This is a brief description of how the Leviathan’s human cargo was loaded and unloaded. The plan had been followed from the beginning with slight changes made by experience in carrying troops over before the armistice and carrying them back afterwards.
The ship’s troop capacity began at 6,800 and on the 13th voyage it was approximately 12,000. Throughout the war it averaged about 10,000. In addition, officers’ space has varied between 400 and 600.
Throughout the war, carrying troops east, five gangways were employed on G-deck forward, to fill forward compartments; C-deck and F-decks amidships, to fill amidship compartments; E-deck and G-deck gangways aft to fill after compartments.
On each gangway, the compartment farthest away and lowest was filled and so on to the gangway compartment. In no case did troops crowd through a filled compartment.
It was early realized that loading the ship with troops was a Navy function and was treated as such. The organization at each of the five gangways was: one naval officer in charge and assisted by one chief petty officer and fifteen men. Wherever Army officers were available one was detailed to assist the Naval officer.
Prior to embarkation on each voyage, the ship’s embarkation officer made an assignment of all troops the ship was to carry, so organizations would not be split up but located in the same part of the ship to facilitate work. Often this was a problem on account of the arrival of trains or ferries and the size of organizations carried. Also, troop compartments had an arbitrary number of bunks in them, based on the amount which could be put in and not upon the number in military organizations. By planning we were able to get a complete regiment amidships, one aft, and a battalion forward, then filling in smaller units up to capacity.
Generally a battalion, or approximately 1,000 men, came to the ship a day in advance of embarkation for the guard and mess details. The next day the balance of the troops arrived. When the guard was not posted before embarkation, the troops were all over decks, superstructure, and masts, resulting in much unnecessary confusion.
Embarkation usually began about 8 o’clock or 9 o’clock in the morning, although on one occasion it began as early as 5:30 A. M. Organizations marched on the dock, both upper and lower levels, the Army checkers checked the individual soldier’s names upon the passenger lists and the soldier would receive a billet ticket which showed his compartment, bunk number, deck space, abandon ship station, safety rules, etc. Then the column would move over the gangway and the prescribed routes to the compartment. Each of the five columns were led by a Naval guide, and other Naval guides were posted along the route and seven or eight Navy men in the compartment, to direct the columns to the proper bunks and put the soldiers in the bunks called for by the billet tickets. The numbering in compartments generally began in the forward starboard corner and ended in the after port corner. Later on, the bunks in the amidship compartments were renumbered so that a column of troops could be directed up a passageway and men could get into the bunks on both sides of it.