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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

"Magic Carpet" Press Release

NAVY DEPARTMENT
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS AND RADIO
SEPTEMBER 7, 1945

USS SARATOGA AND EIGHTEEN ESCORT CARRIERS ASSIGNED IMMEDIATELY TO SERVE AS TROOP TRANSPORTS

Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S.N., Commander in Chief of the U. S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, announced today that the 35,000-ton aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and 18 escort carriers are being assigned immediately to troop transport duty in the Pacific. Forty more escort carriers and 197 attack transports will also be assigned to this duty as soon as they can be released from their present work of moving aircraft and troops from the Philippines, Marianas, and Ryukyus into Japan.

The Navy will thus add 256 vessels to the 48 large U.S. Navy transports it is already using in the Pacific in the task of bringing home the veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.


28 Nov 2006