What-If conversion of non-combatants, e.g. liners to troop transports, etc.

[commodore4]

How many of you fine folks out there know WW2 vets that came home on the U.S.S. WEST POINT! Now there is an interesting thing to do to the smaller REVELL and LARGER versions of the S.S. UNITED STATES! It doesnt look(from the photos anyway) like there would be much work to make that conversion.I have a haze grey/dark grey R.M.S. QUEEN ELISABETH.in such a conversion.I probably did it over thirty years ago! She came out looking like a proper BRITISH version of the AP 21 U.S.S.WAKEFIELD!!Another class that could be made this way are the ships in the "GENERAL class.This type could cover many hulls ,making for a great many What If types. commodore 4"

[Sr. Gopher]

Weren't a bunch of civilian vessels commodeered and armed as transports in WWII?

[Cliffy B]

Yes they were Gopher. A mess of the Liberty and Victory ships were converted the opposite way after the war as well. Postwar there was a class of cargo ships called the "Mariners" that were built specifically with conversion to military use in mind. The USN took control of and converted three of them IIRC; the Paul Revere Class.

[Sr. Gopher]

I find it sad that the USN has to get into every ship-owner's business. Imagine how it must feel for your ship to be impressed into military service, and sunk by a ton of explosives. Damper on your day right?