SS Leviathan
SS Leviathan, originally built as the 'Vaterland', was an ocean liner which regularly crossed the North Atlantic from 1911 to 1934. The second of three sister ships built for Germany's Hamburg America Line for their transatlantic passenger service, she sailed as the '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.[1]
General
1923 In June of this year, the Leviathan ran her trials and established a new liner record for speed, by steaming for twenty-five hours at an average speed of 27.48 knots. The owners of the reconstructed Leviathan made a claim that they possessed the largest ship in the world based on the new gross tonnage of SS Leviathan after alteration of 59,956 tons. But it was proved later that the White Star Liner Majestic was no doubt the larger ship.[2]
1924 "AN effort is to be made apparently to increase the speed of the United States liner Leviathan by fitting her with new propellers during her winter overhaul and reconditioning. According to a correpondent of the Journal of Commerce, the new propellers will be of the three-bladed type, and will be of a slightly different pitch from those now employed. They are designed, we learn, from the results of experiments which have been made by American naval experts..." [3]