Queen Mary Transporting troops in World War 2?

Answer 1

RMS Queen Mary was at sea cruising from Southampton to New York when the war began. She was immobilized in New York for a time, tied up alongside the Normandie. Eventually they were joined by the Queen Elizabeth, which made a trans-Atlantic dash. The decision was made to use these ships, among the largest and fastest ocean liners in the world, as troopships. "RMS" means Royal Mail Ship and large British liners were built with government subsidies and carried on the navy list as auxiliary cruisers. These ships could make about 29 knots, probably twice as fast as most smaller vessels used as troopships. German U-boats could only make about 21 knots when on the surface under diesel power, which they generally could only get away with at night, and were capable of only about one-fourth that speed when submerged. This meant the Queens could sail alone, out of convoy, making rapid transits with little fear of a submarine attack. Only a submarine which found itself in front of and close to the oncoming Queens could hope to get in a shot. The Normandie was burned in a fire and sunk at its moorings while tied up in New York, possibly by saboteurs.

The Queen Mary was sent to Australia to be converted to a troopship, to carry Australian and New Zealand troops to the United Kingdom. She was stripped of her luxury furnishings and appointments. Carpet, china, crystal, silver, decorations, tapestries, paintings and woodwork were removed to reduce fire hazards and make more room, and she was painted battleship gray over all. Beds were removed and replaced with racks of standee bunks. She was capable of carrying 15,000 troops, and set a record on one run with over 16,000 aboard.

In October 1942 Queen Mary accidentally sank one of her escorts, slicing through the HMS Curacoa, a light cruiser, with the loss of 338 sailors. This was off the coast of Ireland. The Queen Mary was under strict orders not to stop for any reason, due to the U-boat menace, and her escorting destroyers had to keep on with her, and could not stop to rescue survivors.

On one transit of the Atlantic, with American troops embarked, the Queen Mary was struck by a rogue wave which may have exceeded ninety feet in height. The ship heeled over more than fifty degrees; a few more degrees and she would have capsized. This incident was the inspiration for the novel and movie "The Poseidon Adventure".