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{{redirect|Troop transport|troops transported by helicopter|transport helicopter}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2009}}
[[Image:USS McCawley landing rehearsal.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Soldiers climb down netting on the sides of the [[attack transport]] [[USS McCawley (APA-4)|USS ''McCawley'' (APA-4)]] on 14 June 1943, rehearsing for landings on [[New Georgia]]]]
[[Image:USSHamblenAPA114.jpg|thumb|300px|A {{sclass-|Bayfield|attack transport}} underway with its complement of landing craft, the [[USS Hamblen (APA-114)]]]]

A '''troopship''' (also '''troop ship''' or '''troop transport''' or '''trooper''') is a [[ship]] used to carry [[soldier]]s, either in peacetime or wartime. Operationally, standard troopships &ndash; often drafted from commercial shipping fleets &ndash; cannot land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a [[seaport]] or onto smaller vessels, either [[Ship's tender|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 ship]]s beach themselves and bring their troops directly ashore.

==History==
Ships to transport troops were already used in Antiquity. [[Ancient Rome]] used the [[navis lusoria]], a small vessel powered by rowers and sail, to move soldiers on the Rhine and Danube.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www2.rgzm.de/navis/Musea/Mainz/NavismusEngl.htm |author=Pferdehirt B |title= The Museum of Ancient Shipping |accessdate=August 3, 2010}}</ref>

[[Image:RMS Queen Mary 20Jun1945 NewYork.jpeg|thumb|300px|Nicknamed the "Grey Ghost", [[RMS Queen Mary|RMS ''Queen Mary'']] holds the all-time record for most troops on one passage, 15,740 on a late July 1943 run from the U.S. to Europe<ref name=ww2/>]] 
The modern troopship has as long a history as [[passenger ship]]s do, as most maritime nations enlisted their support in military operations (either by leasing the vessels or by impressing them into service) when their normal naval forces were deemed insufficient for the task. In the 19th century, navies frequently chartered civilian [[ocean liner]]s, and from the start of the 20th century painted them gray and added a degree of armament; their speed, originally intended to minimize passage time for civilian user, proved valuable for outrunning [[submarine]]s and enemy [[cruiser]]s in war. {{HMT|Olympic}} even rammed and sank a [[U-boat]] during one of its wartime crossings. Individual liners capable of exceptionally high speed transited without escorts; smaller or older liners with poorer performance were protected by operating in [[convoy]]s.

Most major naval powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided their domestic shipping lines with subsidies to build fast ocean liners capable of conversions to [[armed merchantman|auxiliary cruisers]] during wartime. The British government, for example, aided both [[Cunard Line|Cunard]] and the [[White Star Line]] in constructing the liners {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}}, [[RMS Aquitania|RMS ''Aquitania'']], {{RMS|Olympic}} and [[HMHS Britannic|RMS ''Britannic'']]. However, when the vulnerability of these ships to return fire was realized during [[World War I]] most were used instead as troopships or [[hospital ship]]s.

[[RMS Queen Mary|RMS ''Queen Mary'']] and [[RMS Queen Elizabeth|RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'']] were two of the most famous converted liners of [[World War II]]. When they were fully converted, each could carry well over 10,000 troops per trip.  Queen Mary holds the all-time record, with 15,740 troops on a single passage in late July 1943,<ref name=ww2>http://ww2troopships.com/ships/q/queenmary/default.htm</ref> transporting a staggering 765,429 military personnel during the war.<ref name=ww2/>

==World War II==
[[Image:USNS General R.L. Howze (T-AP-134.jpg|thumb|300px|A U.S. {{sclass-|General G. O. Squier|transport|0}} troop transport]]
[[File:The Aiken Victory arriving in Boston with 1,958 troops from Europe, 26 July 1945.jpg|thumb|300px|The ''[[Aiken Victory]]'', a [[Victory ship]] troop ship conversion, arriving in Boston with 1,958 troops from Europe, 26 July 1945<ref>APPENDIX B: VICTORY TROOPSHIP CONVERSIONS [http://www.marad.dot.gov/documents/Private_Frederick_C_Murphy_HAER_Report.pdf] p. 13</ref>]]
Large numbers of troopships were employed during World War II, including 220 "Limited Capacity" [[Liberty ship]] conversions, 30 [[Type C4 ship]]-based {{sclass-|General G. O. Squier|transport|0}}, 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,<ref name="Live">''Live'', 2013 edition, p. 6.</ref> 550,<ref name="walkaround">{{cite web|url=http://www.geoghegan.us/brown/JWB-walkaround.htm|title=S.S. John W. Brown Walk-around|work=geoghegan.us}}</ref> or 650<ref name="live4">''Live'', 2013 edition, p. 4.</ref> (sources vary) troops or [[prisoners-of-war]]. Modifications included installation of bunks stacked five deep on the forward [[wikt:Tweendeck|tweendeck]], additional shower and [[Head (watercraft)|head]] facilities, two additional diesel-powered generators,<ref name="walkaround"/> and installation of two more Oerlikon 20-mm automatic cannons.<ref name="Live"/><ref name="walkaround"/><ref name="Cooper5">Cooper, p. 5.</ref><ref>[http://www.liberty-ship.com/html/brown/armament.html Project Liberty Ship: Armament Aboard SS JOHN W. BROWN] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015041604/http://www.liberty-ship.com/html/brown/armament.html |date=2013-10-15 }}</ref>
* 30 [[Type C4 ship]]-based {{sclass-|General G. O. Squier|transport|0}}, 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.<ref name=HAER>{{cite web |url=http://www.marad.dot.gov/documents/Private_Frederick_C_Murphy_HAER_Report.pdf |title=HAER for ''Private Frederick C. Murphy'' | work=[[United States Maritime Administration]] |accessdate=6 August 2013 }} "In the summer of 1945, eighty-four VC2-S-AP2 Victory ships, including the Maritime Victory, were converted into troopships by MARITIME VICTORY the U.S. Maritime Commission in preparation for an assault on the Japanese home islands. The ship made several crossings of the Atlantic Ocean and was used to repatriate American troops from Europe after World War II. pp. 1-2</ref><ref>[http://www.ww2troopships.com/crossings/1945b.htm ww2troopships.com crossings in 1945]</ref><ref>[http://www.history.army.mil/documents/WWII/wwii_Troopships.pdf Troop Ship of World War II, April 1947, Page 356-357]</ref><ref>[http://www.69th-infantry-division.com/pdf/USArmy69InfDiv_Vol40_No1_SepDec1986.pdf 69th infantry division, newsletter, 1986]</ref><ref>[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201945%20pdf/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201945%20-%205720.pdf Binghamton NY Press Grayscale 1945 - Fulton History, Oct. 15, 1945]</ref>
* A class of [[Type C3 ship]] &ndash; comprising mainly C3-S-A2 and C3-S-A3 hulls &ndash; was also converted to dedicated troopships, capable of carrying 2,100 troops,<ref>Isthmian Lines ship S.S. ''Steel Scientist'' [http://www.isthmianlines.com/ships/sm_steel_scientist.htm] Troop capacity: 2156</ref> 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.

===Designation===
The designation HMT (Hired Military Transport) would normally replace RMS (Royal Mail Ship), MV (Motor Vessel) or SS (Steamship) for ships converted to troopship duty with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The United States used two designations: WSA for troopships operated by the [[War Shipping Administration]] using [[Merchant Marine]] crews, and USS (United States Ship) for vessels accepted into and operated by the United States Navy. Initially troopships adapted as attack transports were designated AP; starting in 1942 keel-up attack transports received the designation APA.

==Post-World War II==
In the era of the [[Cold War]], the United States designed the [[SS United States|SS ''United States'']] so that it could easily be converted from a liner to a troopship, in case of war. More recently, [[RMS Queen Elizabeth 2|RMS ''Queen Elizabeth 2'']] and the {{SS|Canberra}} were requisitioned by the Royal Navy to carry British soldiers to the [[Falklands War]]. By the end of the twentieth century, nearly all long-distance personnel transfer was done by airlift in [[military transport aircraft]].

==Some notable troopships==
{{Div col|2}}
* {{USS|Agamemnon|ID-3004|6}} (ex ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'')
* [[RMS Aquitania|HMT ''Aquitania'']]
* {{SS|Belgenland|1914}}
* {{HMS|Birkenhead|1845|6}}
* {{SS|Cap Arcona|1927}}
* {{RMS|Carmania|1905}}: Originally an [[Armed Merchant Cruiser]] but later carried over 10,000 troops over 3 trips.
* {{SS|Dorchester}}
* [[HMT Dunera|HMT ''Dunera'']]
* [[HMT Empire Windrush|HMT ''Empire Windrush'']] (ex MV ''Monte Rosa'')
* {{SS|Great Eastern}}
* [[USS Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280)|USS ''Henry R. Mallory'']]
* ''[[SS Justicia]]''
* {{USS|Leviathan|ID-1326|6}} (ex ''Vaterland'')
* [[RMS Laconia (1921)|RMS ''Laconia'']]
* [[RMS Lancastria|HMT ''Lancastria'']]
* [[RMS Mauretania (1906)|HMT ''Mauretania'']] (Sister ship to {{RMS|Lusitania||2}})
* {{SS|Mendi}}
* [[RMS Olympic|HMT ''Olympic'']] (Sister ship to {{RMS|Titanic||2}})
* {{SS|Orontes}}
* [[HMS Otranto|HMS ''Otranto'']]
* [[TSS Fairstar|SS ''Oxfordshire'']]
* {{HMS|Tamar|1863}}
* {{USS|Von Steuben|ID-3017|6}} (ex ''Kronprinz Wilhelm'')
* [[HMT Rohna|HMT ''Rohna'']]
{{Div col end}}

== References ==

===Bibliography===
* James Dugan, ''The Great Iron Ship'', 1953 (regularly reprinted) {{ISBN|0-7509-3447-6}}
* Stephen Harding, ''Great Liners at War'', Motorbooks Int'l, Osceola, WI, USA, 1997 {{ISBN|0-7603-0346-0}}
* Goron Newell, ''Ocean Liners of the 20th Century'', Bonanza Books, USA, 1963 {{ISBN|0-517-03168-X}}

===Notes===
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat-inline|Troop ships}}
* [http://www.britisharmedforces.org/pages/nat_troopships.htm British Armed Forces Website: Troopships]

[[Category:Ship types]]
[[Category:Troop ships| ]]