During current discussions of the SS UNITED STATES future and the possibility of moving her, several engineer types mentioned the old Cunard Queens which were used as troopships during WWII. RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH - right out of the yard - was a troop ship from 1940/1946 carrying 750,000 troops over 500,000 miles outracing U-Boats. After 1942 she began to carry U.S. soldiers to Europe. Her passenger capacity was 2283 +1000 crew but the need was to carry 16,000 men + gear, etc. Cunard's berth was at Pier 90 (West 50th St.) on the Hudson. With the additional weight and draft there was some concern about clearing the Hudson River tunnels and author David F. Hutchings wrote that the troops were instructed to remain in their cabins until the ship had cleared the harbor as they feared that a rush to the port side rail to say goodbye to Manhattan might create a list and deepen the draft. Who would have thought?
tjs
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