SS America (1939)

Two German spies, Franz Joseph Stigler and Erwin Wilheim Siegler, were members of her crew in 1941. While on the America, they obtained information about the movement of ships and military defense preparations at the Panama Canal, observed and reported defense preparations in the Canal Zone, and met with other German agents to advise them in their espionage efforts. They operated as couriers transmitting information between the United States and German agents aboard. Stigler worked undercover as chief butcher. Both remained on the America until the U.S. Navy converted that ship into a troop transport and commissioned her in the U.S. Navy as the USS West Point.

Stigler and Siegler, along with the 31 other German agents of the Duquesne Spy Ring, were later uncovered by the FBI in the largest espionage conviction in U.S. history.

Upon conviction, Stigler was sentenced to serve 16 years in prison on espionage charges with two concurrent years for registration violations; Siegler was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on espionage charges and a concurrent two-year term for violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

America being converted to USS West Point in Norfolk Ship Yards

America was moored at Norfolk, Virginia, and acquired by the Navy on 1 June 1941 to be used as a troop transport.[3] The ship was renamed the USS West Point (AP-23),[3] the second U.S. Navy ship of the name. She entered the Norfolk Ship Yards on 6 June 1941 for conversion and on 15 June 1941, she was commissioned for service under the command of Captain Frank H. Kelley, Jr.[8]

By the time the conversion was completed, life-rafts covered the promenade deck windows, "standee" bunks could be found everywhere, several anti-aircraft weapons were installed, all of her windows were covered, she was painted in a camouflage gray colour, and her troop-carrying capacity was increased to 7,678.[3]

The USS West Point soon proceeded to New York City and, while anchored off the Staten Island quarantine station on 16 July, took on board 137 Italian citizens and 327 German citizens from the consulates of those nations in the United States which had been closed. West Point got under way at 1455 on that afternoon, bound for Portugal, and arrived at Lisbon on 23 July.

While there, the ship was visited by Portuguese naval and diplomatic dignitaries; and she transferred supplies to the Coast Guard cutter Ingham, the "station ship" at Lisbon, Portugal. After her final Italian passenger had been disembarked on 23 July and the last German on 24 July, West Point commenced taking on 321 American citizens and 67 Chinese—consular staffs and their families – on 26 July.

Returning to New York on 1 August, West Point discharged her passengers and headed south for an overhaul at Portsmouth, Virginia. She then participated in tactical exercises off the Virginia Capes from 26 to 29 August in company with Wakefield and Mount Vernon.

On 3 November, she sailed from Virginia waters and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 5 November. There, on 8 and 9 November, she embarked 241 officers and 5,202 men of the 55th Brigade, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, and 100 men of a US Army Field Service company. On 10 November, West Point – in company with five other transports: Wakefield, Mount Vernon, Orizaba, Leonard Wood, and Joseph T. Dickman – got under way for India as Convoy HS-124. En route, they were joined by the aircraft carrier Ranger, the cruisers Vincennes and Quincy, and a division of destroyers.

Reaching Cape Town, South Africa, on 9 December, West Point and Wakefield were detached on 23 December to form Task Group (TG) 14.1, while Leonard Wood and Joseph T. Dickman formed TG 14.2. Escorted by the British heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire, the convoy proceeded uneventfully toward India until 0700 on the 27th, when TG 14.1 was detached to speed up and arrive at Bombay ahead of the other ships.

Wakefield commenced discharging her embarked troops at 1900 at the Ballard Piers, completed her unloading, and shifted berths the next morning. West Point took Wakefield's former berth while Joseph T. Dickman moored to unload her equipment and troops.

Having completed her discharge by 31 December 1941, West Point anchored in the stream on the morning of 2 January 1942 and awaited further orders until 4 January, when British authorities asked Captain Kelley, of West Point, if his ship and Wakefield could be brought under 30-foot (9.1 m) draught to make passage for Singapore. Kelley responded that it could be done, but this would entail discharging ballast and expelling some of the ship's fresh water supply—thus endangering the ship's stability.

Due to prevailing low-water conditions at Bombay at this point, neither West Point nor Wakefield could go alongside piers in the harbor to either load equipment or troops. Thus, the embarkation and loading procedures had to be carried out by the tedious process of embarking troops and loading supplies from smaller ships and lighters brought alongside. Wakefield embarked – almost to a man – the troops which she had brought from Halifax, a total of 4,506, while West Point embarked two-thirds of the troops which she had transported, in addition to some which had come out in other ships. All told, she carried some 5,272 men.

West Point sailed for Singapore on 9 January, in a "15-knot" convoy, with Captain Kelley as the Convoy Commodore. In addition to the two American ships, three British transports – Duchess of Bedford, Empress of Japan, and Empire Star – made up the remainder of the van. Escorted by British light cruiser HMS Caledon until this ship was relieved by light cruiser HMS Glasgow at 1630 on 22 January, the convoy's escort soon swelled to three cruisers and four destroyers as the convoy neared Java. Japanese submarine activities near the Indonesian archipelago prompted concern for the safe arrival of the valuable ships, hence a 200-mile (320 km) detour through the shallow, coral-studded Sunda Strait.

Led by British cruiser HMS Exeter, the ships slowed to 10 knots (19 km/h), and streaming paravane gear, began the passage. An escorting destroyer steamed between each transport, as they steamed in single-column order. It was a dangerous passing, a small divergence from the charted course could mean a disastrous grounding.

The screen's commander, Captain Oliver L. Gordon, R.N., commanding Exeter, desired to arrive at Singapore with as many ships as possible by dawn on 29 January, and thus split the convoy up, sending the faster vessels—West Point, Wakefield, and Empress of Japan—ahead at increased speed under escort of cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Durban, HMS Dragon, and destroyers HMS Express and HMS Electra. Proceeding to Singapore via Berhala Strait, Durian Strait, and Philips Channel, the group steamed through these bodies of water in bright moonlight which made navigational aids unnecessary. Upon their arrival off Singapore, the ships lay to in an exposed position, beyond the range of shore-based antiaircraft guns, until pilots could be obtained to bring the ships in. Since the naval base came under daily heavy air raids, the transports proceeded to Keppel Harbor, the commercial basin at Singapore, where they could discharge their troops and cargo.

Securing abreast godowns (warehouses) 52, 53, and 54, West Point commenced off-loading equipment and disembarking her troops. All but 670 engineer troops, who had been ordered retained on board, were ashore before nightfall. Air raids, meanwhile, continued until midnight as the Japanese steadily pounded Singapore from the air. At each alert, the local workers working dockside would vanish, taking to the shelters and leaving the vital cargo still unloaded. As a result, the unloading was carried out by the crew of West Point, her embarked troops, and 22 local workers who were brought aboard to assist.

On 30 January, seven Japanese bombers appeared over the city and were engaged by British Brewster Buffalo fighters. As the alert continued, 30 more Japanese planes appeared overhead, on course over Keppel Harbor. Several bombs fell on shore, eastward of West Point's moorings, while another stick fell in the water to the southward. In the interim, bombs hit other targets. A small tanker moored near Wakefield was sunk at dockside; bombs fell abreast Empress of Japan; and Wakefield took a direct hit forward which destroyed her sick bay, killed five men and wounded nine. The last bombs in this stick straddled West Point and showered her with shrapnel. As the raid lifted, West Point sent two medical officers and 11 corpsmen on board Wakefield, at the latter's request, to render medical assistance.

Later that morning, Captain Kelley attended a conference with British authorities, who informed him that his ship was to be used to carry a contingent of Australian troops from Suez to Singapore and to transport refugees and evacuees to Ceylon. With the emergency "acute", Kelley agreed to take on board up to one thousand women and children and such additional men as the British desired to send. With the abandonment of the naval dockyard, untenable in the face of increasingly heavier Japanese bombardments from artillery and aircraft, several dockyard naval and civilian personnel and their families were assigned to West Point for evacuation. Most carried only hand baggage; had little, if any, money; but were all fortunate enough to escape the doomed city before its fall to the onrushing Japanese troops of General Yamashita. All told, some 1,276 naval officers, their families, dockyard civilians, civilian evacuees, a 16-man Royal Air Force (RAF) contingent, and 225 naval ratings made up the 1,276 people embarked by 1800 on 30 January.

Clearing Singapore, West Point and Wakefield headed due west, escorted by HMS Durban. Overcast and squally weather covered their departure and permitted them to transit the Banka Strait unmolested by the seemingly omnipresent Japanese aircraft. Routed to Batavia, Java, to embark more refugees, West Point led Wakefield and Durban through the minefields and anchored in Batavia Roads at 0305 on 31 January. HMS Electra—which would be lost in the Battle of the Java Sea 27 February—came alongside eight hours later and transferred 20 naval dockyard personnel, three women, five naval officers' wives, one Free French officer, and an RAF officer to West Point for passage to Ceylon.

At 12:40 pm on 1 February, West Point—in company with Wakefield and under escort of Exeter, HMS Encounter, and HMAS Vampire—got under way. The destroyers eventually went off to perform other duties, and Exeter as well soon dropped away to escort another convoy, leaving the two big troopships on their own. While they were en route, disconcerting news came over the radio. Japanese I-boats (identified after the war as I-162 and I-153) had been active in the vicinity, sinking six ships between them. West Point acquired an extra passenger while en route; for, on 4 February, a baby boy was born on board.

Colombo Harbor, Ceylon, where they arrived on 6 February, was so crowded that British authorities could not permit Wakefield to repair her damage there. The passengers, in turn, experienced much difficulty in arranging for suitable transportation ashore. In addition, neither transport could fully provision.

British authorities requested the American ships to evacuate personnel to Bombay. Accordingly, West Point took on board eight men, 55 women, and 53 children, as well as 670 troops, for passage to India. Wakefield, despite her weakened condition caused by the direct hit on 29 January, embarked two naval ratings, six RAF personnel, and 25 men and one officer of a British Bofors gun detachment. The two ships departed Colombo on 8 February and, escorted by the Greek destroyer Vasilissa Olga, proceeded at 20 knots (37 km/h). Captain Kelley later highly praised the operations of this sole escort. Although heavy weather was encountered en route, the Greek destroyer acquitted herself well, continuing to patrol her station "at all times at high speed ahead of our zig-zag."

After discharging her evacuees at Bombay, West Point parted company with Wakefield and proceeded to Suez where she picked up Australian troops who were being withdrawn from the North African Campaign to fight the Japanese in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, one disaster after another had plagued the Allied forces. Singapore fell on 15 February; Java on 4 March. West Point carried her embarked troops to Australia and disembarked them at Adelaide and Melbourne before heading across the Pacific toward San Francisco.

As the Allies built up for the long road back, West Point participated in the effort to aid America's allies in the southwest Pacific with massive contingents of troops. Accordingly, the transport carried men to Wellington, New Zealand, and arrived on 30 May. There, she received orders to return to New York; and she got under way from Melbourne on 8 June, bound for the Panama Canal. She entered the Atlantic on 26 June and arrived at New York on 2 July.

After two voyages to the United Kingdom, West Point sailed for India, via the South Atlantic route, and arrived at Bombay on 29 November, before pushing on for Auckland, New Zealand, the following month.

The transport returned via Nouméa, New Caledonia, to San Francisco on 31 January 1943. She remained on the West Coast until 16 February, when she got under way for the South Pacific and retraced her route to Wellington, New Zealand, and Australian ports. She then continued west—calling at Bombay, Massawa, Aden, and Suez—and stopped briefly at Cape Town en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eventually arriving at New York on 4 May, the ship subsequently made two voyages to Casablanca, French Morocco before sailing for Bombay via the southern Atlantic route. Calling at Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town en route, the big transport continued, via Bombay and Melbourne, on for the West Coast of the United States.

Soon thereafter, West Point began transporting troops to Australia and continued making voyages there and to Allied bases in the Central and South Pacific through the end of 1943.

In 1944, the transport continued her vital workhorse duties, departing San Francisco on 12 January, bound for Nouméa and Guadalcanal; and from San Pedro, California on 22 February, bound for Nouméa and Milne Bay. She sailed from the latter port and steamed via the Panama Canal to Boston, Massachusetts, where she arrived on 12 June. She conducted five successive voyages to the United Kingdom before departing Boston on 6 December 1944 for Oran, Algeria; Casablanca, French Morocco; and Marseille, France. The transport left the Mediterranean on 26 December and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia.

USS West Point arriving at New York with troops from Europe, July 1945

In 1945, West Point voyaged to Italian and French ports, via Oran or Gibraltar, staging from Hampton Roads, Virginia, Boston, or New York. After Germany surrendered, she took part in some of the initial "Magic Carpet" voyages, bringing home American troops from the European battlefronts. Following her last European voyage—to Le Havre, France—West Point was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. She departed Boston on 10 December 1945, transited the Panama Canal, and proceeded to Manila, Philippines via Pearl Harbor. Retracing the same route, she docked at pier 88 in New York on 7 February 1946 and soon got under way for Hampton Roads, where she was released from troop-carrying service on 22 February.

Her last voyage under the name West Point was a short trip from Portsmouth to Newport News for reconversion to a passenger liner. There, six days later, she was officially decommissioned, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 March and transferred to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration.

During her naval service she carried a total of over 350,000 troops[3] which was the largest total of any Navy troopship in service during World War II.[3] On one voyage in 1944 she was able to transport 9,305 people.[3] Additionally the troop transport carried Red Cross workers, United Nations officials, children, civilians, prisoners of war, and U.S.O. entertainers.[3]

During her service in the U.S. Navy, West Point earned the following awards:

• American Defense Service Medal
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal