The ship was designed to carry a division of troops to Europe in 3-4 days with no escort.
Actually my 90-year old brain confused the United States (built in 1950) with the Normandie, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Mary...
These later two ships carried many divisions of soldiers to England...
The Normandie (renamed the Layette) sank at the pier in the Hudson river while being converted to a troop ship...