The Glenwood post., 1923-03-22
uacIe Tets Bed Time Stories
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-ups, Too
THE QUEEN OF THE SEA

ssI've got bigger boat than that,
said Ruth as she watched Jack work
ing with his toy sailboat which he was
getting ready for next summer.
"You have not got bigger one,'
answered Jack. "Yours may look
longer, but this is much bigger boat
because it has more room inside. 1t
has three masts and yours has only one.
Wait until I get it finished. III sail
it in the bathtub and show you some
thing that is boat"
$50 boats are the subject of con-
versation today" said Uncle Ted as
he walked into the room.
''Hello, Uncle Ted" replied the
kiddies. "when did you get back'
We thought you weren't coming until
tomorrow.
"Just landed, children. Came right
home. Had a wonderful trip. Speak
ing of boats, saw a BOAT. Want
me to tell you about it''
fYou bet we do,' they replied.
"You see, kiddies, was at Newport
News, Virginia, with several members
of the United States Shipping board
when they inspected the giant liner
LEVIATHAN. That great ship which
was built as the Vaterland by Ger
many was put into service In 1914.
After making three trips across the At
lantic under the German flag the war
broke out and she was interned in
New York harbor. She remained there
until 1917 when the United States en-
tered the war and was put into service
as a troop ship after having her in-
terror ripped out and hunks put in. On
one trip during the war, counting
troops, and troops to run her, she car
ried 1858 souls. That gives you
some idea of her size. After the war
she remained idle for two years and
then the shipping board wisely decided
that she should be put into the passen-
ger service as soon as possible and he
made the finest vessel in the world
The work of reconditioning her was
started at Newport News in April,
1929. 7 saw her March .. and she will
soon be ready to go to Boston to have
the finishing paint put on her outside
and then to New York from where she
viii sail under the Stars and Stripes.
1T really will be maiden voyage be
cause she will be Just the same ms a
new ship. They tore everything out
inside and made her over. They have
changed her from coal to oil burning.
All the wiring and piping is new, there
being about 500 miles of wire. 7 talked
with Mr.. Gibbs, the wonderful enginee,
in charge of the more than $500 mer
who are working on her, and he said
the Germans refused to give them any
of the original plans to work from
That means something when you real
ize that the ship is $50 feet long, 100
feet wide and with n gross tonnage Of
54,2s2 tons. Why, the largest battle
ship in the United States navy, the
WEST VIRGINIA, is being built
alongside the Leviathan, and from tn,
top of the Leviathan, and from tht
ginia looks like n rowboat. So with
out plans. t was some Job The Ger
mans wanted one million dollars for Z
set and Mr.. Gibbs said that even had
they been obtained he wouldn't have
trusted them. It was necessary fo,
the men working on the plans to make
an entirely new set and thev did So
saving the United States three quar-
tiers of million dollars.
"The finest thing to me about the
ship IS that American engineers made
the plans, an American shipyard is be.
ing used for the work, American work.
men are doing the work and only
American materials are being used
Foreign shipyard men said it couldn y
he done without the original plans. II
has been done. The need for ships
ike the Leviathan in our passenger
service is greater now than ever. Ad-
miral Benson of the shipping board
has pointed out that with the allot-
ment of navy vessels under the treaty
signed at Washington the only way we
can have large ships available is by
having them in our nerchnpt ,p,r;ra