Operation Magic Carpet

This photograph shows the rear decks of the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner absolutely packed with thousands of servicemen, almost every available space occupied by soldiers waving to the camera. The image is one of the iconic scenes of the closing months of the Second World War, when Operation Magic Carpet saw enormous ocean liners that had spent years transporting troops across the Atlantic and Pacific were used to bring Allied personnel home. During the war, luxury liners such as the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were stripped of their peacetime interiors and converted into troopships capable of carrying well over 10,000 troops on a single voyage. Their speed and size made them invaluable, and they played a major role in the movement of millions of military personnel.

The photograph itself is a powerful reminder of Operation Magic Carpet, the vast Allied effort to bring millions of servicemen home after victory in Europe. Every visible deck is filled with men eager for their first glimpse of home, making it one of the most iconic images of the end of World War II. While many publications have labelled the photograph as the Queen Mary, it is in fact the RMS Queen Elizabeth.