1945, when the ship was at sea only fourteen days, the Washington and London Fox broadcasts sent 90 messages to the WEST POINT for action. This can be fully appreciated only if it is compared with the previous Pacific travel when only half that number were sent over the Fox broadcasts in nine months. About 80% of these messages were in the confusing "numbers" system and required tedious work by the Communication Watch Officers. Often on the Gourock-Liverpool runs four watch officers remained in the coding room all night long.

Washington and London kept the ship constantly informed concerning submarines and ordered frequent changes of course as the lurking peril for the 9,000 souls aboard drew near. The U-boats were scattered far and wide but gravitated toward the channel entrances and frequently the Admiralty had to send a second alteration soon after the first one was put in operation. On one occasion twenty-five submarines within a 24-hour cruising radius were recorded on the Navigator's chart.

Dense fog in the pilot waters of England and Ireland were the rule rather than the exception. On his first trip, the Navigator, who had never been in these waters before, found he was unable to use visual aids, but the ship reached Gourock on schedule with its 8,000 fighting men. The Navigator had to resort solely to the direction finders, radar and the fathometer. Leaving Liverpool on November 11, 1944, the Captain and Navigator used radar bearings on buoys exclusively, as the use of the visual aids was impossible through the heavy fog. With the Jenson Howler blasting, the crowded channel was cleared successfully at a speed of 15 knots. Sometimes the Navigator and his selected quartermaster assistants got no rest for thirty hours. The Captain demanded that only the most experienced and adept Quartermasters be on the wheel, for, as frequently happened, sudden and quite unexpected course changes were ordered by him to avoid oncoming traffic or mysterious contacts.

On the third of these trips to the United Kingdom, the WEST POINT carried her all-time high of able-bodied troops--8,520. This was more by several hundred than her bunk capacity, but the Army did not want any of this outfit (the 95th Infantry Division) to be left behind. On the return trips the WEST POINT carried German prisoners of war and American casualties. On October 21, 1944, 4,000 P. O. W.'s were landed in Boston to serve in labor battalions.

The functions of the Medical Department were extended to include the evacuation of large numbers of casualties to the United States. During the nine months of Pacific operations the returning passengers consisted largely of sick and wounded troops. After V-E Day the WEST POINT returned many more of these casualties in addition to the able-bodied troops returning for discharge or redeployment into the Pacific. On each of these trips it was necessary to expand the sick bay area to include several troop compartments, which, by numerous improvisations, were made suitable for mental, litter and ambulant patients. The Army provided medical officers and corpsmen to assist in the care of these patients when available, but during the North African Campaign when the hospitals in that area were overwhelmed with casualties the WEST POINT carried 700 litter cases out of Casablanca without passenger doctors to assist. The ship's doctors and corpsmen had to remain on duty almost continuously with only brief rest periods at infrequent intervals throughout the trip. But all patients were cared for and fed without interruption. The peak load came in July, 1945, when 2,061 patients were brought aboard in Southampton, England, for passage to Norfolk, Virginia.

The speed of the ship and the expansible facilities of the Medical Department have enabled the WEST POINT to return a total of 16,000 patients from Europe, Africa and the South Pacific, on many trips carrying enough to tax the capacity of several hospital ships. No patient has failed to arrive safely at his destination.

Early in December, 1944, after the ship had been underway three or four days, the sailors were relieved to learn that the anticipated ports of call were in the Mediterranean. They knew that on the southerly route the sea would be smoother, the air warmer, and the horizon a clearly delineated mark 20,000 yards distant, instead of a hazy grayish mass crowding the bow of the ship.

The first Mediterranean trip carried the ship to Marseilles and Oran. The submarines were not so numerous as they had been in the North Atlantic, but on the return trip it was noticed from the daily submarine estimate that there was a definite southward movement underway by the U-boats.

The next trip, the first in 1945, was to Naples. The Army urgently requested that the Navy carry the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, experienced combat troops from the Aleutians, with all haste to Italy for the final push into the Alps. The WEST POINT arrived with 8,000 of these troops on the ninth day out of Norfolk. The submarine menace, however, had again become acute. A few hours before the ship reached Gibraltar, a British tanker was sunk at the entrance. The Captain notified his Gunnery Officer but there were no additional precautions to be taken since the gunner's mates and lookouts were always on the alert and the five-inch and three-inch batteries and Forward Fire Control were always manned no matter what the circum- stances.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean and the Commander of Naval Forces, North African Waters, had no desire to gamble on such a valuable ship with its cargo of 9,000 lives. The loss of the ship thus loaded would have been equivalent to a major victory on the battlefield for the German High Command, for these men were seasoned troops ready for immediate combat upon their arrival in Italy. The result: two British Destroyers, (HMS MALCOLM and HMS WOLVERINE), one American destroyer, (U. S. S. BOYLE), a blimp and half a dozen airplanes hovered about the huge bulk of the WEST POINT as she passed through the narrow straits. The danger was not as acute in the Mediterranean, for there was room to maneuver; nevertheless there was danger from enemy aircraft so one of the destroyers and numerous aircraft escorted the ship well into the Mediterranean.

As the WEST POINT left Naples she was carrying battle-worn veterans returning for rehabilitation leave. Before the ship had left port "Axis Sally" announced over her radio program that the WEST POINT would be sunk one day out of Gibraltar. This was a new approach to an old problem for the Axis-getting rid of the WEST POINT. Six times during the war the Axis propagandists have obliterated her over the radio.

The following two trips took her again to the North of the British Isles and this time it was the dead of winter. These were the most eventful of all the WEST POINT's Atlantic Crossings. The two familiar enemies--the U-boats and the weather-made their last desperate stand against her. Both trips were Boston to Gourock runs. On February 17, 1945, the WEST POINT, escorted by HMS CAVENDISH and HMS HURON, and two aircraft, was passing through the Irish Sea on her way to The Clyde, Scotland. She was about 100 miles from her destination but the coastline was plainly visible on both sides, and the channel was narrowing. At 1810, as dusk was falling, one of the airplane pilots reported that he saw a "possible submarine" 10 miles dead ahead of the ship. The destroyers closed in to afford greater protection. As Senior Officer of the group, the Captain informed them he was changing course, but left them free to maneuver, and called all hands to General Quarters. In a few seconds the ship was ready for any emergency. The confining waters made it impossible to change course more than a few degrees on either side. Suddenly one of the destroyers flashed "contact to port" and immediately dropped a pattern of depth charges 200 yards from the WEST POINT's starboard beam. The aircraft dropped flares and smoke markers. The Captain rang up "Full Speed Ahead" and zigzagged violently. The maneuver was successful. The destroyers were reluctant to leave their fleeing prey, but said their job was to see the 8,000 troops safely anchored in Gourock Harbor. It was a close call, but again the WEST POINT had successfully completed her mission (this time with a cracked condenser), and another half division was ready for action.

On the return trip the WEST POINT was north and west of Ireland, one day out of Gourock, when she encountered one of the most severe storms in the history of the North Atlantic. She was escorted by HMS CAVENDISH and HMS CAMBRIAN. Submarines were reported close to her track. Notwithstanding the heavy surge of the swelling sea, and the hurricane force winds, the Captain did not deem it advisable to reduce speed. The ship withstood the blows of the sea nicely and was making good most of her standard speed when a single mountainous wave engulfed her forecastle, ripping up stanchions, twisting ladders, and tearing the half-inch steel gun platform as if it were paper. Fortunately the gun crew had been moved to a sheltered spot leaving only one man as a look-out. This man was instantly killed by the impact. The destroyers were unable to keep pace and gradually dropped back as the ship reached safer waters.

On her next trip to Gourock in March, 1946, the ship found herself in another terrible Atlantic storm. The force of the wind was almost 100 knots. The seas reached a height of 60 feet. The ship pitched and rolled in agony, and this time it was necessary, for a few hours, to reduce speed to 10 knots.

During the next few weeks, the ship made three runs to the Mediterranean, visiting Naples, thence via the treacherous Straits of Messina to Taranto, Italy, and Oran, Algeria. In the 26 days from July 5, to August 1, 1945, the WEST POINT traveled from LeHavre to New York to Southampton to Norfolk. Between June 27, 1944, and June 24, 1945, the WEST POINT crossed the Atlantic 27 times and carried more than 140,000 passengers. This concentrated effort continued without pause through October, 1945.

This constant race against time for fifteen months robbed the Engineering and Supply Departments of any opportunity to catch up with themselves. The Engineer Officer was faced with the difficult task of keeping his engines, boilers, condensers, steering gear, electrical and mechanical equipment, in a usable condition without the blessings of yard overhaul. The engines had never been gone over by a shipyard, and yet the WEST POINT, since June, 1941, had burned a total of 60,000,000 gallons of fuel oil. The Chief Engineer and his men had to handle maintenance and repair as the engines turned, for the boilers barely had time to cool before "standby" was rung up on the engine room telegraph. In British and Continental ports the fires under the boilers were never extinguished because of the possibility of air attack. Much of the time it was necessary to travel on five boilers in order to accomplish cleaning and repairing of the sixth boiler. The 30,199 electric light bulbs and 1,166 miles of conducting wire demanded constant attention from the electricians. 40,000 cubic feet of space required varying degrees of refrigeration. The "black gang" had to forego many of the few liberties that were theirs in order to keep the wheels turning, the lights burning, and the refrigeration operating throughout the ship.

The primary factors which permitted the WEST POINT's twenty-four hour turnarounds from abroad was her fuel capacity (1,370,000 gallons). This tremendous supply enabled her to travel at top speed to Europe and back with enough reserve for another 2,000 miles. This rare quality spared millions of gallons of precious fuel oil for use in the European Theatre of Operations.

The Supply Department was cursed with the gargantuan task of providing, almost overnight, sufficient products to, prepare and serve 16 to 20 tons of food for each day at sea, in the six separate messes operated aboard. The galleys, bakeshops, and butcher shops worked on a 24-hour basis at sea, and all hands in this department worked long hours in port in order to fill the 96,000 cubic feet of stowage space for the galleys and stores, and the incalculable demands of the Engineering and Construction Departments. The assembling inspection, and stowing of this vast amount of supplies required every available minute of the Supply Officers' and storekeepers' time. Any unexpected delay in filling the reefer spaces and issuing rooms would have prevented the quick turnarounds for which the WEST POINT became famous, and this in turn would have vitiated her perfect record of always being exactly where she was most wanted when the demand was the greatest. The men of the Supply Department fulfilled their obligations.

There was constant emphasis placed on the safety of all personnel-safety from torpedoes, hostile aircraft, fires and collision. The best precautions were alertness and forehandedness.

The Officer-of-the-Deck and his bridge watch, the control officer and twelve lookouts in the Forward Fire Control and at the guns, the damage control and fire watches, and the immediate response of all hands to the general alarm provided for the first of these precautions.

Continuous drills provided for the second. Several times each week general quarters was sounded and at least twice each week every gun on the ship was fired at the burst of star shells or at targets launched over the side. Deck officers trained gun crews with the objective of immediate and faithful response to all orders emanating from the bridge. A spirit of enthusiastic friendly rivalry, was developed and fostered during target practice.

As a precaution against the insidious enemy, fire, almost daily drills were called. The damage control parties, fully equipped with fire fighting and first aid gear, were trained to meet any contingency arising from the spread of fire. Fire detection was provided for by the damage control watch and the Marine fire patrol which kept the holds and all enclosed spaces of the ship under constant surveillance. Damage control parties were given concentrated training in collision drill and the shoring of bulkheads.

Most apparent and most important to the passengers was the daily abandon ship drill. All the other training and drill sessions were designed to obviate the necessity of a genuine abandon ship. Nevertheless, constant practice at abandoning ship was a necessary precaution. It was made doubly so because of the constant turnover of passengers. Considerable advance planning was necessary. Organization and timing were of the utmost importance. Speed and smooth functioning were essential. The drill was completed in fifteen minutes.

Throughout her years of service in carrying the soldiers abroad, the WEST POINT has become well-known by the G. I.'s of America. She has carried them safely and rapidly, fed them well, and given them comfortable quarters. She has maintained order and discipline with a minimum of restrictions and punishments. She has set up the rules and regulations herself, but she has placed squarely before the Army Transportation Officer and his voyage staff, the responsibility of enforcement. The Captain, the Executive Officer, and the Army and Navy Transportation Officers formulated and developed the rules for the 8,000 passengers in confined spaces in a situation where the two great dangers were torpedoes and fires. One carelessly-lighted cigarette could have brought disaster from either of those hazards. The WEST POINT was highly successful in its relations with the Army. A firm but reasonable hold was maintained over all personnel aboard at all times. Every transport had the same personnel problems, but the WEST POINT's reputation and record were such that the Director of the Naval Transportation Service and the Army Chief of Transportation incorporated her regulations and procedures in their April, 1945, joint publication for the guidance of all Naval Transportation Service vessels, and later in the Manual of the Naval Transportation Service, published by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

The WEST POINT has received numerous trophies from the soldiers she has carried and many commendations from their Commanding Officers.

Since V-E Day the WEST POINT has been returning veterans from overseas with the same rapidity with which she spent so many months carrying them across. Before and after the end of the war, her human cargo has not been limited to combat personnel. She has carried, besides 16,000 patients and 14,000 prisoners of war, 4,000 service women (including the first contingent of WACS to Australia); the wives and children of service men who married overseas; Russian and Chinese ambassadors and diplomats; Japanese diplomatic prisoners; missionaries, ministers and delegates of all nationalities; war correspondents, USO workers, and Red Cross Representatives.

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