page_title: Troopship
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Troopship / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: The Aiken Victory, a Victory ship troop transport conversion, arriving in Boston with 1,958 troops from Europe, 26 July 1945
context_page_description: A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Operationally, standard troopships–often drafted from commercial shipping fleets–cannot land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a seaport or onto smaller vessels, either tenders or barges.
  Attack transports, a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore, carry their own fleet of landing craft. Landing ships beach themselves and bring their troops directly ashore.
context_section_description: Large numbers of troopships were employed during World War II, including 220 "Limited Capacity" Liberty ship conversions, 30 Type C4 ship-based General G. O. Squier-class, a class of 84 Victory ship conversions, and a small number of Type-C3-S-A2 ship-based dedicated transports, and 15 classes of attack transports, of which some 400 alone were built.
  The modified Liberties were capable of transporting up to 450, 550, or 650 (sources vary) troops or prisoners-of-war. Modifications included installation of bunks stacked five deep on the forward tweendeck, additional shower and head facilities, two additional diesel-powered generators, and installation of two more Oerlikon 20-mm automatic cannons.
  30 Type C4 ship-based General G. O. Squier-class, the largest carrying over 6,000 passengers.
  A class of Victory ship-based dedicated troopship was developed late in World War II.  A total of 84 such VC2-S-AP2 hull conversions was completed.
  A class of Type C3 ship – comprising mainly C3-S-A2 and C3-S-A3 hulls – was also converted to dedicated troopships, capable of carrying 2,100 troops, was also developed.
  At least 15 classes of attack transport, consisting of at least 400 ships specially equipped for landing invasion forces rather than general troop movement.
caption: Aiken Victory, a Victory ship troop ship conversion, arriving in Boston with 1,958 troops from Europe, 26 July 1945[4]
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