little work had been done by Blohm & Voss. Had she been converted, she would have carried 24 aircraft and been armed with 6 dual 4.1 inch Anti-Aircraft guns, 5 dual 3.7mm Anti-Aircraft guns and 24 to 32 20mm Anti-Aircraft guns. Potsdam was subsequently used as an accommodation ship at Gdynia, Poland. She was subsequently used as a troopship serving Norwegian and Baltic ports. She participated in the Evacuation of East Prussia. She was seized on 13 May 1945 at Flensburg and was passed to the Ministry of War Transport. Potsdam was renamed Empire Jewel. She arrived at Kiel on 19 June and an armed guard was posted on board to stop the Germans using her to block the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal. She then sailed to Brunsbüttel where the armed guard left. After three weeks with an all-German crew on board, she sailed on 20 July for Methil, Fife, United Kingdom. Empire Jewel was renamed Empire Fowey. The United Kingdom Official Number 180810 and Code Letters GMFW were allocated. Her port of registry was changed to London. She was placed under the management of the P&O Line. In July 1945, she was converted to a troopship by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, County Antrim. The work was completed in April 1946. In service, her high-pressure boilers proved troublesome as her crew were not used to this type of boiler. Laid up in November 1946, she was towed to the Clyde in March 1947 and again refitted. New boilers and geared turbines were fitted and her accommodation was again rebuilt. The work was carried out by Alexander Stephens & Sons, Linthouse, Renfrewshire. It took three years to complete at a cost of £3 million. Following the rebuild, she was assessed at . She now had accommodation for 1,636 troops. In 1951, The King approved a new flag for use by the Ministry of Transport. Empire Fowey was the first ship to fly this flag, which was a defaced Blue Ensign. On 23 April 1955, she ran aground in the Suez Canal but was refloated after twelve hours. In August 1955, there were complaints about the quality of the food served aboard Empire Fowey and also poor ventilation of the vessel. The matter was raised in Parliament by Tom Iremonger, MP for Ilford North. A report by Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation John Boyd-Carpenter stated that ventilation on the lower decks had