duties, departing San Francisco on 12 January, bound for Nouméa and Guadalcanal; and from San Pedro, California on 22 February, bound for Nouméa and Milne Bay. It sailed from the latter port and steamed via the Panama Canal to Boston, Massachusetts, where it arrived on 12 June. It conducted five successive voyages to the United Kingdom before departing Boston on 6 December 1944 for Oran, Algeria; Casablanca, French Morocco; and Marseille, France. The transport left the Mediterranean on 26 December and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia. 1945–1946 In 1945, West Point voyaged to Italian and French ports, via Oran or Gibraltar, staging from Hampton Roads, Virginia, Boston, or New York. After Germany surrendered, it took part in some of the initial "Magic Carpet" voyages, bringing home American troops from the European battlefronts. Following its last European voyage—to Le Havre, France—West Point was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. It departed Boston on 10 December 1945, transited the Panama Canal, and proceeded to Manila, Philippines via Pearl Harbor. Retracing the same route, it docked at pier 88 in New York on 7 February 1946 and soon got under way for Hampton Roads, where it was released from troop-carrying service on 22 February. Its last voyage under the name West Point was a short trip from Portsmouth to Newport News for reconversion to a passenger liner. There, six days later, it was officially decommissioned, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 March, and transferred to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration. During its naval service, it carried a total of over 350,000 troops which was the largest total of any Navy troopship in service during World War II. On one voyage in 1944 it was able to transport 9,305 people. Additionally the troop transport carried Red Cross workers, United Nations officials, children, civilians, prisoners of war, and U.S.O. entertainers. Awards During its service in the U.S. Navy, West Point earned the following awards: American Defense Service Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal Postwar career United States Lines career (1946–1964)America's postwar career was successful, if uneventful. Finally, it was able to sail the New York–Le Havre–Bremerhaven–Cobh route that had been delayed by World War II. To many ship lovers, she was the most beautifully decorated liner to fly the American flag, smaller and more graceful than her much faster fleetmate, the , which debuted in 1952. The