SS ''Leviathan'' was a German Ocean liner launched on 3 April 1913 and began service in 1914 as the
transatlantic
Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to:
Film
* Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950
* Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s
* ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
''Vaterland'' for Germany's
Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...
. The ship, second of three running mates and then the largest passenger ship in the World, made its first voyage to New York arriving on 21 May 1914 under the command of a Commodore and four Captains of the German Naval Reserve to celebrations featuring German and American officials at the line's
Hoboken
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...
facilities.
The ship was designed to carry 4,050 passengers with most in third or fourth class. Those among the 700 first class and 600 second class passengers traveled in considerable luxury. The main public rooms took advantage of an unusual arrangement of the routing from boiler to stack along the sides rather than center to feature long and unbroken access from a replica of the New York Ritz-Carlton Restaurant main dining room forward to the lounge and ball room aft. ''Vaterland'' served on the route for less than a year before being laid up at the line's piers in the neutral United States due to the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and risk of seizure by the Allies at sea.
With U.S. entry into the war in 1917 ''Vaterland'' and the German line's Hoboken facility were seized by the US government. The ship was placed under the control of the
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...
and in July 1917 to the Navy for completion of repairs and conversion to a
troop ship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
. In July 1917 the ship was commissioned as the USS ''Vaterland'' and on 6 September 1917 renamed ''Leviathan'' and assigned to the
Cruiser and Transport Force The Cruiser and Transport Service was a unit of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet during World War I that was responsible for transporting American men and materiel to France.
Composition
On 1 July 1918, the Cruiser and Transport Force was ...
. The ship's first troop transport voyage departed New York on 17 December 1917 with 7,250 troops. At
Liverpool, England
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
the ship spent fifty days in drydock, where her size was shown to be a problem, and troop capacity was expanded to 8,200. Further trips were destined for
Brest, France
Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...
and troop capacity was incrementally increased to 10,500 by summer of 1918 and with double bunking to 14,000. The ship's speed allowed transit without escort and often ''Leviathan'' and the fast ships and made the transit in company without escort. In the war the ship made ten round trips transporting more than 119,000 troops to Europe. That process was reversed after the war with the ship's last voyage with returning troops arriving on 8 September 1919. The ship was decommissioned and turned over to the Shipping Board 29 October 1919 remaining laid up at Hoboken until April 1922.
At the end of the war there was a surplus of ships and a large number of Shipping Board sponsored companies. ''Leviathan'' was not only competing against that surplus but from lack of information such as blueprints, from Germany so that new ones had to be created by actual measurement of the ship. The ship was also caught up in controversies regarding the company originally agreeing to operate the ship.
In April 1922 $8,000,000 in funding made it possible to move the ship to News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, for a complete refurbishing and overhaul including all wiring and plumbing being replaced and conversion from coal to oil as fuel. Interior decorations, though much was kept were modernized with 1920s style.
In June 1923 the ship was returned to the Shipping Board with an increase in gross tonnage leading to advertisement as the largest and fastest liner, a claim that was challenged by both the British Cunard and the White Star lines. The
United States Lines
United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all ...
was contracted to operate the ship for a minimum of five Atlantic voyages per year. Though popular in the U.S. market high costs and inability to sell alcohol during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
in which all U.S. registered ships were "dry" so that many sought foreign shipping. Even with the ship eventually being allowed to serve "medicinal" alcohol when outside U.S. waters the Great Depression drove the line to demand either subsidies or that the Shipping Board take the ship back. In June 1933 ''Leviathan'' was laid up at Hoboken. The Shipping Board required the ship to go into operation but losses were high. The 1936 high season for the Atlantic saw a loss of $143,000 on the first trip and by the required fifth voyage the ship was at half capacity. The line paid the Shipping Board $500,000 to retire the ship with a continued requirement to keep it in running condition. In the entire operating period as a U.S. liner the ship never made a profit.
British Metal Industries Ltd. bought ''Leviathan'' in 1937 with the ship arriving at
Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
, Scotland, on 14 February for scrapping. The size of the vessel and start of World War II delayed final scrapping until 1946.
Construction and early career
''Vaterland'', a
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
passenger
liner
A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...
, was built by
Blohm & Voss
Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...
at
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany, as the second of a trio of very large ships of the for the
Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...
's
trans-Atlantic route. Construction began in September 1911.
The 1906–1907 construction berths were inadequate for ''Vaterland'' and a new berth was constructed in 1910-1911 with a width of at the waterfront and a height of from floor to crane runway. Half was built to accommodate the new ship with a length of with 16 traveling cranes and a 230 ton revolving crane capable of handling the new ship's machinery.
''Vaterland'' was built to conform to German, British and American laws and rules of shipbuilding. The ship had a double bottom and double skin to above the waterline with transverse and longitudinal steel bulkheads. The ship had five steel decks with four superimposed decks for a total of nine decks above the waterline. In an unusual, new, arrangement the funnels passed through the decks at the sides of the hull rather than center allowing an entirely new arrangement of the public rooms. Those rooms opened from one to the next so that a vista extended from the Ritz-Carlton restaurant, oval and replicating the New York original, through the palm garden, grand hallway to the main lounge and ball room. The main staircase extended through six decks and was supplemented by elevators. The wireless system, provided by Marconi rival, the
Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" app ...
Company of Berlin, was the most powerful installed at the time on a ship consisted of a long distance set to keep the vessel in constant touch across the Atlantic, a second set with 400 mile day range and 1,200 mile night range and a battery powered set was on standby for emergencies. Of the 83 lifeboats with a capacity for about 5,300. the two powered boats were also equipped with wireless. Forty-six watertube boilers in four stokeholds provided steam for the turbines driving the four 19' 7" diameter screws.
[
]
The ship was launched on 3 April 1913 in a ceremony performed by Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine by (the) Rhine (''Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand''; English: ''Robert Maria Leopold Ferdinand''; 18 May 1869 – 2 August 1955), was the last hei ...
. Intended passenger capacity of 4,050 was to be 700 first, 600 second, 1,050 third and 1,700 fourth class passengers. With 1,200 crew the total persons aboard was planned to be 5,250 with 83 lifeboats with capacity for more than those aboard. ''Vaterland'' was the largest passenger ship
A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...
in the world upon her completion, superseding , but later being superseded in turn by the last ship of this class, , later the .
On the ship's maiden voyage, arriving at New York on 21 May 1914, there were 1,234 crew commanded by a Commodore, four German Naval Reserve Captains and seven officers as watch officers. The engine department consisted of a chief engineer, three first engineers, thirty-five assistants and electricians with boilers operated by twelve chief firemen, fifteen oilers, 187 stokers and 189 trimmers. The ship was highly electrified and had an electric forced air system for fresh air throughout the ship.[
]
At the reception luncheon held aboard at the Hamburg-American Line's Hoboken piers on that maiden voyage attended by the German Ambassador and officials of the line Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves (January 1, 1858 – January 6, 1937) was a decorated admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.
Biography
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Gleaves graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1877. A ...
, at the time Commandant of the New York Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a ...
and later Commander of the Cruiser and Transport Force The Cruiser and Transport Service was a unit of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet during World War I that was responsible for transporting American men and materiel to France.
Composition
On 1 July 1918, the Cruiser and Transport Force was ...
in the war, asked an official how many troops the ship could carry. He reports the official replied "Ten thousand, and we built her to bring them over here." Three years later, at the same pier, by then seized for the Army's Hoboken Port of Embarkation and with the ship under a new name, Gleaves again was aboard as commander of convoy operations in the Atlantic seeing the ship preparing to take 10,000 soldiers to fight Germany.[
''Vaterland'' had made only a few trips when, in late July 1914, she arrived at New York City just as ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out. With a safe return to Germany rendered questionable by British dominance of the seas, she was laid up at her Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
terminal and remained immobile for nearly three years.
World War I
''Vaterland'' was seized by the United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...
when the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917. Of all the German ships seized ''Vaterland'' was the only one not to have engines and machinery damaged by the German crews. Her German crew was sent to a new internment camp in Hot Springs, North Carolina
Hot Springs is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 560 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is a resort town, reliant on the tourist economy of its namesake spri ...
, where many of them later died of a typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
outbreak in summer 1918 as they were about to be transferred to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
Fort Oglethorpe is a city predominantly in Catoosa County with some portions in Walker County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,423. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan St ...
. Despite the lack of intentional damage the ship was badly deteriorated requiring major repairs, cleaning and painting. The work was going slowly under the USSB with the Navy recommending that it take charge of that process and the ship was turned over to the custody of the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
(USN) in June 1917. ''Leviathan'' was the last of the German ships turned over to the Navy to complete repair and conversion.[
She was commissioned by the USN in July 1917 as the USS ''Vaterland'', ]Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Joseph Wallace Oman
Joseph Wallace Oman (1864–1941) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and veteran of the Spanish–American War, the Philippine–American War, and World War I. He is a recipient of the Navy Cross. He was also the Governor of the Unite ...
in command. On 6 September 1917 she was redesignated SP-1326 and renamed ''Leviathan'' by President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
.[
The trial cruise to ]Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
on 17 November 1917 prompted Captain Oman to order 241 Marines on board to relieve a detachment of Marines and to station themselves conspicuously about the upper decks, giving the appearance from shore that the great ship was headed overseas to increase the American Expeditionary Forces. Upon her return later that month, she reported for duty with the Cruiser and Transport Force The Cruiser and Transport Service was a unit of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet during World War I that was responsible for transporting American men and materiel to France.
Composition
On 1 July 1918, the Cruiser and Transport Force was ...
.[
The transport sailed for Europe 17 December 1917 with 7,250 troops to ]Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, England where the transport's size, a major advantage with its troop capacity, demonstrated how highly that size limited the ports and repair facilities that could be used in Europe. The ship entered dry dock there but could only enter or leave the dry dock on full moon tides that were required to float the ship over the dock's sill. In the fifty days there the ship's troop capacity was increased to 8,200. The ship was repainted with the British-type dazzle camouflage
Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle (in the U.S.) or dazzle painting, is a family of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II and afterwards. Credited to the British marine ar ...
scheme that she carried for the rest of the war. After return to New York that figure was increased to 8,900. On 4 March 1918 the ship again sailed for Liverpool but diverted to Brest for future voyages due to poor berthing and coaling facilities in Liverpool. In early summer of 1918 the ship's troop capacity was increased to 10,500.[
]
''Leviathan'' began regular passages between the Hoboken Port of Embarkation and Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
, France, delivering up to 14,000 persons on each trip. Once experience in embarking troops was gained, 11,000 troops could board the ship in two hours. The fastest ships, to meet the troop transport demands in reaction to the German offensive of March 1918, began the system in which troops shared bunks taking turns to sleep. ''Leviathan'' thus doubled its capacity from 7,000 to 14,000 troops. With their speed ''Leviathan'', and sailed without escort together. The German Admiralty announced ''Leviathan'' was sunk with American troops when the British announced sinking of in June 1918. The German press was enthusiastic in the claim the former ''Vaterland'' converted to American troop transport had been sunk.[
On 29 September 1918 she left New York for Brest on a voyage that would prove to have the worst in-transit casualties of the deadly second wave of the Spanish flu. By the time she arrived at Brest on 8 October, 2,000 were sick, and 80 had died.]
Transports, including ''Leviathan'' underwent a needed overhaul after signing of the armistice before the major effort of returning the troops began.[ After that date ''Leviathan'', repainted grey overall by December 1918, reversed the flow of men as she transported the veterans back to the United States with nine westward crossings, the last ending on 8 September 1919. On 29 October 1919, ''Leviathan'' was decommissioned and turned over to the US Shipping Board and again laid up at Hoboken until plans for her future employment could be determined.
Before the ]armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
was signed on 11 November 1918, the ship made ten round trips from Hoboken to Europe transporting more than 119,000 fighting men.[ Amongst the ship's US Navy crew in this period was future film star ]Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
.
American service
Reconstruction
The US Shipping Board was by the end of the war encumbered with surplus tonnage and government sponsored shipping companies. On 17 December 1919 the International Mercantile Marine
The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade.
IMM was founded by shipping magnates ...
(IMM) signed a contract with the United States Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet Corporation
The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...
(EFC) that IMM as agent would supervise the plans and specifications for complete rehabilitation of the ship. That work was done by the construction department of IMM assisted by two committees of leading ship yard representatives, one to address general reconditioning and the other to address conversion from coal to oil as fuel. The result was issued 9 April 1920 to six commercial and two Navy yards. Only one bid was returned by Todd Shipbuilding Corporation[There were numerous "Todd" entities involved in ship work and without exact location for the entity being given which entity is referenced here is difficult to determine. The USSB EFC took over or took controlling interest in U.S. shipbuilding in the war and afterwards disposed of many or allowed the private concern to buy the facility back from the EFC (see ''Sisth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board'' pages 211-212).] and the Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...
responded with an estimate. Costs and work in yards were at a peak and the EFC decided to await a more favorable time to solicit new bids.
The EFC directed the agents in March 1921 to prepare a new set of specifications for a fully operational ship, including all necessary articles such as table and silverware, linens and books. The IMM construction department was thoroughly familiar with the ship including specifications for machinery repair which were not in the original request for bids.[ Blueprints for the original construction had not been received from Germany under the Versailles Treaty and the price now asked by the German builders, $1,000,000, was deemed outrageous so that an army of workers measured every part of the ship until a new set of prints had been made.] On 31 October 1921 the new solicitation went out with bids due on 29 December 1921. The EFC postponed the bid opening to 30 December and accepted the bid of the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...
in Newport News, Virginia
Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
, for $6,135,575 which was $3,334,000 less than the Boston Navy Yard's estimate and $5,145,000 less than the commercial bid received for the original despite that not including any work on machinery or incidentals such as table service and linens. On 15 February 1922 the contract was awarded to include $515,000 for machinery repair for a total of $6,1106,000 with a separate award to Gimbel Brothers of New York of $546,366.63 for the equipping the Steward's department with the incidental items. The total awarded was $6,656,366.63. At the same time Gibbs Brothers Inc., later named Gibbs & Cox
Gibbs & Cox is an American naval architecture firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
The firm has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C ...
, hired to oversee the work leading to the contract, were awarded $1,518,058.37 for agency fees, inspection, audits and accounting and miscellaneous repairs leading up to awarding the contract.[
In agreement with IMM the EFC cancelled the agency contract and awarded it to Gibbs Brothers took over as agent and assumed on 28 February 1922 all functions and obligations previously assigned to IMM.][ Newspaper mogul ]William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
, riding on nationalistic sentiment, had objected to the IMM involvement by claiming British influence over IMM. Despite the prolonged lay-up at Hoboken the ship was quickly prepared with repairs and provision of necessary gear, fueled and crewed to sail to Norfolk. The ship sailed on 9 April 1922 arriving without incident at the shipyard on 10 April.[ There the ship began a 14-month reconditioning and refurbishment.][ All wiring, plumbing, and interior layouts were stripped while her hull was strengthened and her boilers converted from coal to oil, virtually a new ship emerged.][
While the ship was undergoing reconstruction the Hoboken facilities were modified to be more suitable for such a large ship's operation. Pier #5 was removed and the space between #4 and #6 was dredged to a depth of . The plan changed and the ship was to be docked in ]Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
with an agreement with United American Lines to use Pier 86 at the foot of 46th Street. As a result of that decision the pier itself required strengthening and dredging was required to provide both a channel and turning basin. For up and down river and to the New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
shore dredging to and clearance of obstructions with aid of divers prepared a berth for the ship.
The decorations and fittings, designed by New York architects Walker & Gillette
Walker & Gillette was an architectural firm based in New York City, the partnership of Alexander Stewart Walker (1876–1952) and Leon Narcisse Gillette (1878–1945), active from 1906 through 1945.
Biographies
Walker was a native of Jersey ...
, retained much of her prewar splendor of Edwardian, Georgian, Louis XVI styles now merged with modern 1920s touches. The biggest deviation was an art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
night club supplanting the original Verandah Cafe. In June 1923 she was given back to the Shipping Board. ''Leviathan''s measured tonnage had increased to 59,956.65 GRT and her speed trials showed an average of 27.48 knots. Thanks in part to Gibbs' clever accounting and the Gulf stream, she was advertised as the world's largest and fastest ship.[ This claim was immediately challenged by the ]Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
, with a reminder that its still held the official speed record for trans-Atlantic crossing, as well as the White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
, which claimed the as the world's longest ship, with a higher gross tonnage if properly calculated. In the next fiscal year, 30 July 1923 to 30 June 1924, new and more efficient three bladed propellers were designed to replace the original four bladed propellers to be installed at the next dry docking. The design was expected to increase speed at 6,000 less horsepower than the originals.
Service for United States Lines
United States Lines
United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all ...
, the trade name of an operating entity of the USSB's Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), was obligated to run ''Leviathan'' for a minimum of five return voyages on the Atlantic run per year. All the line's finances were controlled by the USSB which also owned all the ships. The Gibbs Brothers Inc would run her for her first voyages and train the crew.[ She immediately proved popular with the American public in the '20s, starting her career fully booked for her maiden voyage departing on 4 July 1923.]
On 21 December 1923 ''Leviathan'' grounded on the west side of the channel at New York near Robbins Reef Light
The Robbins Reef Light Station is a sparkplug lighthouse located off Constable Hook in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, along the west side of Main Channel, Upper New York Bay. Note that although the light is clearly shown on t ...
at 10:44 in the morning remaining grounded until lifted by tide and pulled by tugs at 5:30 in the afternoon. The ship's course was altered by a strong tidal current and though going at a reasonable speed and engines were put full astern the ship grounded from bow to just forward of the bridge. The ship's outboard engines had been reported for some time to be inoperative astern. Though investigation by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service found no negligence they noted that the grounding might have been avoided if the wing propellers had been fully operational astern. It further noted that a ship of that size was very difficult to maneuver in the harbor. One result was to withdraw waters reserved for large naval vessels so that commercial vessels were forced to make a turn in the "Narrows" into the upper bay. The grounding led to a full review of the costs and technical difficulties of repairing the inoperative reverse turbines.
The ship's orchestra, the "SS ''Leviathan'' Orchestra" directed by Nelson Maples, was well regarded enough that in 1923 and 1924 Victor Records
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...
engaged it to record eleven selections at their New York studios, of which eight were commercially released. Decades later the name would be the inspiration for the New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra. Her passenger average reached 1,300 by 1926, making her the second most traveled ship on the Atlantic that year, but given her capacity of 3,000 it was too little to be profitable.[
Her economic problems lay primarily in high labor costs and fuel costs which were compounded by ]Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
. From 1920 all US registered ships counted as an extension of US territory, making them "dry ships" according to the National Prohibition Act
The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress, designed to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established the prohibition of alcoholic d ...
. With the Atlantic shipping capacity oversaturated, especially after the Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...
, alcohol-seeking passengers readily chose other liners.[ But ''Leviathan'' was an American symbol of power and prestige, which despite her economic failings, made her a popular ship with loyal travelers. She attracted attention as the largest and fastest ship in the American merchant marine and featured in countless advertisements. The only serious incident occurred one day out of Cherbourg on a winter crossing in 1924 where she met a fierce storm with 90 ft waves and winds up to 100 mph, at times forcing her into 20 degree rolls. Eleven portholes were smashed and 32 passengers were injured by the time the storm abated.]
Captain Herbert Hartley commanded ''Leviathan'' from July 1923 until he retired in February 1928. (Hartley published his autobiography titled ''Home Is the Sailor'' in 1955.) By 1927 the "good years" were over, in which time the United States Lines had been sold and re-nationalized. In 1929 ''Leviathan'' was finally allowed to serve "medicinal alcohol" outside US territorial waters to make her more competitive with foreign lines and was quickly sent on Booze Cruises to make money.
Sale of United States Lines and final days
In 1929 the United States Lines was advertised to be sold with two ships, ''Monticello'' and ''Mount Vernon'', as purchase options which were not included in the final bid that was accepted.[The USSB noted that since it was divesting itself of shipping lines there was no point in reconditioning these two ships.] Six bids were received and opened on 15 January 1929. On 14 February, after hearings in the Senate Committee on Commerce had raised no objection, the bid of P. W. Chapman Co. of New York was accepted. The sale included another USSB entity, American Merchant Lines, which merged into the commercial United States Lines, Incorporated. The sale was executed 21 March 1929 with ''Leviathan'' being the first ship delivered to the new line on 8 April. A requirement of the sale mandated the new owners, with the construction loan fund, build two first class liners with plans approved by the USSB and U.S. Navy, to operate with ''Leviathan''. Another condition of sale was an obligation to operate the vessels for ten years with a minimum of 61 voyages per year of all the vessels purchased by the new line. Sale of the two lines and eleven vessels for $16,082,000 divested the USSB of the last passenger services. The price of ''Leviathan'' was a significant portion of the sale at $6,782,000. The lines had been supervised by the Merchant Fleet Corporation under USSB/EFC with 630 employees and that organization began dissolution.[
]
In October 1931 United States Lines had been reincorporated with the aid of the USSB as United States Lines of Nevada, Inc. after financial difficulties. IMM, which acquired the line at auction, was just as eager to be rid of the white elephant. The Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
was the final nail in the coffin. The USSB was abolished and its functions reduced to a Bureau within the Department of Commerce on 10 August 1933. United States Lines actively lobbied for the government to either take the ''Leviathan'' back or provide a subsidy for her operation. She was laid up at her pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, in June 1933, having lost $75,000 per round trip since 1929.[ The government steadfastly stipulated that ''Leviathan'' should sail, and so she did after a refurbishment costing $150,000, for another five round trips. The first round trip sailed on 9 June 1934, high season on the Atlantic, and tallied a loss of $143,000. By ''Leviathan''s fifth voyage she sailed at barely half capacity. IMM paid the US government $500,000 for permission to retire her while keeping her in running order until 1936.]
In 1937 she was sold to the British Metal Industries Ltd. On 26 January 1938 ''Leviathan'' set out on her 301st and last transatlantic voyage under the command of Captain John Binks, retired master of the RMS Olympic
RMS ''Olympic'' was a British ocean liner and the lead ship of the White Star Line's trio of liners. ''Olympic'' had a career spanning 24 years from 1911 to 1935, in contrast to her short-lived sister ships, ''Titanic'' and HMHS Britannic, ''B ...
, with a crew of 125 officers and men who had been hired to deliver the ship to the breakers. To quote author Melvin Maddocks, ''Binks was not the luckiest of men now he had a ship to match him...it was no easier steering the old monster to her slaughter than it was to steer her any where else.'' ''Leviathan'' arrived at Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
, Scotland, on 14 February. In the 13 years that she served United States Lines she carried more than a quarter-million passengers, never making a profit. Due to the size of the vessel and the outbreak of the Second World War, final demolition took place only in 1946.
File:Swimming pool aboard the Hamburg-American Line ship Vaterland (28115076451).jpg, Swimming pool aboard the ''Vaterland''
File:A Fast Convoy.jpg, USS ''Leviathan'' escorted by , both in dazzle camouflage
Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle (in the U.S.) or dazzle painting, is a family of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II and afterwards. Credited to the British marine ar ...
, painted by Burnell Poole
Burnell Poole (30 August 1884 – 1933) was an American naval artist.
Early life
Burnell Poole was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He married in 1920 to his only wife, Constance; they had a son, Burnell Poole Jr., in 1924.
Naval Artist
Dur ...
, 1918
File:USS Imperator and USS Leviathan.jpg, USS ''Imperator'' (at left) and USS ''Leviathan'' (at right) at Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
, circa 1919
File:SS Leviathan by an unknown artist.jpg, SS ''Leviathan'', painted in 1925
Footnotes
References
Further reading
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External links
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Library Of Congress Public Domain Archive Topic: Leviathan
''Leviathan'' at Smithsonian Institution
(Links to artifacts held)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leviathan
1913 ships
Ships built in Hamburg
Passenger ships of Germany
Ocean liners
Imperator-class ocean liners
Ships of the Hamburg America Line
World War I transports of the United States
Unique transports of the United States Navy
Ships of the United States Lines