New-York tribune., 1919-11-15
Stupidity, Not
Plot, Cause of
Leviathan Ruin
Carclcssncss and Blundcrs
of Germans Wrecked the
Machinery, Says Engineer
in Charge of Repairs
Aid Corroborates Him
Fault Lay in Personnel;
Liner Was Good for One
More Trip, Expert Says

German stupidity rather than Ger
man malice was responsible for the
condition of the giant liner Vaterland
WREN it was taken over by the United
States in April, 1917. according to Err
nest IL. b. Anderson, who directed tho
rcnairs. Mr.. Anderson made the state
ment in a paper entitled "Thc Propel-
N "h " of tho United States
ship Leviathan." which he read
s,eriay at hc general meeting of
the Society of Naval Architects and
M"r'No Engin"crs. at % West Thirty
ninth Street. The liners name changed
when she was placed in the United
States service.
The damage to the massive and intri-
cate machinery Of the liner. Mr.. Ander-
son declared, was. in his opinion which
was based upon seven months intimate
contact with that machinery, not dclib-
crate or INTENTIONAL but was due to
"frictional heat, generated by distor-
tion.' His opinion that the German
engineers had allowed their engines to
deteriorate and d d'1n't know how to fix
them was that expressed also at the
meeting by William H. Mackay, who
was made chief engineer of the Levia
than when the vessel was seized, and
assisted in the repairs.
Rear Admiral William L. Capps, who
presided, asked Mr.. Anderson if faulty
installation and operation Of the yes
sells engines had caused the damage.
Blames Faulty Personnel
~ should say faulty personnel" re-
piled Mr.. Anderson. ~ am confident
now, as | was then. that the engineers
of tie Naterland were in very serious
trouble with their engines before the
ship was laid up at Hobokcn.'
The Vaterland was on its second
voyage to New York, Mr.. Anderson
Hoboken. Instead of finding ITSELF
under the affectonatc and Intelligent
guidance Of it's engineers, he thought
the Naterland in its trip and q half
had jolted and twisted its engines
under the Needless eyes of their guard
ians until the vessel was on the brink
of disaster.
1t would have been possible. he
tn ought, to take the ship as it stood
return voyage to Germany, but the
necessity for thorough overhauling |
was imperative.
'Shc was good for 80 900 or, maybe,
10000 horsepower when taken over"
he said.
Mr.. Anderson is an Englishman. He is
employed by the Parsons Marine Steam
Turbine Company, Ltd. of 2 Rector
Street He offered his services to the
United States government IN making
the Vaterland shpshape
Vessel Was Dark
The retiring Germans, Mr. Mackay
said, left the vessel shut up and in
darkness and took with them the plans
of it's construction which would have
facilitated the work of repair.
"IOu Will never run hPr.' the Ger
man chief engineer declared as he
stalkcd down the gang plank with the
ships plans concealed on him, but this |
remark, Mr.. Mackay asserted, was not
a boast Of damage wrought deliber-
ately but an admission that repairs /
TO the Vaterland's engines were a task
German engineers had been unable to
cope with.
1t took seven days, Mr. Mackay said
to ventilate the ship so that the ex-
plOration of its deepest and darkest |
passages would be possible, but in
t. roe months and twelve days the basic
trouble had been located and remedicd |
to such an extent that it was possible
to keep steam Ip.
I'VE didn't know what minute, while
gropng in the dark with the aid OF
~earchlights, something was going {.
happen to us. One day Anderson disap
peared for I've hours. After searching
Tor him for another hour | found him al
$50 p. N. in the bilge of the ship,
hunting for a certain bit OF piping.'
Attempts at Repair
Such solitary hunts as this convinced
Mr.. Anderson of the untitness of the
German engine room crew. He found
evidence of utilc attempts to repa,:
the blading in the turbines. No less
than sixteen passageways had been cut
through the housing of the engines to
reach the blading. In one Of these pas
sagcways an eightecn-inch chisel was
found, left, Mr.. Anderson was sure, by
some aw kward repairman who had quit
his job in disgust
In order to repair the blading An
derson and Mackay> enlisted the full
force of specialists In each of three
big American manufacturing concerns.
The Westinghouse Company sent its
turbine experts by special train from
Pittsburgh. Another special train car
ried ~ experts of the General Flee
trio Company and the Coe Brass Com
pany transplanted a shop bodily from
Connecticut to the navy yard in Brook
lyn IN order to make the necessary