SS Leviathan: America’s Failed Superliner
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
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The SS Leviathan, formerly the German SS Vaterland, was launched on April 3rd, 1913 by the Hamburg America Line and was requisitioned by the United States during World War 1. She was the largest American ocean liner yet and promised to help establish the newly founded United States Lines. Unfortunately, despite her popularity, she never lived up to her potential.
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Sources:
A Man and his Ship by Steven Ujifusa: amzn.to/2ThE88x
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Video Credits:
Prelinger Archives
US National Archives
Internet Archive
US Library of Congress
Pond5 - retroklips
Music:
Music provided by Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
Martin Landstorm - A Caper Story
Martin Landstorm - Night Howl
Duke Herrington - The Hungarian Mole
Peter Sandberg - My Heart Is For You
Sven Linvall - Ernst
Soleil - It’s Too Late (Instrumental Version)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro: SS Leviathan
0:54 Chapter 1: A Kaiser’s Ambition
3:48 Chapter 2: A Palace at Sea
7:52 Chapter 3: The Spoils of War
11:45 Chapter 4: No One Likes a Dry Ship
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Thanks so much for watching! Which of the Ballin trio is your favorite?
The big WHAAAAAT? LOL
Great video. I'd love one on the Berengeria. Happy holidays to you and your viewers.
Vaterland pre war and Majestic with brown bridge post war
Imperator was meh, and hideous as Berengaria
Vaterland was lovely, but the USL ruined her with tacky funnels
Bismarck was fairly nice, but with a white bridge, her 'forehead' looked 'tall'
The SS Leviathan for sure, it the United States Line Livery is beautiful and the conversation process made for the best ship of the day.
Will you be able to reupload the Normandie video?
I would definitely say that the Majestic (ex Bismarck) was my favorite. Don't ask me why, she just looked clean and comfortable with beautiful lines. Especially when painted in the White Star livery with the gold stripe.
Scrapping a ship is better than allowing it to sit and rot, but I really, REALLY hope the interiors were salvaged and repurposed in Scotland. The woodworking from ships of this era is beyond compare and I legitimately get goosebumps looking at it.
Yes, I was thinking the same re the magnificent woodworking, bronze and metal work items and probably some other priceless things.
I worked for US lines in the 60s at One Broadway, NYC. The old timers there still talked of her greatness. At the elevator banks on each floor were copper and brass cigarette receptacles each filled with white sand. Each day they were cleaned and the USL logo of crossed flags was impressed by a cookie cutter like device. Clearly these were saved from the Leviathan. I've often wondered what became of them. yes, the Leviathan is my favorite
Holland America, Rotterdam is still sailing, 1930!
My grandfather played music on them back then, till 1940!
Vaterland !
Means Home land!
I hv one of the 12-psgr aluminum life rafts from s.s. U.S. Wrote the CEO of the conservancy but never heard back from her--I think she's Gibbs' granddaughter
@@johnjoseph3667 RMS Lusitania it was, County Cork, Ireland, what you have is not real.
That is so cool I would love to know what happened to those too! Evidently a lot of the interior fixtures were auctioned off in Scotland before she was completely scrapped, so most those interior fittings must be running around Europe still.
@@johnjoseph3667 so cool I know her personally I can let her know for you?
I'm partial to the Mauretania because my mother, and her twin sister, were born aboard that ship while it was docked in New York Harbor in August , 1923.
I think we all have a part of us that would much rather have a Mauretania than a Leviathan in our lives.
I lover her design, especially this massive façade for the bridge at the front flanked by vertical columns with very small bridge wings… Such a powerful, almost pre-Brutalist look, no doubt meant to project the might of her ‘Vaterland’ namesake. It makes for a very striking and beautifully imposing ship. I’d kill to visit her interior, with these split funnels freeing the space, it must have been absolutely glorious to see… These giant ships were truly one-of-a-kind ❤️
One of my mother’s cousin’s grandfather was an officer on the Vaterland, he may have been the first officer, Christian Schultz. After war broke out, he stayed in the USA and never returned to Germany. He became a successful cutlery merchant. I never met him but have fond memories of his widow, who we variously called Mrs Schultz or Mutti.
I am Don Thomas. Hopefully that means something to you. Much of the information you are using in this video, I researched and wrote. This is an awesome job. Your entire channel.
Being a dry ship killed her. What a stupid law it was.
It really was stupid. Although I could see Leviathan being popular with families though but either way I would've probably booked a trip with a Cunard or White star liner instead
I couldn't agree more. Prohibition killed the American liners...all of them. The US liners (with my personal exception to how great the SS US was because it will always be among my personal favorites) were always thought as feeble and poorly styled and constructed. It's truly sad that the SS US came out during the decline of ocean travel.
Prohibition was not a law. It was an amendment made to the Constitution of the United States. The 18th amendment.
Laws can be overturned through the court system if deemed unconstitutional.
The 18th admendment was created this way prevent the courts all the way up to Supreme Court from calling it unconstitutional.
It took another amendment to the Constitution, the 21st, to resind the 18th.
It was a horrible admendment, push for religious reasons. And it gave rise to organized crime. Which we still deal with to this day.
@@vapsa56 Yes, and that is why federal drug laws are unconstitutional. The constitution says nothing about drugs, therefore according to the 10th amendment they fall under the jurisdiction of the states.
@@truthseeker2321 As my 1884 born grandfather said, it was terrible because it taught Americans to have 0 respect for their government.
Really enjoying this series. Those ships so beautifully decorated, no expense saved there. Compared to todays ships, you really can’t compare. Those old times really had a sense of grandeur. 🇦🇺
Now this will be an interesting one. Leviathan had the markings of a varsity liner but was dealt many bad hands that ultimately killed it.
The worst possible hand LEVIATHAN was dealt was Prohibition
That and no running mate. Not only would you have to wait longer to sail, you then had less options. Compare this to the British, and mainly the French who gave free high quality wines at service, and its no contest as to what shipping line you would sail with.
@@aegonthedragon7303 My father's aunt took the Leviathan to Korea from the US where she was a missionary and teacher. I'm sure her interest wasn't in wine. :D I think it is a grand and powerful name. (I gather from this video the ship only took people as far as Europe and she had to travel on to Korea other ways.)
@@aegonthedragon7303 yep seems alcaholics would sail across the atlantic in a rowboat if you give them booze
@@aegonthedragon7303 Totally agree with these reasons. When I posted on a popular ocean liner FB group my reasons for the unsuccessful Leviathon (no running mate/s, Prohibition, and later the Great Depression) I was summarily shut down as being incorrect and contributing to those long standing myths about the SS Leviathon. Their reasoning was that the ship was mismanaged by the US Lines. And one of the dissenters that responded to my post was a semi well known author of maritime books. I think they were relying on info within Frank Braynard’s multi volume opus on the ship. I do not have access to those out of print books so I could offer no opinion. Logically, I continue to believe three main reasons why the ship was not a success. Cheers
While it's the only Edwardian-era "trio" of super liners that didn't suffer a material loss, the three German giants were "least likely to succeed" in the economic realities of the inter-war years. They were designed and scaled to fit a pre-war world of unrestricted migration to the US via continental Europe, anticipating that their tremendous passenger capacities in both steerage and First Class were to be amply utilized. Then the war changed it all. Of all the Edwardian giants, only the Olympic had enough operating economy that would keep her close to profitable even when poorly booked during winter months throughout the 20s. Leviathan burnt about the same amount of fuel as Majestic, but never had even close to similar passenger numbers. Being a dry ship not only meant fewer passenger bookings, but also no revenue from selling liquor on board, a considerable extra source of income for the shipping lines (and tips for the service staff). The fuel burn was 40-50% higher than Olympic. White Star clearly had a better handle on what it took to run big ships profitably. It was no coincidence that Cunard's Aquitania was more or less a copy of the Olympic Class.
Ironic that White Star had the better ideals on how to run the company in many ways but Cunard ended up winning.
While Aquitania did have many similarities to the Olympic-class, calling her a copy is hardly the truth! She had her own style of luxury, different deck spaces, colour themes, and had that Cunard spirit to her with the pretty red funnels and jet black hull. Not to mention the massive nosecone on that big girl, I say a good 200 feet of her over all 901 were pure bow.
@@SudrianTales titanic is one hell of a drug
Thank you for this feature, my great-great grandfather served on the Leviathan during WWI. I was hoping to see a feature on it since the coverage of the class itself
A German orphan adopted by the United States, the Vaterland/Leviathan has the most unique and complicated history of the Edwardian era Trio of trio’s Super liners. This ships time as a troopship can easily be equated to the Queen Mary and how beneficial it was to the World War One campaign. Fun fact: Humphrey Bogart sailed on the Leviathan during his Naval career.
@@earlofcruisegw1727 This is true. It is now widely accepted that the flu spread among inductees in the US at Carlyle Barracks in Pennsylvania and was carried to Europe.
Absolutely! She was the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth of her day when it came to troop transporting.
@@earlofcruisegw1727 It’s believed to have gone from Asia, to North and South America, to Europe, to Africa.
@@earlofcruisegw1727 she certainly did carry it there! An argument could be made that because she brought so many troops over with the flu and the war ended that much earlier. According to Frank braynards book over 8000 men were stricken with it on one voyage.
@@the4tierbridge That’s right, it had probably been in America for several years before it really took off at camp Funston in Kansas.
I have two extremely old photographs of the leviathan from 1918. They’re family heirlooms and I haven’t been able to find them online anywhere. I’m not sure if they’re one of a kind.
If those photos were taken by your family, then they are almost certainly unique and would never have been made public. Feel free to share them with us please! 😉
Yeah, I'm sure there is some sort of museum dedicated to these ships, send them an email with a copy, I'm sure they'd love to see them.
@@daviddunsmore103 yea there’s so many wanting to rip them for their own use and profit. Do it!
This is an incredibly underrated TH-cam channel. So much quality content. Thank you for all of this and keep up the exceptional work!
👍👍👍
Dumb. Speaks of turbines, and shows pistons!
Very well presented. I have one of the Leviathan"s menus with her orchestra's concert program for that evening. Also, several vintage unused postcards of the Leviathan from the 1920s. I would recommend "A Man And His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect And His Quest To Build The SS United States". It is an excellent, interesting read of Gibbs' life and goes into detail concerning the SS Leviathan, SS America, the WWII Liberty ships, as well as the SS United States and the United States Lines. (I also have a fold out seasonal sailing schedule from the US Lines 1934). Cheers
Great video! I’ve read that First Lady Edith Wilson was tasked with renaming the seized German ships. She chose Revolutionary War figures and Native American tribes for all ships but two. Woodrow suggested the smallest be named Minnow and the largest be Leviathan.
And we all know what happened when the SS Minnow attempted to go on a 3 hour tour... a 3 hour tour... :)
With so may troops on board it's not surprising that the 'Spanish-Flu' spread so quickly, especially as there's very strong evidence that it originated from America's Mid-West (despite it first being reported in Spain's media, most countries hushed up news of the pandemic to preserve morale)!
At a military base in Kansas is where the Spanish Flu first occured in 1917
@@shaunstrasser1 Yep, Fort Riley Kansas. The Army had a chicken farm on that base to provide eggs for the troops. The soldiers tasked with taking care of the chickens caught the flu from the chickens and it spread to other soldiers in the barracks who shipped out to Europe.
So appreciate you putting the great liners in the historical context of their tumultuous times.
Here's the thing: in the end LEVIATHAN was a failure but for her first two years she was the second most popular liner on the Atlantic despite being a dry ship behind BERENGARIA
She was also the fastest of the IMPERATOR class for the first two years her fastest crossing being a shade less then 25 knots on more then one occasion. She was beaten in 1925 by a westbound crossing of the MAJESTIC made at exactly 25 knots
late in ww1 and after, humphrey bogart was a crewmember. so severe was the spanish flu at the time, bogart assisted burial at sea of many doughboys who died on their way home.
I don’t know how in the world you find this vintage footage but it’s incredible
I worked during summers in the 1980s at the Science Museum of Long Island (NY). The museum is based in an old mansion where they had what was called the Leviathan room. It was furnished with paneling and fixtures and a small bar which came from the ship. The original owner of the mansion apparently bought those things at auction when Leviathan was scrapped. I must go back and visit sometime.
I own the 6 volume history book of the Leviathan and she was indeed a wonderful ship
That must be the set by Frank Braynard. I would love to have that in my library amidst all my other ocean liner books. I have seen just one of the volumes priced at $50 to $80. That's out of this retiree's budget these days. Congrats!
@@TheCarnivalguy i was able to
Find it a couple of years ago all
6 for 100.00
What a great set of books on the Leviathan! I have all 6 and they are amazing.😀
I have a large B&W photo of the Leviathan sitting at a dock, and possibly at the time of her decommissioning before scrapping, as she looks tired?! But she is quite something!
Thanks for this great history!
SS Leviathan is ex German liner Vaterland entered service in 1914 and was scrapped in Scotland in 1938 SS Leviathan was nicknamed the Levination
Hey there! I've loved getting into your channel over the last few months. I hope you eventually do a video covering the Soviet ocean liner MS Aleksandr Pushkin/Marco Polo, one of the last classic passenger ships in service. She was killed off by COVID, after surviving the collapse of the Soviet Union and 55 years in service.
This is an incredibly insightful post and tho I really like all of your vids this one is definitely one of your best because as a US Navy veteran I’m very interested in ships and I learned a lot from it. Thank you for your incredibly thorough research on this. I did not know Mr. Gibs of SS United States was involved in the Leviathan.
Just started watching your channel and binge watched all your videos over Christmas. Wonderful videos. Love the subject matter. Keep them coming.
Nice bud. Thanks for all your hard work on that video.
This is soo well done. Impressively professional. Amazing work. :)
Excellent as always, thank you and Merry Christmas.
And we're done. Always loved the Leviathan. She's my favorite of the Imperator-class and it's a shame she never had the career she was destined for. If only Gibbs got to build his original planned superliner: it would've made for the perfect running mate. Though we might not have gotten the Big U as a result, so it's a blessing in disguise, I guess. The Ballin trio were fantastic liners and I couldn't give a crap about the political environment they came from. If they had gotten to operate as intended, no doubt they would've been showstoppers on the North Atlantic run. Merry Christmas buddy. :D 🎄🦌🚢⚓
You’re videos are some of the best on these topics. Thanks for all your effort and keep up the amazing work
Can’t wait! This ship does not get enough attention
No it certainly doesn’t! Glad he made video!
My dad worked on her in Hoboken in the early 20s. What a great ship.
I really enjoy your channel! Especially your soundtrack. This one with the jazzy twenties vibe was great!
I just love the musical background tracks! Such novel choices that work really well with the excellent film editing and narration. Well done BOB, I look forward to enjoying many more of your productions.
Great vid with wonderful and unexpected facts and details. Thank you.
the original interiors are pretty impressive. i dare say even more impresive then titanics that most people are familiar with
During the hight of the spanish influenza pandemic in 1918, the SS. Leviathan is believed to be one of the first ships to transport the disease to Europe. The ship set sail carrying somewhere around 9000 passengers, and by the 4th day of it's journey 2000 had already passed away from Influenza and many more were ill with it.
2000 were sick but only 50 died.
Because of her new legendary fate, White Star’s “Titanic” is always touted as being ultra luxurious however Ballin’s Big Three of roughly the same era we’re not only larger but much more luxurious. Always sad when these great liners of the past went to the breakers because real ship lovers consider these beauties as almost human. Can’t say the same for today’s hideous monsters.
PAUL LEWIS;..I feel ya, Paul..
They really were not more luxurious if you compare both materials and architecture.
Yes indeed. What beauty, grace, or elegance is there to the 236,800 ton Wonder of the Seas, the 183,500 ton Carnival Celebration, or even the 79,000 ton Queen Mary 2?
Beautiful video, very informative, nicely produced, loved it! Wishing to God TH-cam had not quit showing the date that things are posted much of the time...
such an amazing, well done top-notch video! thank you for covering the most underrated class of liners ... would like to know more about the Bismarck too.
I love the Art Deco ship’s advertising of the twenties and thirties. Thanks for sharing and merry Christmas.
Veterans may not be the most elegant when you view her from some angles. However her Interiors were truly magnificent. Way ahead of both White Star Line and Cunard.
Only rich people got to see the luxurious interiors.
Awesome video especially the sound track!
Like her sister Majestic ,Leviathan developed major hull cracks due to the split funnel uptakes. It did not have the fire issues however due to Gibbs replacing all the faulty German wiring.
Thank you for another great video! Norman Friedman’a book on US Aircraft Carriers (in its chapter “The Orange War Mobilization Carriers”) mentions plans to convert Leviathan into an “XCV” auxiliary fleet carrier.
3:40 Btw, in german the V is pronounced like F, so the german word for fatherland is faterland, not "waterland"
Another great video. I am slowly catching up on them all. Leviathan would have to be my favorite of the trio.
You were right the first time. The contest was to see who had the biggest…uh…tool.
you do GREAT research.. good job! wouldn't it be amazing to go back in time and sail on all these incredible old ships?
9:53: Not true, the German crew did sabotage her machinery, doing things like removing bolts and filing down the threads so that they would give way under pressure, and clogging steam lines with lead. And as he was leaving the ship Chief engineer Otto Wolf said “You’ll never run her”.
Source?
@@harriettedaisy2233 The book “The great liners” published in 1978 by Time/Life books.
Another great and interesting movie. I love how you also squeeze in a spot of irony and humor here and there.
Looking at the ships design it is also intersting to see how some of the lifeboats are placed within the superstructure, a design feature which is standard today, a century later.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Really looking forward to your next upload 👍☺️
Good video. Interesting story and great music choice, well done.
Great vlog! Greetings from Norway!
Gibbs ultimately triumphed with his 38-knot SS United States, which still holds the transatlantic speed record for ocean liners.
Very well produced! Just one trivia tidbit: Albert Ballin's last name was pronounced as though spelled "Ballean" or "leen", not "lin" as in the name Lynn. Again, great work!
Gorgeous! Thank you !:-)
I just love your show dude !:)
The ol' Levi Nathan, and her sister Bargain Area. That's what they used to call Leviathan and Berengaria back in the day.
Another interesting and well made video :)
Your BGM is always very appropriate to the story you are sharing.
Really enjoy these vids.
Thanks for this, I did not know all the information you provided. My F-I-L was Treasurer for USL and once said no passenger liners ever really made a profit. US Grvmt subsidy was required just like airlines today.
Thats why the Navy chose USL for SS United States.
Around 3:06 he says the ship was laid down on the 23th of March 1912, just over a month after the sinking of the titanic. The Titanic sunk on the 15th of April 1912, nearly a month after the first liner was laid down.
Apart from that point little mistake it's a great and informative video. Well done
He said may 23rd he might have corrected it
You have a great soothing voice doing these videos!!!
bot
FINALLY A VIDEO ON THE VATERLAND/LEVIATHAN, yay!
A fabulous video!
That's a very thoughtful angle on her ultimate failure. That she was not just a victim of circumstance, but of the original hubris which created her, too. What a waste. Those interiors were truly stunning.
My great uncle came back from WWI on that ship. My grandmother had a SS Leviathan post card from him that mentioned it.
My g-grandfather sailed to France on the Leviathan when he was drafted into the AEF. I have a postcard he wrote when he arrived safely in port. 37th Buckeye Div 146th Inf Co A, hooah!
Very interesting. Thanks
I love your choice of music!😁
This might sound like a cliche request, however I would love to see a elongated video telling the story of Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic.
@4:35 you talk about her turbine engines and illustrate it with reciprocating engines....
I didn't know the hot cot system was used on this ship during the war. and for her to carry 14,000 troops on a single crossing comes close to the Queen Mary's all time record of 16,000 during World War 2.
Her normal troop carrying capacity was 10,000 but on certain eastbound voyages to Brest she was authorized to carry as many as 14,000 which apparently she did twice late in the war
@@johnmiller9024 I never knew she carried that many, it's quite a feat for 50,000 ton liner. Those long open center lines, resulting from the divided uptakes, must have allowed for some very large dormitories to house the troops.
@@cunard61 the divided uptakes certainly helped. That's why the US Navy needed the NORMANDIE in service as a troop carrier after the US entered WWII. She would have been to carry around 16,000 troops from what I've heard without too much issue or around 2,000 more then the QUEENs
@@johnmiller9024 Yes, the loss of the Normandie, was almost incalculable at the time because America didn't have a large troopship of their own in 1942. The West Point was our largest, and she carried less troops than the old Aquitania did on the Atlantic. We became quite dependent on our allied nations for help in moving our troops across the Atlantic. And that's even after we had seized a number of foreign flag ships in our own harbors.
@@cunard61 Very well said! I’ve always wondered why they didn’t work harder to keep Bremen in US waters. I know at the time they didn’t have enough caused seize it but it seems like a shortsighted mistake. But the loss of the Normandie is one of the great screw ups of the 20th century.
The sense you get of the ship is that it was huge. The rooms look so big - much bigger than on other liners.
The late maritime historian Frank Braynard wrote a 4 volume set of books on this ship. It was his favorite of the ocean liners. I've not read them but they sound fascinating. After Gibbs's conversion of the ship the Immigration Quota was established circa 1924. But even if there was no quota, the money had been made bringing people from Europe to America not the other way round. Nobody was emigrating to Europe in vast numbers. Good points were that the British lines allowed consumption of alcohol(Prohibition reigned in America in the 1920s) and the Leviathan had no viable running mate within the US Lines. A superlative large ship kind of misused. Another bit of history connected with this ship is in 1926 she almost capsized mid-Atlantic during a vicious storm and some repairs on the superstructure had to be carried out. I always thought this is where the story for THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE came from. Others say it was based on a Queen Mary incident. Thanks for the video!
The interiors are incredible, easily some of the best ship interiors. Especially for the time they were built.
Exterior was a bit meh, but not horrible. Majestic is probably my favorite of the 3.
Besides Titanic for obvious reasons, Majestic is my favorite WS liner. She’s flat out gorgeous.
The Imperator/Berengaria.
Although they were amazing ships with noteworthy careers, I’ve never cared much for exterior styling of the Baldwin Trio . On the outside I think they were boxy and very utilitarian looking. Almost “ Top Heavy “ in appearance !! By comparison, the Olympic Class trio had a sleek and yacht like sweep that was unbelievably breathtaking!! The interiors of the German ships though were indeed beautiful ! Loved the “Palm Court “ restaurant at the top of the wide raised staircase. I believe they were inspired by a famous hotel restaurant in NYC ? CLASSY!!
Yeah, I find them fascinating because on one hand their interiors are absolutely beautiful but on the other... they're just too much in almost every way. Bulky, top heavy, a little over decorated. I wonder what they would have been like to sail on.
This is easily one of my favorite ships of all time.
Albert Ballin's ships were simply magnificent. They were always superior to their English competitors in terms of technology and safety. It is a shame that none of these ships has survived as a museum/hotel. They were ships from another time.
But made a loss on every trip!
Your content is excellent, and I’ll certainly keep smashing the ‘like button’ (provided that I can hear at least one ‘t’ in the middle of ‘button’).
An excellent book which covers the great liners is The Sway of the Grand Saloon, a Social History of the North Atlantic by John Malcolm Brinnen. I go back to this book frequently.
It's a great read. One of the classic books for any fan of the great liners.
@@th8257 Last year, I got a copy of Frank Braynard's Lives of the Liners which I haven't read yet.
I love the idea of moving the boiler casings to the side! Never knew that!
Like Normandie
Excellent as ever, and the Big, ah, Ship measuring contest was inspired. Trivia note: Latin Imperator, emperor, was no doubt another way to, er, stroke Kaiser Wilhelm's ego.
Originally a title for triumphant generals in the Roman Republic, Imperator was adopted by Augustus as his chief title when he took over as , well,the first emperor. When the late Roman Empire became too big to manage, it was divided into administrative zones with sub-emperors called Caesars in charge of some of them, whence the titles Kaiser and Tsar.
Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Imperator in Latin, and the Holy Roman Empire was thus the Second Reich, with its Emperorship lasting right through the middle ages until Germany was formed out of most of its bits and pieces.
Outside the Holy Roman Empire/Germany, Imperator and its abbreviation IMP appeared from time to time all over Europe, from Imperator Napoleon to Imperatrix Queen Victoria, a title meant to butter up *her* ego as Empress of India. Grandmama couldn't be greater than Kaiser Wilhelm, so I think he was Imperator as well.
Which brings us back to big ship oneupmanship, his jealousy of the British Empire, and the need of the ship builders to curry favor.
4:33 The Vaterland is powered by steam turbines (accompanied by pictures of reciprocating engines)
I was thinking the same haha
Love the music.
Thank you
never heard of her. Thanks for the education
She will always been my favorite liner!
YESSSSS!!!! One of my prayers were answered 😭🙌🏾🙌🏾
I'm frankly shocked that you did not at least mention the Country's succesful Super Liner by name...SS United States. Jointly built with Federal funds for the United States Line, the Navy requiring a fast troopship in the early days of the Cold War. She holds the Blu Riband to this day easily outpacing any other ship. Constructed of fireproof materials she could be converted to accommodate 35,000 troops and equipment within weeks. My Uncle was her Chief Engineer through much of her life, and as a kid I visited her many times. Sadly she's rotting away in Philadelphia. The story of a top speed of 34 knots? It's still officially secret but she could maintain 48 knots for many hours. The true Greyhound of the Atlantic.
She may have been a failure but you can't lie that she looked HOT in the US lines livery and her ww1 dazzle
prohibition doomed her revenue, so uncalled for, shortcited.
Excellent thank you.
I think you meant October 8th 1919 decommissioning, the war only ended in November 1918
Around 11:18 - last repatriation voyage was September 8th 1919, not 1918. The stated decommissioning date is also a year too early.
I've read that when the US seized the ship in 1917, the crew was asked if they wanted to become American citizens and those that did were taken to Ellis Island for processing.