NAVY DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS AND RADIO |
NOVEMBER 15, 1945 |
NAVY'S "MAGIC CARPET" FLEET STARTS TRIPS TO SPEED MILITARY PERSONNEL HOME
Nine large warships, hastily converted and refitted for transport duty, were scheduled to depart for Europe today from East Coast ports as the forerunners of a huge "magic carpet" fleet being activated by the Navy to speed the return of military personnel from fighting fronts all over the world. A tenth ship left Boston yesterday,
The advance units of the converted transport fleet include one battleship, the USS Washington; three carriers, the USS Enterprise, USS Randolph and USS Langley; and six cruisers, the USS Augusta, USS Portland, USS Philadelphia, USS Savannah, USS Reno and USS Boise. They are sailing from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Norfolk for Southampton, England, LeHavre, France, and Naples, Italy.
The estimated crossing time to Southampton and LeHavre is six days. A two-day turnaround will permit a 14-day round trip under this schedule. An additional one or two days each way will be required by vessels making the run to Naples.
With employment of the converted Navy warships in the Atlantic, the task of transporting all eligible members of the armed forces from Europe is expected to be completed by the middle of January, 1946, according to Rear Admiral William M. Callaghan, U.S.N., Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Transportation. This estimate does not include service troops and troops assigned to the Army of Occupation.
Four other converted carriers, the USS Wasp, USS Bataan, USS Croatan and USS Monterey, are scheduled to sail from East Coast ports between November 18 and 23 on the "magic carpet" run. Another refitted carrier, the USS Lake Champlain, is scheduled to return from Naples soon with a cargo of home-bound veterans.
The total of 15 warships making the Atlantic run have a troop-carrying capacity of 36,212. The USS Randolph has been refitted to accommodate 6,500 troops, the USS Lake Champlain to carry approximately 5,000 men, the USS Enterprise, 4,400, The battleships and cruisers are expected to accommodate more than 1,000 passengers each.
The carriers have been converted to troopships by the removal of all flight personnel and planes, and the installation of five-tiered bunks on the hangar decks. Additional messing and sanitary facilities also have been provided. Other warships were stripped of every member of their personnel consistent with safe operation of the ships; and additional sleeping, feeding and sanitary facilities were installed.
Rear Admiral Callaghan said the Navy will have seven battleships, 18 large and small aircraft carriers, 26 cruisers, 45 escort aircraft carriers, 203 attack transports, 82 regular transports and a number of other combatant and auxiliary ships in its "magic carpet" fleet by the end of November.
The Navy will furnish 55 per cent of the total of 883 troop-carrying vessels to be used in returning men home from all fronts. Of the total, 481 ships will be employed in the Pacific, 373 in the Atlantic, and 29 in the Indian Ocean area. In the Pacific, the task entails transportation for some 3,000,000 men and women scattered over wide areas. Another 200,000 military personnel are to be brought back from the China-Burma area.
"We hope to have all men eligible for release in the Pacific home by Summer,” Rear Admiral Callaghan said. "As things go along we may beat that mark, but that's the way it looks at this time."
A large number of the troopships on the Atlantic run will be transferred to the Pacific to augment the transport fleet there as soon as the task of bringing troops home from Europe works itself out. Because of the inaccessibility of many Pacific areas to large ships, troops are being transported by smaller craft to 11 Navy and nine Army staging centers set up at major ports such as Guam, Leyte-Samar, Adak, Okinawa and Pearl Harbor.
28 Nov 2006