View source for SS Vaterland (1913)

{{Short description|Ocean liner}}
{{About||the 19th-century ship|SS Great Eastern|other uses|Leviathan (disambiguation)|other uses|List of ships named SS Vaterland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} 
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Lot-2217-1 (28115078651).jpg
| Ship caption = German ocean liner ''Vaterland'', seen in 1914.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship name = ''Vaterland''
| Ship owner = HAPAG
| Ship operator = [[Hamburg America Line]]
| Ship country = [[German Empire]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|German Empire|civil}}
| Ship registry = [[Port of Hamburg|Hamburg]]
| Ship route = Hamburg – [[New York City|New York]]
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Blohm+Voss]], Hamburg
| Ship original cost = 
| Ship yard number = 212
| Ship way number = 
| Ship laid down = 13 April 1911
| Ship launched = 3 April 1913
| Ship completed = 29 April 1914
| Ship christened = 
| Ship acquired = 
| Ship maiden voyage = 14 May 1914
| Ship in service = 14 May 1914 – July 1914
| Ship out of service = July 1914 to 6 April 1917
| Ship identification = *[[Code letters]] RVFJ<ref>{{cite book |year=1914 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=I–Steamers |place=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] of Shipping |at=VAR–VAU}}</ref>
*{{ICS|Romeo}}{{ICS|Victor}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Juliet}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]] DVD<ref>{{cite book |author=The Marconi Press Agency Ltd |author-link=Marconi Company |year=1918 |title=The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony |place=London |publisher=The Wireless Press, Ltd |page=687}}</ref>
| Ship fate = Seized by the United States
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship owner = [[United States Shipping Board]] (1917—1929)
| Ship country = [[United States]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United States|1919}}
| Ship namesake = 
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = 
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = 
| Ship acquired = *Seized: 6 April 1917
*Navy custody: June 1917
| Ship commissioned = July 1917
| Ship decommissioned = 29 October 1919
| Ship in service = 
| Ship out of service = 
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship fate = Sold into civilian service
| Ship notes = Commissioned as a [[troopship]] in [[World War I]]
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship name = ''Leviathan''
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United States|civil}}
| Ship owner = *[[United States Shipping Board]] (1917—1929)
*[[United States Lines]] (1929—1938)<ref group=note>The line was itself a USSB/EFC operating entity until sale in the 1930s.</ref>
| Ship operator = 
| Ship registry = New York
| Ship route = 
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = 
| Ship original cost = 
| Ship yard number = 
| Ship way number = 
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = 
| Ship completed = 
| Ship christened = 
| Ship acquired = 29 October 1919
| Ship maiden voyage = 4 July 1923
| Ship in service = June 1923 to 1933, some service in 1934
| Ship out of service = 1933 to 1937
| Ship identification = *US [[official number]] 215446<ref name=MVUS25>{{cite book |year=1925 |title=Merchant Vessels of the United States 1924-1925 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation |page=132 |hdl=2027/osu.32435066707100?urlappend=%3Bseq=136%3Bownerid=113189007-140 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435066707100?urlappend=%3Bseq=136%3Bownerid=113189007-140 |accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
*code letters LHQD (until 1933)<ref name=MVUS25/>
*{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Hotel}}{{ICS|Quebec}}{{ICS|Delta}}
*call sign WSBN (by 1934<ref name=MVUS34>{{cite book |year=1934 |title=Merchant Vessels of the United States 1933-1934 |place=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation |page=108 |hdl=2027/osu.32435066706961?urlappend=%3Bseq=112%3Bownerid=113395300-116 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435066706961?urlappend=%3Bseq=112%3Bownerid=113395300-116 |accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
*{{ICS|Whiskey}}{{ICS|Sierra}}{{ICS|Bravo}}{{ICS|November}}
| Ship fate = Sold for scrap in 1938, broken up after 1946 at [[Rosyth]]
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = 
| Ship class ={{sclass|Imperator|ocean liner}}
| Ship tonnage = *{{GRT|59956}}, {{NRT|27696}} (1925)<ref name=MVUS25/>
*{{GRT|48942}}, {{NRT|15796}} (1934)<ref name=MVUS34/>
| Ship displacement = 
| Ship length = *{{cvt|950|ft|m}}
*{{cvt|906.9|ft|m}} [[length between perpendiculars|(Registry)]]<ref name=MVUS25/>
| Ship beam = {{cvt|100|ft|4|in|m}}
| Ship height = 
| Ship draught = 
| Ship draft = {{cvt|37|ft|9|in}}
| Ship depth = {{cvt|23|ft|7|in|m}}<ref name=MVUS25/>
| Ship decks = 6
| Ship deck clearance = 
| Ship ramps = 
| Ship ice class = 
| Ship sail plan = 
| Ship armament = *'''World War I Navy service:'''
* 8 × 6-inch guns
* 2 × [[1-pounder gun]]
* 2 × machine gun
| Ship power = 
| Ship propulsion = 
| Ship speed = {{convert|26|kn|lk=in}}<ref name=DANFS/>
| Ship capacity = 1st class: 752
2nd class: 535

3rd class: 850

4th class(intermediate): 1,772

Total: 3,909
| Ship crew = 1,234<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/ImmigrantShips/Vaterland.html 
|website=ggarchives.com
|publisher=Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives
|title=SS Vaterland Archival Collection
|access-date=13 Sep 2024}}</ref>
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}

'''SS ''Vaterland''''' was an ocean liner launched on 3 April 1913 and began service in 1914 for Germany's [[Hamburg America Line]]. The ship, second of three running mates and then the largest passenger ship in the world, made her 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]] 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]] 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]] and in July 1917 to the Navy for completion of repairs and conversion to a [[troopship|troop ship]]. In July 1917 the ship was commissioned as the USS ''Vaterland'' and on 6 September 1917 renamed '''USS ''Leviathan'' (ID-1326)''' and assigned to the [[Cruiser and Transport Force]]. The ship's first troop transport voyage departed New York on 17 December 1917 with 7,250 troops. At [[Liverpool, England]], 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]] 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 {{SS|Great Northern|1914|2}} and {{SS|Northern Pacific|1914|2}} made the transit in company without escort. During 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 on 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 in a 1920s style.
In June 1923 the ship was returned to the Shipping Board as the '''SS ''Leviathan''''' 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]] was contracted to operate the ship for a minimum of five Atlantic voyages per year. Though popular in the U.S. market, high cost and inability to sell alcohol during [[Prohibition]], in which all U.S. registered ships were "dry", made it 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 despite efforts by the United States Line to make her profitable including the installation of a sea plane ramp above her bridge.

British Metal Industries Ltd. bought ''Leviathan'' in 1937 with the ship arriving at [[Rosyth]], Scotland, on 14 February 1938 for scrapping. The size of the vessel and start of World War II delayed final scrapping until 1946.

== Construction and early career ==
''Vaterland'', a {{GRT|53500}} [[steam turbine]] passenger [[ocean liner|liner]], was built by [[Blohm & Voss]] at [[Hamburg]], Germany, as the second of a trio of very large ships of the {{sclass|Imperator|ocean liner|4}} for the [[Hamburg America Line]]'s [[transatlantic crossing|trans-Atlantic]] route. Construction began in September 1911.<ref name=IME6-14>{{cite journal |date=June 1914 |title=The New Hamburg-American Liner ''Vaterland'' |journal=International Marine Engineering |volume=19 |issue=6 |pages=262–264 |location=New York/London |publisher=Aldrich Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6dIAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA262 |accessdate=6 October 2021}}</ref> The 1906–1907 construction berths were inadequate for ''Vaterland'' and a new berth was constructed in 1910–1911 with a width of {{cvt|288|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} at the waterfront and a height of {{cvt|166|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} from floor to crane runway. Half was built to accommodate the new ship with a length of {{cvt|1025|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} with 16 traveling cranes and a 230-ton revolving crane capable of handling the new ship's machinery.<ref>{{cite journal |date=October 1913 |title=New Shipbuilding Berth and 250-Ton Wharf Crane at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard |journal=International Marine Engineering |volume=18 |issue=10 |pages=438–439 |location=New York/London |publisher=Aldrich Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-NHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA438 |accessdate=6 October 2021}}</ref>

''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,<!-- Before linking: None of the current Wiki pages cover this instance (habit here of erasing history in favor of current state of affairs). --> 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]] Company of Berlin, was the most powerful installed at the time on a ship, and 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.<ref name=IME6-14/>

[[File:Stapellauf Vaterland (1913).jpg|thumb|Launch of ''Vaterland'', 3 April 1913]]
The ship was launched on 3 April 1913 in a ceremony performed by [[Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria]]. 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.<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 1913 |title=Launch of the Hamburg-American Liner ''Vaterland'' |journal=International Marine Engineering |volume=18 |issue=6 |page=247 |location=New York/London |publisher=Aldrich Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0m7mAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 |accessdate=6 October 2021}}</ref> ''Vaterland'' was the largest [[passenger ship]] in the world upon her completion, superseding {{SS|Imperator}}, but later being superseded in turn by the last ship of this class, {{SS|Bismarck}}, later the {{RMS|Majestic|1914|6}}.

On the ship's maiden voyage, arriving at New York on 21 May 1914, there were 1,234 crew commanded by HAPAG Commodore Hans Ruser.<ref name=IME6-14/><ref name=Gleaves>{{cite book |last=Gleaves |first=Albert, VADM USN |year=1921 |title=A History of the Transport Service |location=New York, N.Y. |publisher=George H. Doran Company|lccn=21002087 |pages=29–30, 69, 88–89, 92, 98, 188–190 |url=http://www.public-library.uk/dailyebook/A%20history%20of%20the%20transport%20service-adventures%20and%20experiences%20of%20United%20States%20transports%20and%20cruisers.pdf |accessdate=8 September 2021}}</ref> 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.<ref name=IME6-14/>

[[File:US Navy German ships.jpg|thumb|right|''Vaterland'' (largest ship) and other German liners laid up in New York, 4 April 1917]]
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]], at the time Commandant of the [[New York Navy Yard]] and later Commander of the [[Cruiser and Transport Force]] 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 [[New York Port of Embarkation|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.<ref name=Gleaves/>
''Vaterland'' had made only a few trips when, in late July 1914, she arrived at New York City just as [[World War I]] 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]] terminal and remained immobile for nearly three years.

== World War I ==
[[File:USS Leviathan SP-1326.jpg|thumb|USS ''Leviathan'' in [[dazzle camouflage]]]]
''Vaterland'' was seized by the [[United States Shipping Board]] 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.<ref name=Gleaves/><ref name=DANFS>{{cite DANFS |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/leviathan-sp-1326.html |title=Leviathan (SP-1326) |author=Naval History And Heritage Command |date=29 July 2015 |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |publisher=Naval History And Heritage Command |accessdate=16 March 2021}}</ref> Her German crew was sent to a new internment camp in [[Hot Springs, North Carolina]], where many of them later died of a [[typhoid fever]] outbreak in summer 1918 as they were about to be transferred to [[Fort Oglethorpe (Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia)|Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Painter|first1=Jacqueline Burgin|title=The German Invasion of Western North Carolina: A Pictorial History|date=1992|publisher=The Overmountain Press |isbn=1570720746|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KkW5LDPDd0C}}</ref> 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]] (USN) in June 1917. ''Vaterland'' was the last of the German ships turned over to the Navy to complete repair and conversion.<ref name=Gleaves/><ref name=DANFS/>

She was commissioned by the USN in July 1917 as the USS ''Vaterland'', [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] [[Joseph Wallace Oman]] in command. On 6 September 1917 she was redesignated SP-1326 and renamed ''Leviathan'' by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=DANFS/>

The trial cruise to [[Cuba]] 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]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofusslevi00broo/page/50/mode/2up |author=USS 'Leviathan' History Committee |title=History of the USS Leviathan |date=1919 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Brooklyn Eagle Press |page=50 |accessdate=13 September 2021}}</ref> Upon her return later that month, she reported for duty with the [[Cruiser and Transport Force]].<ref name=Gleaves/><ref name=DANFS/>

The transport sailed for Europe on 17 December 1917 with 7,250 troops to [[Liverpool]], 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]] scheme that she carried for the rest of the war. After return to New York her capacity 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.<ref name=Gleaves/><ref name=DANFS/>

[[File:LEVIATHAN leaving for France with 11,000 American troops.png|thumb|''Leviathan'' leaving for France from the [[New York Port of Embarkation|Hoboken Port of Embarkation]] with 11,000 American troops.|alt=]]

''Leviathan'' began regular passages between the Hoboken Port of Embarkation and [[Brest, France|Brest]], 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.<ref name=Huston>{{cite book |last1=Huston |first1=James A |year=1966 |title=The Sinews of War: Army Logistics 1775–1953 |series=Army Historical Series |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Center Of Military History, United States Army |isbn=978-0-16089-914-0 |lccn=66060015 |pages=346–347 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8pabWzrsocC&pg=PA346 |access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref> 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'', {{SS|Northern Pacific|1914|2}} and {{SS|Great Northern|1914|2}} sailed without escort together. In June 1918 the German Admiralty announced ''Leviathan'' was sunk with American troops. The German press was enthusiastic in the claim that the former ''Vaterland'' converted to an American troop transport, had been sunk, and in the midst of this enthusiasm she was reported mistakenly as having been torpedoed, when in fact it was the British troopship {{SS|Justicia||2}} that had actually fallen victim to German submarines.<ref name=Gleaves/>
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 [[Spanish flu#Deadly second wave of late 1918|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.<ref name="Sorick 2018">{{cite web |last1=Sorick |first1=Meg |title=Research Notes – The Great War (9) Plague Ship Leviathan |url=https://megsorick.com/2018/06/20/plague-ship-leviathan/ |website=Megsorick.com |date=20 June 2018 |access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref>

Transports, including ''Leviathan'' underwent a needed overhaul after signing of the armistice before the major effort of returning the troops began.<ref name=Gleaves/> 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 with Germany (Compiègne)|armistice]] was signed on 11 November 1918, the ship made ten round trips from Hoboken to Europe transporting more than 119,000 fighting men.<ref name=DANFS/> Amongst the ship's US Navy crew in this period was future film star [[Humphrey Bogart]].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

== 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]] (IMM) signed a contract with the United States Shipping Board's [[Emergency Fleet Corporation]] (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 on 9 April 1920 to six commercial and two Navy yards. Only one bid was returned by Todd Shipbuilding Corporation<ref group=note>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).</ref> and the [[Boston Navy Yard]] 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.<ref name=USSB6AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1922 |title=Sixth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |pages=173–175 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |doi= |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1922.pdf |accessdate=16 October 2021}}</ref>

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.<ref name=USSB6AR/> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast |date=March 1921 |title=An American Marine Manager |journal=Pacific Marine Review |page=145 |location=San Francisco |publisher=J.S. Hines |url=https://archive.org/details/pacificmarinerev1821paci/page/n224/mode/1up |accessdate=18 October 2021}}</ref><ref name=tgol>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/vaterland.html |title=Vaterland/Leviathan |website=The Great Ocean Liners |access-date=9 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602150231/http://thegreatoceanliners.com/vaterland.html |archive-date=2017-06-02}}</ref> 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]] in [[Newport News, Virginia]], 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 $6,116,000 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]], 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.<ref name=USSB6AR/>

In agreement with IMM the EFC cancelled the agency contract and awarded it to Gibbs Brothers, who took over as agent and assumed on 28 February 1922 all functions and obligations previously assigned to IMM.<ref name=USSB6AR/> Newspaper mogul [[William Randolph Hearst]], riding on nationalistic sentiment, had objected to the IMM involvement by claiming British influence over IMM.<ref name=Braynard>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3OlfC6LtrkC&dq=Leviathan&pg=PA57 |last=Braynard |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Braynard |editor1-first=Frank |editor1-last=Braynard |editor2-first=Robert Hudson |editor2-last=Westover |chapter=The Big Ship |date=2002 |title=S.S. United States: The Fastest Ship in the World |location=[[Paducah, Kentucky]] |publisher=[[Turner Publishing Company]] |page=24 |isbn=978-1-56311-824-1 |access-date=9 October 2011|edition=50th Anniversary Maiden Voyage }}</ref> 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.<ref name=USSB6AR/> There the ship began a 14-month reconditioning and refurbishment.<ref name=Braynard/> 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.<ref name=tgol/>

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 {{cvt|45|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}. The plan changed and the ship was to be docked in [[Manhattan]] 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 {{cvt|1000|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} up and down river and to the [[New Jersey]] shore dredging to {{cvt|42|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} and clearance of obstructions with aid of divers prepared a berth for the ship.<ref name=USSB7AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1923 |title=Seventh Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |pages=33, 35 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1923.pdf |accessdate=16 October 2021}}</ref>
[[File:SS Leviathan 1913.jpg|alt=|thumb|360x360px|''Leviathan'' operated by United States Lines, after her reconversion as an ocean liner, c. 1930s]]
[[File:The Ritz-Carlton Room of the SS Leviathan.jpg|thumb|The Ritz-Carlton of ''Leviathan''|alt=]]
The decorations and fittings, designed by New York architects [[Walker & Gillette]], retained much of her prewar splendor of Edwardian, Georgian, and Louis XVI styles now merged with modern 1920s touches.<ref name=ggarchives>{{cite web |url=https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/Brochures/USL-1923-TheSteamshipLeviathan.html |title=The SS Leviathan |website=GG Archives |access-date=9 October 2011}}</ref> The biggest deviation was an [[art deco]] 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 [[Gross Register Tonnage|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.<ref name=Braynard/><ref name=tgol/><ref name=ggarchives/> This claim was immediately challenged by the [[Cunard Line]], with a reminder that its {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}} still held the official speed record for trans-Atlantic crossing, as well as the [[White Star Line]], which claimed the {{RMS|Majestic|1914|6}} 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.<ref name=USSB8AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1924 |title=Eighth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |page=60 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1924.pdf |accessdate=18 October 2021}}</ref>

=== Service for United States Lines ===
[[File:Poster of SS Leviathan - NARA - 594952.jpg|alt=|thumb|Advertising poster for [[United States Lines]] of the late 1920s, depicting ''Leviathan'']]

[[United States Lines]], 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.<ref name=USSB9AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1925 |title=Ninth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |pages=145, 149, 160, 179 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1925.pdf |accessdate=18 October 2021}}</ref> The Gibbs Brothers Inc would run her for her first voyages and train the crew.<ref name=Braynard/> 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.<ref name=Time1>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786460,00.html |title=Cast Of! |date=16 July 1923 |magazine=[[TIME]] |access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref>

On 21 December 1923 ''Leviathan'' grounded on the west side of the channel at New York near [[Robbins Reef Light]] 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.<ref>{{cite report |last=House of Representatives |year=1925 |title=Grounding of the S.S. ''Leviathan'' |journal=Hearings Before the Select Committee to Inquire into the Operations, Policies and Affairs of the United States Shipping Board and the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation — Exhibits to Testimony, Part A |pages=481–541 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUEuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA481 |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref>

The ship's orchestra, the "SS ''Leviathan'' Orchestra", directed by Nelson Maples, was well regarded enough that in 1923 and 1924 [[Victor Records]] 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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=SS Leviathan Orchestra |date=January 1923 |publisher=Library of Congress |url=https://loc.getarchive.net/media/ss-leviathan-13 |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref>

Her passenger average reached 1,300 by 1926, making her the second most traveled ship on the Atlantic that year. Throughout 1927, she carried a career high 40,537 passengers, which was more than any other ship that year, including a record 2,741 passengers on an eastbound crossing that September. Despite her loyal passenger following, it would not be enough to make her profitable.<ref name=tgol/>
Her economic problems lay primarily in high labor costs and fuel costs which were compounded by [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. From 1920 all US registered ships counted as an extension of US territory, making them "dry ships" according to the [[National Prohibition Act]]. With the Atlantic shipping capacity oversaturated, especially after the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], alcohol-seeking passengers readily chose other liners.<ref name=tgol/> 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&nbsp;ft waves and winds up to 100&nbsp;mph, at times forcing her into 20 degree rolls. Eleven portholes were smashed and 32 passengers were injured by the time the storm abated.<ref name=Time5>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728159,00.html |title=Storm |date=15 December 1924 |magazine=TIME |access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref>

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 the end of the decade, 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maxtone-Graham |first=John |author-link=John Maxtone-Graham |date=1997 |title=The Only Way to Cross |location=New York City |publisher=Barnes & Noble |isbn=978-0-76070-637-4}}</ref><ref name=Time2>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,751835,00.html |title=Wet Leviathan |date=April 22, 1929 |magazine=TIME |access-date=9 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027190950/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751835,00.html |archive-date=2010-10-27}}</ref>

=== Sale of United States Lines and final days ===
In 1929 the United States Lines was advertised to be sold with two ships, [[SS Kaiser Wilhelm II|''Monticello'']] and [[SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1906)|''Mount Vernon'']], as purchase options which were not included in the final bid that was accepted.<ref group=note>The USSB noted that since it was divesting itself of shipping lines there was no point in reconditioning these two ships.</ref> 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 [[Paul Wadsworth Chapman|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 on 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.<ref name=USSB13AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1929 |title=Thirteenth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |pages=57, 59, 67, 88–89 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1929.pdf |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref> The price of ''Leviathan'' was a significant portion of the sale at $6,782,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6020 |title=Leviathan |author=Maritime Administration |work=Ship History Database Vessel Status Card |publisher=U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref> The lines had been supervised by the Merchant Fleet Corporation under USSB/EFC with 630 employees and that organization began dissolution.<ref name=USSB13AR/>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12864, Passagierdampfer "Leviathan".jpg|thumb|''Leviathan'' in drydock, December 1931.|alt=]]
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.<ref name=USSB16AR>{{cite report |date=December 1, 1932 |title=Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board |pages=4–5, 76–77 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Shipping Board |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Annual_Report_1932.pdf |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref> IMM, which acquired the line at auction, was just as eager to be rid of the white elephant. [[The Great Depression]] was the final nail in the coffin.<ref name=Time3>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,747423,00.html |title=Monster out of morgue |date=May 21, 1934 |magazine=TIME |access-date=9 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125045620/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747423,00.html |archive-date=2010-11-25}}</ref> The USSB was abolished and its functions reduced to a Bureau within the Department of Commerce on 10 August 1933.<ref>{{cite report |year=1933 |title=Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce |page=XXX |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://www.fmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ANNUAL_REPORT_1934.pdf |accessdate=19 October 2021}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Time3/> 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.<ref name=Time4>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,754423,00.html |title=Monster back to morgue |date=September 24, 1934 |magazine=TIME |access-date=9 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104122204/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,754423,00.html |archive-date=2007-11-04}}</ref>

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]]'', 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.''<ref>{{cite book |last=Maddocks |first=Melvin |date=1978 |title=The Great Liners (The Seafarers) |location=Alexandria, VA |publisher=Time-Life Books |isbn=978-0-80942-664-5}}</ref> ''Leviathan'' arrived at [[Rosyth]], 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. {{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

<gallery style="text-align:center" caption="SS ''Vaterland'', USS ''Leviathan'', SS ''Leviathan''">
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 {{USS|Allen|DD-66|6}}, both in [[dazzle camouflage]], painted by [[Burnell Poole]], 1918
File:USS Imperator and USS Leviathan.jpg|[[USS Imperator|USS ''Imperator'']] (at left) and USS ''Leviathan'' (at right) at [[Hoboken, New Jersey]], circa 1919
File:SS Leviathan by an unknown artist.jpg|SS <nowiki>''Leviathan''</nowiki>, painted in 1925
</gallery>

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last1=Holt|first1=Brent I.|title=SS Leviathan: America's First Superliner |series=Classic Liners series|date=2009|publisher=[[The History Press]]|location=Stroud, Gloucestershire|isbn=9780752447636}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Leviathan (ship, 1914)}} 
*{{cite web |url=http://www.atlanticliners.com/vaterland_home.htm |title=''Vaterland''/'' Leviathan'' Home |website=Atlantic Liners}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/vat.asp |title=''Vaterland'' / ''Leviathan'' story with photos |website=Monsters of the Sea: The Great Ocean Liners of Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010803011430/http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/vat.asp |archive-date=3 August 2001 }}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/24300962@N02/4154155774/ |title=Photograph from the Caldwell Kvaran archives |website=Flickr|date=2 December 2009 }}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171326.htm |title=Photo gallery |website=NavSource Online}}
*[https://loc.getarchive.net/topics/leviathan Library Of Congress Public Domain Archive Topic: Leviathan]
*[https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/the-ocean-liner-leviathan ''Leviathan'' at Smithsonian Institution] (Links to artifacts held)
*{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NNoDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22this+model%22 |title=Model of Leviathan passes to Shipping Board |magazine=[[Popular Mechanics]] |volume=38 |number=4 |date=October 1922 |page=591}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/ImmigrantShips/Leviathan.html | title=SS Leviathan - History, Accommodations, & Ephemera Collection | website=GG Archives}}

{{Imperator class ocean liners}}
{{Largest passenger ships}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaterland (1913)}}
[[Category:1913 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Hamburg]]
[[Category:Passenger ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Ocean liners]]
[[Category:Imperator-class ocean liners]]
[[Category:Ships of the Hamburg America Line]]
[[Category:World War I transports of the United States]]
[[Category:Unique transports of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships of the United States Lines]]