The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: Transport Aircraft | Table of Contents | Next: Treasury Class, Coast Guard Cutters |
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. Supplying adequate drinking water for so many men was often a problem.
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.
The Japanese had few dedicated transports and moved most
of their troops using cargo ships modified to serve as transports. The
Japanese typically assumed that it would require about 3 deadweight tons
to deploy an infantryman and his equipment, 9 tons to deploy a horse, and 18 tons to deploy a field gun. The average for large formations (men and equipment) was estimated at 5 tons per man.
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
References
"Handbook on Japanese Military Forces" (1944-9-15)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2011, 2014 by Kent G. Budge. Index
