SS America | “Late Competitor” | The Flagship of America (1/5)

The Late 1920s and Early 1930s were a Golden Age for Ocean Liner Travels. European Shipping Companies ruled the Transatlantic with prestigious Record-Breaking shifts and many became widely known names. In 1921 the failed United States Mail Steamship Company was consolidated to form the United States Lines, The Company was co-founded by Kermit Roosevelt Son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Their Passenger Fleet consists of Many German Vessels seized after World War I and one of these was the SS Vaterland renamed SS Leviathan if you fledged the numbers the SS Leviathan was the Largest Ship in the World. The Conversions to an American Passenger Vessel we're overseen by William Francis Gibbs. The Project was the First major contract awarded to his newly formed firm Gabes Brothers Incorporated and later renamed, Gibbs and Cox. Gibbs oversaw the project with his characteristic obsessive attention to detail but the SS Leviathan proved to be unsuccessful with the passengers. Because of the United States prohibition laws outlawed the sale of Alcohol on US Registered Vessels. While the nearly identical Cunard RMS Berengaria and White Star Lines RMS Majestic proved to be quite popular to passengers and got its reputation as ‘party ships’. And the SS Leviathan proved to be a very unpopular vessel to the United States alone. Gibbs alone proved to be more successful designing Wonderful Ships for the Pacific Base Maton Lines and four more vessels for the Grace Line. Gibbs work was so popular and innovative and he finally earned the rights to design his own Ocean Liner but the struggling United States Lines was continuing to accumulate Debt and went through a series of Ownership changes throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Despite this issues the Company was heavily subsidized by the United States Government and the passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 provided the funding necessary to build new Passenger Vessels. The SS Leviathan was proved to be a Financial Disaster for the Company and the United States Lines decided that their New Ship would be a medium-sized passenger vessel, well the size of the vessel and it's speed would not be known Gibbs was determined to design a thoroughly modern ship that would test out the innovative designs he hoped to one day incorporate the Vessel of his own.

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