by Mehlo, Noel
According to my collaboration with General Raaen in October, 2012, he indicated that he did not recall having to march any appreciable distance from train to pier, and that the ferry option sounded more accurate. We also concluded that the ferry was immediately opposite the troop transport slips, which narrowed the choice down to the ferry terminal to Weehawken.
Figure 113: The ferry terminal at Weehawken, New Jersey during WW II. (New Jersey Division of Archives and Records). Figure 114: Weehawken railroad terminal in 1947 with a great locomotive juxtaposed with the NYC skyline (University of Louisville Library). Soldiers arriving at the Weehawken ferry terminal by train or on foot from nearby Camp Shanks would transfer to ferries at what the USGS mapping referred to bound for Manhattan and board the waiting troopships just across the Hudson River.3 The Weehawken complex contained five ferry slips, sixteen passenger train tracks, a car float facility and extensive rail yards. The photo above shows several ocean liner/troopships along the west side piers in the background at the NYPE. The piers primarily used for the troopships were and remain known as piers 88, 90, 92 and 94 on the Hudson River. Today the Weehawken Ferry Terminal is gone, but very close to its original location is the Weehawken Port Imperial. The Ferries of Port Imperial played a very important role in the “Miracle on the Hudson.” On January 15, 1999, US Airways Flight 1549 crashed landed by ditching in the Hudson River right near the USS Intrepid at Pier 86. The location of the ferry terminal is also approximately one-quarter mile north of the location of the famous Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr pistol duel where Hamilton lost his life on July 11, 1804.
Figure 115: USGS 1935 Weehawken, NJ The West Shore Ferry Terminal is on the west side of the Hudson River and the NYPE is to the southeast across the Hudson River. The NYPE is now known as the New York Passenger Ship Terminal. It also is referred to as Luxury Liner Row, the New York Cruise Terminal or Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The terminal consisted of Piers 86, 88, 90, 92 and 94 along the West Side Highway between West 46th and West 54th Streets along the Hudson River, on Manhattan Island. When naming the piers along the Hudson River on Manhattan Island, the logic was to add the number 40 to the cross street intersecting with the West Side Highway. The current terminal was constructed in 1935 in replacement of the old Chelsea Piers. The piers were built to a length of 1,100 feet. To meet this desired length, the engineers excavated from Manhattan Island and removed bedrock to accommodate the large vessels. It has and continues to serve as New York City’s Luxury Liner Terminal. Pier 94 is no longer used to handle vessels, and has been converted to exhibition space. Pier 86 has been converted into a museum and home of the U.S.S. Intrepid Aircraft Carrier. For many decades, these piers were the only ones in New York City capable of handling oceangoing passenger liners. Now, additional terminals have been constructed elsewhere in the metropolitan area.4
The Ports of Embarkation served a very important role in the United States ability to wage war on multiple continents simultaneously. These added to our being called the arsenal of democracy. Each port of embarkation was assigned one or a few areas of responsibility for overseas areas or theaters. The NYPE was responsible for northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Our ability to send equipment overseas would have been for naught but for our ability to move personnel to wage war. The ability to move such large amounts of personnel and equipment required long-range planning at the highest levels of our military establishment in Washington D.C. The chain of command next fell to the port commanders at the ports of embarkation. They were responsible to control the movement of troops and equipment from their home stations to their troopships. The commander was responsible to inspect and process all troops and equipment and make sure they were combat ready. The port commanders were responsible for bringing units to full strength before they left the staging areas for oversea service. It was logical that the port commanders controlled the movement of both troops and equipment from home stations to ports of embarkation due to their unique role in the overall process.
The Chief of Transportation advised the ports of embarkation as far in advance as possible concerning the troops and organizational equipment that they would be expected to embark during succeeding months. As soon as dates were determined, movement orders for specific units, replacements, or fillers were issued to the port commanders indicating the ports through which they were to move. At this point, the system would identify and name specific ships to move the units. TA priority list was developed that indicated what priority a specific unit had in the movement process. The units were then called forward to the port of embarkation from their home unit by way of the staging areas. The port commanders would also notify the theater commanders. They would do this after a ship sailed by sending a sailing cable overseas giving the actual time of departure. A loading plan was also developed to efficiently embark all personnel in an orderly manner. These would often be upset by changes in unit priorities.
This entire planning effort required fast and secret means of communications between the Office of the Chief of Transportation, the ports of embarkation in the zone of interior, affected units, and the oversea theaters. The advances in technology for communication and encryption were simply amazing during this time. The military used secure teletypewriters, encrypted telephones and other new technology. The need for fast and secure messaging and communications was met by the technology of the day with the end result being a secure network of communications that has evolved to this day.
Human intelligence was also very important, as the human element in intelligence work is often an overlooked and underestimated component of foreign intelligence services ability to gain valuable information about us, and viceversa. One example of combating this element was an order forbidding the transmission of certain information such as sailing dates, names of vessels, and identification of units.
The next important element to consider in the process of moving military personnel on the scale as was done in World War II was the movement to the ports of units from their staging areas. The process generally began about six weeks prior to deployment. A movement order was issued by the Adjutant General including such information as a shipment number and special instructions to unit commanders. To better assist units and personnel prepare for deployment, the War Department prepared an instructional pamphlet entitled Preparation for Overseas Movement (POM), first issued in February 1943 with subsequent releases. Each port commander issued a pamphlet to incoming units containing information regarding the practices relating to the staging and embarkation of troops, the processing of equipment, and port security. The NYPE went a step further and produced a film describing the procedures contained in the POM.
The military moved the majority of troops to the staging areas by rail because the railroads provided the means to move large groups of personnel and equipment efficiently. The railway terminals were inherently designed to handle from eight to twelve trains simultaneously, further enhancing their desirability for use. Confining men aboard train also enhanced security and assisted with discipline while moving.
Staging areas served a dual purpose. First, they served as a temporary station to assemble and organize units for embarkation. Secondly, they served as a station where troops could be processed in order to ready them for overseas movement. This entailed ensuring proper troop strength and equipment. On the individual level, they served to ensure that their physical condition was up to standard as were the training status and personal equipment of the individual service member. The NYPE followed higher orders in that they endeavored not to keep troops in staging areas more than fourteen days. The port commanders closely coordinated the movement of troops to the staging areas with troopship schedules. The complexity of the staging operation, the mental state of the troops, and the pressure under which staging usually was done combined to make this phase of the transportation task an especially difficult one.2
When units arrived at the staging area, the troops were placed under the charge of a billeting officer. This o
fficer had a prepared billeting plan tailored for each unit. The enlisted personnel were conducted from the railhead to their quarters by members of the billeting team. They then almost immediately began processing for overseas movement. The staging areas medically processed men in three ways:
1. Weed out those individuals who were unfit for oversea service when unfitness was disclosed by the physical inspection made to detect infectious or contagious diseases, by the report of the individual on sick call, or by reports of commanding officers.
2. Provide any needed medical treatment to qualify individuals for oversea shipment with their units, if possible, including medical and surgical attention, the correction of dental defects, and the provision of eyeglasses.
3. Complete the inoculations required for oversea service. The War Department had a policy that troops not be sent to the staging area until they had completed all their training and fired the course of marksmanship for their assigned weapon. The units were also expected to continue active training to prevent any lessening of the physical conditioning the units had built up prior to deployment. It was also thought that conditioning would assist in maintaining morale. Training included conduct on transports, how to abandon ship, evasion, escape and how to resist enemy interrogation. The men received and were trained in the use of gas masks. These procedures explain the training and actions of the Rangers from their stint at Fort Dix through to arriving at the NYPE.
Due to many units arriving unprepared for overseas movement upon arrival at the staging areas, a process of Showdown Inspections were used to ensure units and personnel were up to standards when it comes to deployment. As part of these inspection procedures, the soldiers spread out their personal equipment before an inspection team, usually in their barracks, and the members of the team immediately took steps to correct the deficiencies.
The personnel preparing for deployment would also receive attention in areas of personal matters. This phase of preparation included ensuring troops affairs were settled regarding insurance, pay allotments, purchase of savings bonds, taxes, wills, powers of attorney, and various aspects of domestic relations. Each service member’s service record was carefully checked, and pay was verified.
While at the Staging area, the troops were afforded maximum allowance to take a furlough, and to participate in "special service" activities, which included athletics, theatricals, motion pictures, concerts, libraries, and clubs for the entertainment of the soldier, and lectures and discussions for his orientation to the life that lay ahead. The command placed special emphasis on morale at the staging areas. They were interested in maintaining the emotional state of the troops as moving overseas often was conducive to disorder.
Secrecy in matters of troop movements was intensified while at the staging areas. There were often rampant rumors within units set for deployment. On occasion secret orders would carelessly get leaked. Many measures were employed to make soldiers realize the importance of not giving out information that might be of value to the enemy, but complete censorship could not be imposed. Because of the effect on morale, it was not considered advisable to hold troops incommunicado between the time of their arrival at the staging area and the date they were alerted for embarkation. Yet their conversation in public places, their local and long-distance telephone calls, their letters to friends and families, and the visits of friends to the staging installations furnished constant opportunity for the leakage of information on the time and direction of prospective movements.2
The military placed great importance on these matters and the Intelligence services assigned to monitor this were kept busy throughout the war fighting the battle of counterintelligence. The primary purpose of secrecy was to avoid disclosing sailing dates and unit designations. During the early months of the war instructions were issued to insure that information pertaining to prospective troop movements and ship sailings was restricted to the smallest practical numbers of persons, both in the War Department and at the ports.
One thing that contributed to the secrecy of the movement of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion in its overseas movement was the result of what famous public television painter Bob Ross use to refer to as a “happy accident.” There were shortages of Military Police personnel available to cover all of the action occurring at the staging areas, ports of embarkation and aboard ship. This afforded the Rangers an opportunity to serve as the MPs aboard their troop ship and provided a measure of cover to the observer as to their true identity. This also explains the embarkation of the battalion on January 7, when the vessel sailed on the 8th. The men would have had to familiarize themselves with their assigned duty and the spaces of the ship in the hours before the ship filled with the remainder of the troops.
The preparation for embarkation began at the staging area twenty-four to seventy-two hours in advance of the troops' departure. This preparation involved coordination between the Troop Movement Division of the port, staging area officials, and the commanders of the units or casual groups involved. It included the formulation of a detailed plan covering the movements of the troops from the time they left the staging area until they had been installed in their quarters on the ship. The passenger list, initially prepared at the staging area with names arranged alphabetically, was the key document. From it groups were set up and schedules were established for transporting the troops to the pier and for embarking and billeting them. The usual practice was to chalk on the soldier's helmet the number that appeared opposite his name on the passenger list. This was done as soon as the unit was alerted and the number indicated his place in all movements that took place subsequently. While the bulk of the troops and their TAT (to accompany troops) equipment were being organized for embarkation, an advance party was already on the ship preparing for their arrival. This party included a loading detail, a guard detail, a mess detail, and a medical detail.2
The men were provided two barracks or duffle bags. The first bag would be an “A” bag that remained in the soldier’s possession for the voyage. The soldier would also travel with their individual weapon, helmet, gas mask, and pack. The second bag, identified as the “B” bag would be stowed in the cargo spaces.
The Unit’s movement from the staging area to the NYPE was arranged by the port transportation officer. At New York, troops leaving Camp Kilmer or Camp Shanks usually were transported by rail to Jersey City, where they were transferred to ferry boats that discharged them at the river end of the pier where the transport was docked.
Figure 116: Troops embarking onboard troop ships. (USCMH) The troops remained in passenger-list order, according to the numbers on their helmets from the staging area to the transport ships. The troops would be checked off on a passenger list at the gangway to board the ship as they boarded often in single file. While on the pier, they might receive refreshments from Red Cross workers. The personnel team likewise checked the men against the passenger list and the service records. And the unit commander or some other officer was there to identify each individual as they boarded. When passing this checkpoint, the troops received their compartment number and immediately boarded the ship Figure 116). The Company grade officers would often follow their men aboard ship to observe the billeting of their men. When no one responded to the name read, that name was scratched from the passenger list and the corresponding service record was withdrawn. The field officers usually boarded the ship later.
As soon as embarking troops crossed the gangway they were taken in charge by members of the loading detail and guided to their quarters (Figure 117). This was part of the duty to which the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion was assigned aboard the HMS Mauretania II for her voyage on January 8, 1943. The soldiers were instructed to arrange his equipment as snugly as possible in the limited space assigned to him and then to get into his bunk and remain there until announcement was made that the embarkation had been completed, upon arrival at his compartment. It was the Rangers who issued these instructions to others for this voyage. Many of the troops were just happy
to have a rest upon hearing these instructions. Such movements as were necessary were closely controlled by the guard detail. These controls were necessary because, if the troops already on board had been permitted to move about, the billeting of those arriving later in the crowded compartments would have been impeded.2
Figure 117: Troops embarking aboard ship (USCMH) The port embarkation staff worked out the billeting plan after the ship arrived in port. The objective in billeting enlisted men was unit cohesion as that aided the exercise of command and the control of movement. A unit’s noncommissioned officers were billeted with the enlisted men, and commissioned officers of company grade were placed in staterooms as near their men as possible. Officers normally were assigned to staterooms by the port commanders in accordance with their military rank.
Troops travelling overseas would be able to communicate with family via V mail upon arrival at their port of call to assist in security. The V-mail form would be completed and the new APO of the soldier’s unit would be sent to reduce the possibility of misdirected mail.
Throughout the war, planning and procedures were developed to ensure smooth embarkation. The use of these methods ensured that all personnel understood their expectations. The use of improvisation was reduced, thereby increasing efficiency. It is for this reason that an entire infantry division was able to board a vessel like the HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Queen Mary effectively. These graceful ladies were able to embark as many as 15,000 soldiers on a single voyage; the loading was accomplished in as little as five hours from the time of arrival of the first troops at the pier to the passing of the last man over the gangway.
It is historically important to understand what the HMS Mauretania II was. The vessel was and remains part of the proud heritage of the British luxury liners of the 20th century. She was part of the merger between the Cunard and White Star Lines.5 The famous ladies in her lineage include the RMS Lusitania, RMS Titanic, RMS Britannic, RMS Aquitania, RMS Mauretania (I), RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth, RMS Lancastria, RMS Laconia, RMS Olympic and RMS Homeric. Several of these ladies had served their nation with distinction in either World War I or World War II. In the maritime and naval tradition of the United Kingdom, there is a tradition to use prefixes to denote longer titles of vessels. In the British Navy, the use of the title His or Her Majesty's Ship (HMS) denotes a vessel in service of the nation. A civilian vessel of the United Kingdom carries the prefix Royal Mail Steamer or Royal Mail Ship (RMS). If a vessel was pressed into service as many of the transatlantic liners were, then for the duration of their service during wartime they would carry the prefix HMS. The ship name Mauretania was taken from a province in ancient Rome on the northwest coast of Africa. The Mauretania I’s sister ship, the RMS Lusitania was named after a Roman province to the north in present day Portugal. Both Roman provinces straddled the Strait of Gibraltar.
