The West Point continued her travels, visiting Colombo, Bombay, Aden 

 and Suez, and also Freemantle, Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia, 

 before returning to San Francisco, which she reached on May 19, 1942, 

 after an absence of six and a half months. There followed a second trip 

 to Australia, and a return passage through the Panama Canal to New 

 York, thence to Nova Scotia, England and Scotland, and again to 

 New York. Three and a half years of this sort of service followed. 



So fast was the West Point that from September 3, 1942, until the end 

 of the war she always traveled alone, being escorted only in pilot waters. 

 During this period she burned over 60,000,000 gallons of fuel oil. Her 

 fuel capacity of 1,370,000 gallons enabled her to make twenty-four-hour 

 turn-arounds from abroad. Her huge fuel tanks enabled her to travel at 

 top speed to Europe and back with enough fuel reserve for another 2,000 

 miles. Millions of gallons of precious fuel oil were thus spared for use in 

 the European theater of operations. 



On November 14, 1946, this great liner, once more called i\\t America, 

 sailed on her first peacetime voyage to Europe, having been barred by the 

 neutrality laws in force at the time of her commissioning in 1940. The 

 America is 723 feet in length, has a reserve speed of 23 knots and can 

 carry 1,050 passengers and a crew of 678. In every department she em- 

 bodies the last word in the development of marine architecture and engi- 

 neering; in interior plan and in the quality of her appointments, she is 

 an example of contemporary American design at its best. 



The America was built and equipped to be the safest ship ever con- 

 structed, and none has a higher rating. More than 90 per cent of the vessel 

 is built of non-inflammable material, and she is the first ever designed 

 with magnetically controlled fire doors. Controls on the bridge can shut 

 off any section of the ship in an instant. 



There is no finer ship than the America afloat. Her service and cuisine 

 are of the highest order. She is operated by the United States Lines, whose 

 officials and personnel know their business. 



13 



