New-York tribune., 1922-04-10
Off
ToBe Fitted as
Merchant Ship
Giant Liner Sails for Newport
News and When Recon.
di,ioncd VIII BE Queen
of the American Marine
Once Great Troop Carrier
pride Of the German Fleet
Brounh, Nearly 100000
Men to Aid of France

s;ppine through the thick haze of
4. dawn He tire gray ghost of some
....odon the b,g ship Leviathan went
/ :. .,s acaia early yesterday morning.
TIE steel hawsers which for nearly
Are. years have held the liner to her
earrings a. Eoooken we're cast off yes
,.-dsy. Five bustliug tugs, putting pro-
,,ss at tie magnitude Of their task,
,,aed her into midstrcam. The echoes
:, three triumphant blasts from the
,s,ost Of her mighty siren rolled over
Il. Jersey fats and beat around the
sI,rt towers Of lower Manhattan. The
N,.r is or the way to Newport News.
shsre she WI, be rcconditioned and
,st in service AS queen OF the Ameri-
An merchant feet.
Silently, under the power Of the tugs
:cne, she moved stern first into the
t.esm, until, 100 feet from the dock
.sr propellers turned slowly over in
tie first revolutions they have made
.nee the biz ship ceased to be an army
transport.
The tugbost feet swung her massive
stern upstream and pointed her nose
.,xard the Liberty light. Clouds of
Slack smoke poured from her tunnels
Feeling deiicately for the deep water
Il the Manhattan shore she straight
ensd cut. Her propellors churned up.
spreading vast areas of milk-white
water beneath her overhanging stern
IS they took on faster and still faster
notion; and so at last her $4,000 tons
Of bulk moved silently out of New
York Harbor on the first step of her
Journey toward the sovereignty of the
American mercantile marine.
Few to See Her Go
There is a significant contrast be-
tween the final scene of the great
liners career as an army transport
end the spectacle of her appearances in
New York Harbor after the war, when
she was bringing back American SOL
diers at the rate of $4,000 q trip. Be-
cause Of the tide and traffic conditions
early on Sunday morning there we're
isw spectators for yesterdays cere-
nonial.
Two harbor tugs attached to slow
tovs we're the only other vessels NOV
Ing on the North River when the
Leviathan left her dock. Three women
-, and little girl, relatives Of mem
bers Of her crew, waved white specks
which were handkerchiefs from the
edge Of her forsaken dock; half a
dozen lcngshoremen, who had duty on
the spot and to whom the Leviathan
through long familiarity is just ship.
and knot Of chilled reporters made up
the sum total of the celebrants of this
latest launching.
Over in Battery Park score of
nsnch sleepers stretched cramped limbs
ind Muttered uneasily as the shrek Of
asr siren assaulted their dreams, and
'ast on Quarantine she met Dutch
ssap, the Ryndam, which dipped her
nag IN salute, while the ships band
aastiiy assembled and essayed "The
Tar-Spangled Banner" the passengers
song the rail cheering feebly.
Recalls Days of Glory
Accepting as truth Mr.. Kiplings
premise that ships have souls and the
lner is lady, the Leviathan may have
'sen little bewiidered at this ap-
parent lack Of enthusiasm, contrasting
'er prosac adventure Of yesterday
morning with the days when she might
not approach New York's shores with
cut the riotous prelude of screaming
Whistles, clamoring committees and the
NOISY welcome of hundreds of excited
Individuals aboard all manner of craft,
While thousands on the shore line
foared greeting to other thousands
packed along her sides and flags waved
everywhere.
From now on the Leviathan's Job Is
etrictly business. The big liner will
he reconditioned by the Newport News
Shfpbuilding and Drydock Company.
When she returns again to New York
" has been promised by the chairman
ot the United States Shipping Board
that the Leviathan will be the most
INJURIOUS, the most comfortable and
me most completely equipped ship in
the world.
IN actual size she must take second
place to the Majestic, of the White
Star Line. which also was at one time
German boat. but the difference in
sross tonnage is matter of only about
lVVo tons, trifie in bulk so vast.
Career of Adventure Begins
No ship in marine history has had so
eaVeneurous a career as the Leviathan
IN ner less than eight years of sea
sssNice' her first trip as the Ham
lurg'American liner Vaterland was
made IN May, 1914. Then by far the
afgest ship afoat, her coming was
,aeraided as epochal, The luxury of
Mf equipment, the record bre aking
fpsed which it was expected she would
AVain, as we'll as her tremendous size.
that time.
FOR three months the Leviat than held
.. position as queen of the North
~. ,snuc' and then came the war. When
css u was declared between France and
,a Jisse Britain and Germany, the big
',.ap was tied up at Hoboken, and there
'as stayed.
NJ WIN the entry Of the United States
,.,u ..~, me war in 1917, the Leviathan be-
S..s us the biggest prize of the' United
80 government. The United States
s.appins Board took her over, only to
3s~tnat 3 mat her engines had been
s,;r.g s,-;%sgeo' the vitally important blue
,a..s ,,;a.s ana plans of her vast and in
,a-.s a.s machinery destroyed. 1t re-
~. ..eo 4. months of untiring effort by the
l., ~. y. the United States Navy to put
!, 'q.o mo sailing trim again.
Decemoer she made her first run
!, Na.0pe with American troops, deck
s.,, - liverpool. On later trips she
s,os; always to Brest, where a special
Il, ing was constructed in the har-
''''ses safety.
Carried s4,1ss to France
ssalI"" H." early in 1915 until she was
syi.,h ,aken off transport duty the
| lsr.ts MADE regular trips back and
~ with American troons. as