Transports are ships equipped to carry large numbers of troops. Together with cargo ships, they are the reason why navies exist. As might be expected, many transports were converted passenger liners. However, civilian liners are rarely designed to carry the largest possible number of passengers, so considerable modification took place to increase the carrying capacity. Because there were never enough passenger liners for all the troops needing to be transported, freighters were also converted to transports. These tended to be terribly uncomfortable, particularly in the Japanese Navy.
Many transports were controlled by the navies of their
respective nations, but because of their role as troop carriers, both
the Japanese and the Allies placed
significant numbers of transports under the direct control of their
armies. In addition, the Allies operated some troop ships under bare
boat charter, so that they were still technically civilian ships.
Because of the bewildering variety of transport types, the following
lists of transport ships and ship classes are not exhaustive.
Specialized transport types, such as attack transports and fast attack transports,
are listed separately.
Elizabeth C. Stanton class
General G.O. Squier class
Heywood class
Hugh L. Scott class
La
Salle class
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