The RMS Queen Mary was used as a troopship throughout World War II and usually crossed the Atlantic without an escort, relying on her speed to evade the U-Boats. As she came north of Ireland on the 2nd October 1942 she was joined by HMS Curacoa, providing an anti-aircraft escort for the last leg into Scotland.
Former Luxury Liner, now Troopship, SS Queen Mary at a British Port. 21 May 1942, Gourock Bay. She was known as the ‘Grey Ghost’ during this period when she conveyed tens of thousands of men across the Atlantic.
The Queen Mary was on a standard zig zag course – it may have been difficult for HMS Curacoa to interpret what phase of the zig zag she was on when they met or it may be that the HMS Curacoa just didn’t have the speed.
The two ships found themselves on a collision course – both Captains were informed and both believed the other would take evasive action.
The consequences were tragic, she was sliced in half and sunk with the loss of 337 men.
Alfred Johnson was on the Queen Mary:
It was 1942 and I was 22 years old and a Seaman in the Merchant Navy on the Queen Mary. We were returning to Glasgow from New York, which was a four / five day journey.
The Queen Mary was carrying about 20,000 American Troops to join the Allied Forces. She was known as a ‘hornets nest’ in the war as there were lots of nationalities on the ship.
There were 2 of us on the poop deck on the aft of the ship and we were manning the 6 inch gun – in case we came under attack. What good we could have done with one gun, I’ve no idea!
A cruiser called HMS Curacao met us 200 miles off the coast to escort us into Greenock. I could see her clearly as I was on the aft.
We could see our escort zig-zagging in front of us – it was common for the ships and cruisers to zig-zag to confuse the U-boats. In this particular case however the escort was very, very close to us.
HMS Curacoa (D41), a light cruiser, commissioned in 1918.
I said to my mate “You know she’s zig-zigging all over the place in front of us, I’m sure we’re going to hit her.”
And sure enough, the Queen Mary sliced the cruiser in two like a piece of butter, straight through the six inch armoured plating. The Queen Mary just carried on going (we were doing about 25 knots). It was the policy not to stop and pick up survivors even if they were waving at you. It was too dangerous as the threat of U-Boats was always present.
Original article here World War II Today