We really are a laughing stock

[muddy]

Correct 

In WW11 the Queen Mary a luxury cruise liner was transformed into a troop carrier .
As were other civilian ships .

[klondike]

If there was war they'd just be commandeered.

[Michael Rolls]

Queen Mary and her sister ship Queen Elizabeth were the largest fastest troopships of the war, able to carry 15,000 troops per voyage. She was involved on 2nd October 1942 in an accidental collision wth one of escorts, the light cruiser HMS Curaçao which was cut in half with the loss of 338 men of her crew of 437. The Queen was under strict orders not to stop under any circumstances, the rescues were performed by her escorts

[muddy]

What an awful thing to happen .
I think its quite difficult to stop those big ships if they are going full steam .

[Michael Rolls]

The Queens were strictly ordered not to stop under any circumstances - imagine the result of a U-boat finding one stationary