The Westpoint Entering New York Harbor

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48”L x 16”H x 7”W
Launched in 1938 as the SS America, the ocean liner was acquired by the U.S. Navy in June 1941 and was promptly renamed the USS West Point. In eleven days, the “Queen of the Luxury Liners” was stripped of luxurious appointments, and converted into the Navy’s largest troop carrier, with barracks, mess, sanitary facilities, and life rafts for 5,400 persons (carrying 7,000+ was not uncommon), and painted in camouflage. Converted liners were especially prized for their speed, and sailed alone due their ability to out-run Axis U-boats, running zigzags at 22-24 knots. The huge bunker capacity enabled her to steam at full speed across the Atlantic and back without refueling, keeping her U.K. turnaround time to 36 hours or less. By the end of World War II she had made 15 Pacific crossings and 41 on the Atlantic. She was reported to have been sunk seven times.
Informally known as “The Grey Ghost,” this rendition shows the workhorse anonymously entering New York Harbor during the war years. .