The evening world. Newspaper, December 19, 1918, Page 20

ee COT SUN oy: — Lota es oe eee a Ss , . NE N . SS BIGGEST NAVAL TRANSPORT ESCAPED U- MONTH AFTER GERMANY’S AGENTS HAD RE- : BOATS, THOUGH GERMANY OFFERED $10,000 MOVED VITAL PARTS. , PRIZE FOR SINKING HER. | STORY OF THE LEVIATHAN, GREAT WAR FERRY ! Farwell, U. $. N., the ship's supply |during the war. The big transport officer, ‘His duties are as numerous | carried ninety-five navat gunners nd exacting as those of Commander| The amount of food carried Blackburn. it is his job to provide|by the Leviathan since the |for the feeding of a crew of nearly| States entered the war is so monu- 2,000 in addition to the number of|mental that her officers have given troops the vessel happens to be car-| up trying to keep track of the total rying. All’ manner of supplies re-| figures, quired by the ship, from the 4,500 tons Commander Blackburn told the of coal she consumes in a single voy-| writer to-day that it was imppssible age to the soap used in the baths,|to give figures that would even ap- have to be ordered through Paymas-| proximate the total amount of food ter Farweil. taken to France and England by the The Leviathan’s medical officer is) big ship. Surgeon George T. Vaughan, U. 8. N.|_ “We have figured that in a single R. F., one of the most popular officers| trip we have carr! enough food to aboard ship. Under Surgeon Vaughan| supply 13,000 people for — three is a staff of doctors Jarge enough to| months,” said Commander Blackburn, handle the work of any New York) ‘That would mean that in her ten hospital, |voyages across the Atlantic the Surgeon Vaughan in 1908 performed} Leviathan has transported sufficient an operation on the throat of Kaiser] food to supply a city of 130,000 people Withelin If, In recent months he has| for three months.” been heard to express the wish that| On every one of her ten trips the he had that uperation to perform over| Leviathan left this port with food again. “It would be one of those suc-| jammed into every conceivable space cessful operations in which the pa-| that wasn't occupied by a doughboy. tent dies,” he said to-day, | Having been designed for edfrying Sensational stories of thrilling en- | passengers, the Leviathan has litte counters between the giant transport | space for cargo, Her registered cargo and ficets of German subsea fighters | carrying capacity 1s only 3,000 tons. | Carried 110,591 U.S. Troops Across |. Atlantic in 10 Trips, on One Trip| Carrying 11,478 Men, Breaking World’s Troop Transportation |’ Record—Men Who Commanded | Her On Her History - Making voyages. By John W. Lawrence, H™: is the story of the Leviathan, told in complete and authentic 4etail for the first time, The log of this ship, greatest of all float- ing things, dates from September, 1917, when she was seized by the United States Government and converted from the Hamburg-American pas- | wenger liner Vateriand to the United States Naval Transport Leviathan. ‘The story of her carcer since the Stars ang Stripes displaced the three- } barred flag of Germany at her taffrail constitutes one of the most remark- f able and ‘brilliant chapters in the maritime bistory of this country, The feats she has performed under the direction pf United States naval oMcers will live in history long after the famous Leviathan has found her way to ¥ the scrap heap or to Davy Jones's locker. They will probably never bo | h equalled. 7 *And the best part of it all is that - a --~ | to the U b » that could 2 the Germans said it couldn't be done. | | : : fen crew that could deliver her deathblow. When they left their biggest ship IN} rut the Leviathan steamed dartae | have been circulating through every | However, she has the most spacious State in the Union from the day she | steerage quarters of any ship afloat made her first voyage to Liverpool | and this was packed solid with food- | with the Stars and Stripes flying from | stuft# on every voyage, Pe |her taffrail. She made that par-| ‘The ship has aiso great “chilled \ticular voyage to Liverpool for tho |tooms,” which were designed for the purpose of going into drydock to have | transportation of imported German her bottom scraped, beers to this country, These were . turned to valuable account when se THE LEVIATHAN’S ENCOUNTERS | jecime an American transport, They WITH U BOATS, accommodated thousands of tons of To listen to the Jackies aboard the | perishable food Leviathan one would believe she de- | CARRIED 11,000 TROOPS ACROSS, stroyed at least one submarine every WITH NO CROWDING, | voyage. They relate thrilling tales Although more than 11,000 troops }that grow more colorful with every were carried by th Le than in @ telling. The sea has had ,the weil (rts Cot ihers Wie Eo ercwas known effect of keying up their im- no confusion, and every man aginations. d his own bunk. There was no 4 The truth is very modestly 1 bY | doubling up except meal times, the Leviathan's officers, Thi de- | when the doughboys were fed in clare that the big steamer has had | three relays three actual brushes with U pboats.|~ When the soldiers go aboard the One occurred in midocean am the ship they are handed small printed others within a day’s run of the} bJoklets with complete instructions French coast There have been ! covering everything required of them numerous submarine “sear " but! during the voyage. The soldier's life the ship's officers will vouch for only{on the ship has been so thoroughly three real conflicts. }systematized that it has been pos- In two of these attacks enemy sub- | sible for the ship's ninety-five cooks, marines were actually sighted, twenty-eight bakers and seventeen In the other a torpedo was seen to| stewards to feed 11,500 men in just pass 150 yards astern of the ship.|seventy minutes. This is the Levia- —— the world lying at the Hamburg-|rcathed, logging thousands and thou- American piers in Hoboken, in Sep- | sands of ocean miles, delivering olive | drab armics to France and hi ] tember, 1917, and American naval of-| (IPA arm hp pe up records in speed and efficiency of Seers and jackics swarmed aboard.) 11.4 tho Germans themscives ney the Germans indulged in a sly smirk.| thought her capable ‘They figured that this 68,000-ton| All thie was accomplished by United | queen of the seven seas would prove| States naval officers who had never | fn unanswerable puzgle to the Yan-|had any previous experience in the| a operation of transatlantic passengor “They wouldn't be able to run her|linérs and by seamen who, for tho even if we had left her in perfect| most part, had never been on a ship condition,” they said. “But with all/of even half the tonnage of the directions for operating the ship de-| Leviathan. . stroyed and a few German monkey In the opinion of all those familiar Wrenches dropped carefully into her) with the great steamer’s war record vitals, the great Vaterland will stand|she has been handled better « and > This, according to her officers, is tne|than’s record, and her officers are these Americans on their beads, more efficiently by her American BACGAGE ROOM FORMERLY SWIMMING Pou nearest the Leviathan ever came to | proud of it. It never takes more than But the Germans hadn't figured on| crews than by those of Germany, Bhe being hit. She was never shelled, de-|two hours to feed 10,000 men on the ° ot | transport, spite numerous stories to the effect) tran 2 changed many shots No one who knew the Vateriand lad te P as she in 1914 would recognize the ingenuity, initiative and pluck of/ has developed a speed two knots fas. | through the Narro’ the American sailor any more than|ter than her original contract catlea |Germans never a record the| with her was in better shape, The ship had been lying at Hoboken | Commander Harold Cunningham, U. ed with thelthan when she left r builders’ {Ver Since August, 191% and her bot-|S. N. R. F. Despite the 8« Leads with pursuing U boats. equi they had figured on the fighting quali-| for, re i |tom was foul, Despite th fact) the bridge of Capt. W. V 7 7 the erio} Le a = y nd even at that her American | Vaterland or the Imperator. yards in Hamburg. It was on the P by: wd sad 1 July of this year was| the interior of the Leviathan to-day. a : irda i amburg as oO} Woodward succeeded in tuning er | vessel's >| e work of st One attack in July o| ¥ os ne cab “ tles of the American soldier, crew has never driven her at top| Capt. Oman was the first American |frst trial run to Guantanamo Bay engines to the point whore they would | her and directs her course, hus carried out by a fleet of at, leas pete A ela Besa lencalyGqertd deta The navy took hold of the Vater-} speed, commander of the Leviathan and to|she developed a speed of 24 knot deevlop sufficient power to drive her| handled almost entirely by Comman-| ("boats and, the ebpcomirgnbgprs tiers upon tiers of steel bunks for Jand, changed her name to the U. S| Tho great diMeoulty experienced by | him is duo a great deal of the credit} The Leviathan's log cards for her |68.000 tons at twenty-four knota per] der Cunningham. | 7 HAVE | BNA Es WER PIR NeS eed Gecurale Ine An iilustration of this can hour o} 4 0 Guantanamo. | watched h 8 work » that | co jers had received acc eine ene the §, Leviathan and in a few short|/ Commodore Hans Ruser, her German | fF the vast amount of work which/two east and west bound voy |” Cominander Woodward's nome tein live could. tall, Goramodo fand| formation es 0 the: big, transports! be seen in WAL was once the ehip's weeks she was carrying @ khakied | commander, and hi five Captains {| 8d to be done before the liner could} when she was flying the German flag | Charleston, W. Va. He is a graduate | his five Captains a deal about| movements, section of staterooms has been fee ) army ‘of doughboys to France. docking the big liner in Hoboken | 0¢ PUt into commission as a transport. |/do not show that she ever attained a of oui baie and is not yet thirty-five | navigating the Leviathan, Comman- In this fight one submarine was) moved and the space now accommo- ‘When the armistice was signed, this} has never been met with by any of| , His efficient service on the Levia- ed in excess of 22 knots. Ca hie sara o ¢ Rie f ~ pee the | de a eae lt pode ons COM 9 nn wentee if ee ee Peng Be Gates 000 troops. 4 ¥ 1 “if f est steamer orld he was|ican naval officers aboard the of explosive she! hat. Was. Ghee ae three-funnelied monster had made|the naval commanders who have| tan resulted in his promotion to the dore Ruser, her German comman- }joath to talk of what he had done tofathan who has successfully he bytes mr) eight Bixsinch guns. Two ofl end net ee, . pea: ne aren a nce ten round trips across the Atlantic as|been on her bridge wince she was| "2k of Rear Admiral lor told the writer when the slip | fit the Leviathan to do her part in] the Job that "couldn't be don¢ these rifles are perched on the fo'castle| sick bay with 145 beds, two operat- @ naval transport and had deposited | taken over by this Government. Capt. Ow remained in command] made her maiden voya to New | te Laat hes aoe the country whose work hes yon & samirarion head, two in the forward well deck,|/ing rooms and a bacteriological Ia- ‘ ye 2 5 fare oh at ie fs ened for | Me She once flew spect of old Atlantic skip ‘i . yell dec two on|boratory. The ma " ‘a grand total of 110,591 American sol-| It will be remembered that both of the Leviathan until Mar 4, 1917,] York that had been designed for He smiled bashfully when askgd to | here road, He took ain ee after well deck and two o! Latta ny Pi ee ane diers in France and England. the Vaterland and: her sister whip, hagpi he was succeeded by Capt. H.}a sustained specd of 21 He | tell of his work in the cavern ns | of the seas up the narrow and treach- The submarine in the July attack| decorations is now the main_ troop the Imperator, cated a ryan, U, Ill health caused | denied that she had been constructed | room of the ex-Vaterland t}erous Mersey and put her into th ae * .|mess hall. The forme dies’ } x MAN CARGOES + Created all sorts of | (, he easiest * * pony} Was seen to sink, the Leviathan's of. ss hal rmer ladies’ lounge SENT eey EVER CARRIED, |%Mfusion tn the North River every |C&Pt Bryan to retinquish the bridge, |to compete with the Lusitania and n't the, eaaleat Job 1 ever tackled.” | co plicated ‘and, intricate Livarport | Te" Pes tS tao weseen by aabioe iy now a rest room for the ships " | ume they vey and he was succeeded by Capt, W. W.| Mauretania abd said he did not be ether eed hd a job that} docks 01 . sions and her bow and stern pointed] officers. hat was once the Ritz- xast July the Leviathan sailed out |me they arrived here, Tt took any- | mnane Was succeded by how the Le.|ucve she could do better than n't be done.’ ‘That kind of a Job! Up in the big oval room that was] Sowards The ‘transports, convoy | Catiton restaurant Is now the mess Jot the Port of New York bound for| "here from two to five hours for Rede cteaks ” ““lknots and a fraction per hour af Weta, the United Btatestoncs the Vaterland's luxurious li-| ar 3ve om the other raiders and sank ut| hall for army and navy officers and viathan's skipper. time of it fo! . because it was hard to t ts the man who d. D brary, on E deck, sth ny first class civ! Brest with a total of 13,558 souls these vessels to tie up at the Ham- an passengers least one of them. neice tapers iedipdeaghir a AM | NAVAL OFFICER PERFORMS THE oe Leviathan as she is running : vi 1 to telllacia in the capacity of “business | least one of them. |. ol who happen to be aboard, It 18 also " er to cross after leavin, rt eviathan 8 just how much damage the Germans ver’? e ht To si ha eo ne Leviathan gt | used e eve © for sh f Mboard, tho greatest number to crows | AT ting ie TASK THAT “COULDN'T [othe ER Oa tAuarican orew | Manian. manager” of the ship. To say that Be] sinking a submarine, as no prisoner | Used in the evening for showing mov. fany ocean on any ship, On that voy. [QGQraine BE DONE.” aboard would give Mauretania al “They did all sorts of tricky things] {3 the busiest person. o h or body of picco of wreckage was | !n& pictures pld smoking room ‘age sho established ber world's rec- ‘casion the Vaterland, in iin ah ee rane cise race across the ocean. One Of with those engines, and it was neces. | {Ver would be stating the case con-| nicked up. ‘This is required by tho | Nit its almost price jens wood carv- | tn troop transportation, She car- |2°king out of hor pier at the begin- he man who actually changed the | icy onicers stated that he believed, | sary to ferret them all out bi servatively. He ix Lieut. Commander) Government before official credit is|!nks js now an bly room. for offic Chaplain ene A, McDon- ning of an castward voyage, shot | Passenger liner Vaterland into the|i¢ the proper coal were used in suli- |threw the steam into her, If we J. Hy Blackburn, U. » the Levid-} given for the sinking. sf a ried 11,478 soldiers, ' te by [Completely acrom the Hudson and|ansport Leviathan, however, 18)cient quantities, that the Leviathan | overlooked anything there might } than’s executive oMcer. as been|_In this encounter the glant troop- | he Foese Feignese Servicem Sees an This record eclipses that made by ane could lower the Mauretania Wan. beon an aceide that would have sa) res 7 rammed the Southern Pacific piers | Lieut. Commander V. V. Woodward on the New York side, Two coa)|U: 5 N. the ship's chief engineer. barges were sunk and a steamer} OP Licut. Commander Woodw enn. seni the ginst time B| What was the main hall and grand rldpt pin 7: "| stairway has now been decked over of defense that was made in Amer: | and is being used as an ts.lation ; exec , officer of the Leviathan n the Germans | executive off At they wore [ever since she was taken over by the iff up a pipe} Government, Through bis efficient! (oq Te consists of a submarine bar- itiantic worid’s record of tour days|done more dama: ien hours aud forty-one minutes: did, Maybe th I's| Rear Admiral Or th t's wh an, Capt. Bryan] figuring on, They'd s\ the huge White Star liner Olympic, England's star troopship, when she gailed from Montreal in the summer | gamaged, shoulders fell the work of untangling | 1. Phelps ure liberal in their | somewhere about forty fect beldw the | hands paeerigtthes necessarily arise [250,184 down by an American jin: Ward for contagious onsen, The Nias 700 C . \p nike done un the La@- | waterline, and it would take us a wee age of details sa so | ase | . in rn | entra r a - of 1916 with 8700 Canadian troops| pny smoothness with which the] the Leviathan's crippled engines, | werk domander Woods |to locate it, Moat of the trouble took | in conducting the altairs of 4 Hoating| veNyon hue tworof these, one mount. ROW dict Kitchen and sleeping aboard. mammoth Leviathan has been han.|Which had been mutilated, scarred! ward, m and his staff they give | week to locat a few hours to! city. S ‘ : ed in the stern and the other in tho| Quarters for senttios. one paw The Leviathan seldom made 4 | died by her United States Navy navi. | 404 rendered useless by her German the credit for the splendid cond.tion | ix Nanged about him in his office areliow. From each end of the ¥ {x| Pompela ith its 60-foot swim. . staff of assistants, mostly petty at {s|ming pool is now used for baggage yage as ransport with sen th . c > at {the giant transport js in to-day me- Sut the credit doesn't belong to] bis stafl of assistants, mostly petty! nurted a depth bomb containing 350 |! 5 meeward Voyage as 8 transport Gators has been the marvel of ship.|crew. He a i the task that | oy asioally me, It belongs to the officers and | officers, and a corps of stenographer’. | pounds of TNT, the most deadly ex- | and) mall. Jess than 10,000 fighting men, On sev-| ping circles both here and abroad, | “couldn't be done ‘Most of the engineering force that|men who worked under me. ‘They | Nearby is a telephone switchboard, | htosive known. The bombs drop into | , er Aa ane a Lfuied Pr | ra} trips she had close to 11,000. When © yO 18 N. When the Leviathan was turned) went aboard the Lev.athan when ‘he! worked and night to get those} Which connects him with nearly &l the water at a distance of 200 yardy| have been removed and are stow n Capt. J. W. Oman, U. SN, H a 5 & hastens n the ship and way in one of the former Hamburg- In moving this American Army to] took the Leviathan out for the first |Over to Woodward her engines had |German Mag was hauled down is st. Ti engines In shape so that the vessel thousand extensions 0 he ship on each side of the vessel and explode e sboard sides Lieut, © ner | coulc a c . ni n| with the outs de A. at a e of seve: y-fiv c American Line \tapps France the Leviathan never lost @] time there were those who been all but wrecked. A well-known |\poard. | Beside ae tite oe peu = a hen dit In win the course of a. five minutes’ |at a Senin of eavsntyeve teat, | wouldn't be right to close this man, never had a serious accident,|ing to wager that he wouldn't reach| firm of marine contractors in this|jones, W. H. Schluter, K. W. Andrews | If you're going to give any eredit to | conversation with an Evening By one HUG EMARINE GARRAGE” GUNS. story without mentioning one ofticer never varied from the schedule lald| Ambrose Channel without a inishap,|port looked her over and agreed that | H. 1. Edwards, W. Lau, J. 1. Parker, | anybody give it to them, They de- | reporter to-day Commander Black- r. | Wao ia av proud Oo! p's ‘ Hf a ey "Watson, F ve ie reporter terete to issue twenty-| When both of the Leviathan'’s Yas though she had never been Ger- Nee ee ene The te cnr | cents Oman now ® Admiral, |"It couldn't be done.” Ono expert sald | Rie aS Mien Te Chari pape en Of sign a dozen papers,|guns are working the ship is com-|man, He Is Lieut, Commander Jean ment and accomplished all this In the | backed the 960-foot transport out of]it would take six months and cost |, Lowls Leventhal; Machinists T,| GERMAN EFFICIENCY PROVED) talk to Washington on the long dis-| pletely encircled with a submarine | Metayer, French Navy, who 1s the face of determined and repeated ef-| her Hoboken pier, took her to Guan-|close to a million to put the big ship| Wilson and W. H, Dunden—ail of the IN DAMAGE TO VATERLAND, nee phone and decline two dinner| barrage t would, according to her | vessel's French pilot. complish E waa due to Come ‘s, destroy any U_ bo: | Count 1 Hohenzollen Bas D0 pers of combine’ U best /tanamo Bay, traversing the treschar. |'A commission. le Aa Racuinerede that Com raan ta eewernte Tpeteet ce wander Black Hora Lanna theres Ue ape Me nate start Lae anata | ceade Chin record af itis former mnie pets to “get” her. be " rn ; yhen it Is considered that there] go into details regarding natur i ols tetive wha lle and force her to come to e pet it ought to provi¢ fleets to “get” her Jous shoals of the West Indies, and| Then Lieut. Commander Wood-|was no dry dock on the Atlantic se. [of the damage done by the wat iting World representative was|leaking and force her to come to the | time pet it ouht to provide him with wot the Leviathan from| surface. This barrage would divert| much food for melancholic retro- ‘The Leviathan was the most hunted | prought he acl 0 Ne yor! are ded by elever eutenants, one c x ¢ P| 1 y C' e ac tted b brought her back to New York as|ward, alded by eleven Lieutenants, one! hoard large enough to accommodate | land's German crew, He admitte earn it was the first time|or cause the premature explosion of |spection. It might bring before him hip on the North Atlantic. She was|though it was an everyday perform. | Ensign and two machinists from the|the Leviathan and that all the :cpair | however, that German efficiency ch P et : Re ith ‘ % ? a to be done le whe Cterized their methods of rendering| that such permission had been given|any torpedo, the Leviathan’s officers |a gaunt and filmy apparition of tho the prize de luxe for which every sub- | ance, | United States Navy went aboard the work nag 10 Be a6 ne While ene ARS Bised Snely aerate ane Be ae ee eens talen Over say. They ‘declare that the Y gun |departed Albert Ballin, whoso dream marine commander strove, The I ' Capt. Oman docked the ship within} ship and had her ready for C . : ba 1 1} a.| proved the most effective cure for t!/of Germanic supremacy of the scven Commander Woodward and his assise| The actual navigating of the big’ Working smoothly with Command-| Proved the fect or nie supremacy Of El ser himself offered a purso of $10,000 an hour and a half after passing side of two months. When he finished tants is all the more remarkable, l ccanenete has been directed by Lieut. er Blackburn is Paymaster N. V.! boat attacks of any weapon invented | seas made this story possible, able to ins SS DESIGN OF THE NAVAL TRANSPORT LEVIATHAN, SHOWING HOW TROOPS WERE ACCOMMODA1ED—Drawn by L. BIEDERMAN Se a re Aa 7k a a a 1 ae ae cube taaind Aas? inne