vaterland

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leviathan

SS Leviathan, the ocean liner originally built as Vaterland (meaning "Fatherland" in German), was seized by the United States Shipping Board when the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917 and served as a troop carrier until she was decommissioned in late 1919. The Wikipedia article says, "Having languished in political limbo at her Hoboken pier until April 1922, a decision was finally made and $8,000,000 in funds were 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 boilers converted from coal to oil while being refurbished; virtually a new ship emerged. ... She immediately proved popular with the American public in the '20s, starting her career fully booked for her maiden voyage departing on 4 July 1923." See Americus Times-Recorder. June 20, 1923, Page 4 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89053204/1923-06-20/ed-... for a piece on her re-fit, which says, "LARGEST vessel afloat, equipped and appointed more luxuriously than any other craft in the world, the mighty steamship Leviathan, flying the house flag of the United States Lines will sail from New York on July 4 for her first trip to Southampton." The Atlanta Tri-weekly Journal. June 21, 1923, Page 6 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89053713/1923-06-21/ed-... reports on a 5-day trial voyage for the Leviathan from Boston to Cuba.

For more Flickr pictures, many from the Bain collection, tagged "USS Leviathan (ID-1326)" see www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ussleviathanid1326

Some of the people on the 5-day sea trial voyage are listed in timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/06/20/10599548...

Thanks for providing the additional background information as well as referencing the related photos of the Leviathan, swanq.

poor Vaterland, barely in service and then lost. She was not a much loved ship though she had a long and generally successful career after the war with the US as as SS Leviathan

see

Originally the SS Vaterland. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leviathan

The front page of the March 6, 1919 evening edition of The [New York] Evening World. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1919-03-06/ed-... indicates that she came in to the Army Pier in Hoboken, NJ.