page_title: SS Leviathan
section_title: American service
hierarchical_section_title: SS Leviathan / American service
context_page_description: SS Leviathan, originally built as Vaterland, was an ocean liner which regularly crossed the North Atlantic from 1914 to 1934. The second of three sister ships built for Germany's Hamburg America Line for their transatlantic passenger service, she sailed as Vaterland for less than a year before her early career was halted by the start of World War I. In 1917, she was seized by the U.S. government and renamed Leviathan. She would become known by this name for the majority of her career, both as a troopship during World War I and later as the flagship of the United States Lines.
context_section_description: The U.S. 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 signed an agreement to maintain their intended acquisition until a final decision could be made. The Gibbs Brothers Inc., later named Gibbs & Cox in 1929, was hired to survey the vessel and her economic potential from every aspect when newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst objected to the purchase by claiming British influence over I.M.M, riding on nationalistic sentiment to stop the deal.
  The Gibbs brothers were allowed to continue by the Shipping Board even as the deal fell through, their first big task being the creation of a new set of blueprints. None had been received from Germany under the Versailles Treaty and the price was deemed outrageous. Instead an army of workers measured every part of the ship until a new set of prints had been made.
  Having languished in political limbo at her Hoboken pier until April 1922, a decision was finally made and the $8,000,000 in funds allocated to sail Leviathan to Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, for her 14-month reconditioning and refurbishment. War duty and age meant that all wiring, plumbing, and interior layouts were stripped and redesigned while her hull was strengthened and her engines converted from coal to oil while being refurbished; virtually a new ship emerged.
  The decorations and fittings, designed by New York architects Walker & Gillette, retained much of her prewar splendor of Edwardian, Georgian, Louis XVI styles now merged with modern 1920s touches. The biggest deviation was an art deco night club supplanting the original Verandah Cafe. And in June 1923 she was given back to the Shipping Board. Leviathan's measured tonnage had increased to 59,956.65 GRT and her speed trials showed an average of 27.48 knots. Thanks in part to Gibbs' clever accounting and the Gulf stream, she had become the world's largest and fastest ship. A claim that was immediately challenged by the Cunard Line who reminded them their RMS Mauretania (1906) still held the official speed record for trans-Atlantic crossing, as well as the White Star Line, who claimed the RMS Majestic as the world's largest ship as its length was longer, and its gross tonnage was higher as Gibbs used a skewed formula.
  By this time United States Lines, which had interested I.M.M, had been sold and contractually obligated to run Leviathan for a minimum of five return voyages on the Atlantic run per year. The Gibbs Brothers Inc would run her for her first voyages and train the crew until ownership officially changed hands. She immediately proved popular with the American public in the 20s, starting her career fully booked for her maiden voyage 4 July 1923. Her passenger average reached a strong 1,300 by 1926, making her the #1 traveled ship on the Atlantic, but given her capacity of 3,000 it was too little to be profitable.
  Her economic problems lay primarily in high labor and fuel costs which were compounded by 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. 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 ft waves and winds up to 100 mph, at times forcing her into 20 degree rolls. Eleven portholes were smashed and 32 passengers injured by the time the storm abated.
  The ship's orchestra, the SS Leviathan Orchestra under the direction of Nelson Maples, was also well regarded. Gramophone records were 
caption: SS Leviathan in the 1920's
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