SS Vaterland (1913)
German ocean liner Vaterland, seen in 1914.
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Vaterland |
Owner | HAPAG |
Operator | Hamburg America Line |
Port of registry | Hamburg |
Route | Hamburg – New York |
Builder | Blohm+Voss, Hamburg |
Yard number | 212 |
Laid down | 13 April 1911 |
Launched | 3 April 1913 |
Completed | 29 April 1914 |
Maiden voyage | 14 May 1914 |
In service | 14 May 1914 – July 1914 |
Out of service | July 1914 to 6 April 1917 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Seized by the United States |
United States | |
Owner | United States Shipping Board (1917—1929) |
Acquired |
|
Commissioned | July 1917 |
Decommissioned | 29 October 1919 |
Fate | Sold into civilian service |
Notes | Commissioned as a troopship in World War I |
United States | |
Name | Leviathan |
Owner |
|
Port of registry | New York |
Acquired | 29 October 1919 |
Maiden voyage | 4 July 1923 |
In service | June 1923 to 1933, some service in 1934 |
Out of service | 1933 to 1937 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sold for scrap in 1938, broken up after 1946 at Rosyth |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Imperator-class ocean liner |
Tonnage | |
Length |
|
Beam | 100 ft 4 in (30.58 m) |
Draft | 37 ft 9 in (11.51 m) |
Depth | 23 ft 7 in (7.19 m)[3] |
Decks | 6 |
Speed | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)[6] |
Capacity | 1st class: 752
2nd class: 535 3rd class: 850 4th class(intermediate): 1,772 Total: 3,909 |
Crew | 1,234[5] |
Armament |
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SS Vaterland was an ocean liner launched on 3 April 1913 and began service in 1914 for Germany's
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
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 53,500
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 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.[7]
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.[9] 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.
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.[7][10] 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.[7]
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,
World War I
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.[10][6] 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, Georgia.[11] 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.[10][6]
She was commissioned by the USN in July 1917 as the USS Vaterland, Captain Joseph Wallace Oman in command. On 6 September 1917 she was redesignated SP-1326 and renamed Leviathan by President Woodrow Wilson.[6]
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.[12] Upon her return later that month, she reported for duty with the Cruiser and Transport Force.[10][6]
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.[10][6]
Leviathan began regular passages between the Hoboken Port of Embarkation and 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.[13] 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, Northern Pacific and Great Northern sailed without escort together. In June 1918 he 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 Justicia that had actually fallen victim to German submarines.[10] 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.[14]
Transports, including Leviathan underwent a needed overhaul after signing of the armistice before the major effort of returning the troops began.[10] 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
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
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.
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.[15] Newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, riding on nationalistic sentiment, had objected to the IMM involvement by claiming British influence over IMM.[18] 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.[15] There the ship began a 14-month reconditioning and refurbishment.[18] 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.[17]
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 45 ft (13.7 m). 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 1,000 ft (304.8 m) up and down river and to the New Jersey shore dredging to 42 ft (12.8 m) and clearance of obstructions with aid of divers prepared a berth for the ship.[19]
The decorations and fittings, designed by New York architects
Service for United States Lines
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.[22] The Gibbs Brothers Inc would run her for her first voyages and train the crew.[18] 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.[23]
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.[24]
The ship's orchestra, the "SS Leviathan Orchestra", directed by Nelson Maples, was well regarded enough that in 1923 and 1924
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.[17] Her economic problems lay primarily in high labor costs and fuel costs which were compounded by
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.[27][28]
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.[note 3] 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 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.[29] The price of Leviathan was a significant portion of the sale at $6,782,000.[30] The lines had been supervised by the Merchant Fleet Corporation under USSB/EFC with 630 employees and that organization began dissolution.[29]
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.
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.[35] 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.[17]
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Swimming pool aboard the Vaterland
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USS Imperator (at left) and USS Leviathan (at right) at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa 1919
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SS ''Leviathan'', painted in 1925
Footnotes
- ^ The line was itself a USSB/EFC operating entity until sale in the 1930s.
- ^ 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).
- ^ The USSB noted that since it was divesting itself of shipping lines there was no point in reconditioning these two ships.
References
- ^ Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Vol. I–Steamers. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914. VAR–VAU.
- ^ The Marconi Press Agency Ltd (1918). The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. London: The Wireless Press, Ltd. p. 687.
- ^ . Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ . Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/ImmigrantShips/Vaterland.html
- ^ a b c d e f g Naval History And Heritage Command (29 July 2015). "Leviathan (SP-1326)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d "The New Hamburg-American Liner Vaterland". International Marine Engineering. 19 (6). New York/London: Aldrich Publishing Company: 262–264. June 1914. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "New Shipbuilding Berth and 250-Ton Wharf Crane at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard". International Marine Engineering. 18 (10). New York/London: Aldrich Publishing Company: 438–439. October 1913. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "Launch of the Hamburg-American Liner Vaterland". International Marine Engineering. 18 (6). New York/London: Aldrich Publishing Company: 247. June 1913. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ )
- ISBN 1570720746.
- ^ USS 'Leviathan' History Committee (1919). History of the USS Leviathan. New York, NY: Brooklyn Eagle Press. p. 50. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- LCCN 66060015. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ Sorick, Meg (20 June 2018). "Research Notes – The Great War (9) Plague Ship Leviathan". Megsorick.com. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Sixth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1922. pp. 173–175. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (March 1921). "An American Marine Manager". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 145. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f "Vaterland/Leviathan". The Great Ocean Liners. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56311-824-1. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ Seventh Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1923. pp. 33, 35. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ a b "The SS Leviathan". GG Archives. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ Eighth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1924. p. 60. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Ninth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1925. pp. 145, 149, 160, 179. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- TIME. 16 July 1923. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ House of Representatives (1925). Grounding of the S.S. Leviathan. 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 (Report). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. pp. 481–541. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ "SS Leviathan Orchestra". Library of Congress. January 1923. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ "Storm". TIME. 15 December 1924. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-76070-637-4.
- ^ "Wet Leviathan". TIME. 22 April 1929. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ a b Thirteenth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1929. pp. 57, 59, 67, 88–89. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ Maritime Administration. "Leviathan". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1932. pp. 4–5, 76–77. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Monster out of morgue". TIME. 21 May 1934. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1933. p. XXX. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ "Monster back to morgue". TIME. 24 September 1934. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-80942-664-5.
Further reading
- Holt, Brent I. (2009). SS Leviathan: America's First Superliner. Classic Liners series. Stroud, Gloucestershire: ISBN 9780752447636.
External links
- "Vaterland/ Leviathan Home". Atlantic Liners.
- "Vaterland / Leviathan story with photos". Monsters of the Sea: The Great Ocean Liners of Time. Archived from the original on 3 August 2001.
- "Photograph from the Caldwell Kvaran archives". Flickr. 2 December 2009.
- "Photo gallery". NavSource Online.
- Library Of Congress Public Domain Archive Topic: Leviathan
- Leviathan at Smithsonian Institution (Links to artifacts held)
- "Model of Leviathan passes to Shipping Board". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 38, no. 4. October 1922. p. 591.
- "SS Leviathan - History, Accommodations, & Ephemera Collection". GG Archives.