U.S.S. Leviathan History Committee

“ The record of the U.S.S. Leviathan, queen of the troop transport fleet which made possible the successful participation of the United States in the war with Germany, is a record of consistent service and remarkable efficiency which upholds the best and noblest traditions of the United States naval service. The nation owes and gladly gives a great meed of praise to every officer and man, regular and reserve alike, who shared in the hardships, the dangers and the successes of the Leviathan’s great wartime service. ”

“ The army nurses were like ministering angels during that dreadful scourge. They were brave American girls who had left home and comfort in order to undergo peril and sacrifice abroad. Surely they have earned a place in Heaven. The bluejackets on board were second to the nurses in their unwearying patience and generous self-denial. When the army nurses left the ship in Brest, they wept and bade the sailors an affectionate good-bye. ”

“ Thine angels guard them with Thy peace and benediction. Bless this ship we beseech Thee and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy; guide it upon a tranquil course unto the wished-for-haven—guard our Captain, his officers and crew, and the soldier-troops and passengers committed to their care; let Thy holy angels dwell hereon to keep us in peace and let Thy blessings be always upon us. ”

“ The crew as before, turned to on the coal barges and inspired by the enthusiasm and excitement and experience of that morning, heaved the necessary amount of coal, 4,500 tons, into the bunkers in record time. The big ship had discharged its living cargo of thousands of troops, hundreds of officers and many passengers, had sent loads of stores to the grim destroyers, including thousands of bags of welcome mail from the folks at home and then proceeded to sea inspired with the hopes and desires of clashing with the submarine that had sunk the President Lincoln the day before. ”

“ It is easily seen that a ship the size of the Leviathan by reason of her water-tight doors would not sink for several hours after a torpedo attack or after striking a mine; thus the great danger to be avoided is the panic attendant upon such a contingency. The end to be attained is the conducting of all the troops in an orderly and expeditious manner to the weather decks where, equipped with life jackets and canteens, they can climb over the side on sea ladders rigged for the purpose and reach the rafts and boats already lowered into the water. ”

“ Good lookouts are absolutely essential to a ship’s safety. They have one of the most important positions on the ship. On their alertness depends the discovery of any submarine or suspicious object in his arc of lookout and the immediate and accurate reporting of it to the fire control officer, so that the guns may be brought into action in the quickest possible time against the enemy.
There were twelve lookout stations on this vessel—six on each side—so arranged that each lookout had an arc of thirty degrees to keep under close observation. ”

“ The Leviathan is the only vessel in the American Transport Service which can sustain a speed of twenty knots across the Atlantic regardless of weather conditions. A vessel, one of the Navy Transports, claims that she beat the Leviathan by three hours in a homeward bound voyage, but the Leviathan steamed 100 more miles in return than this other ship and also had to slow down when within fourteen hours of New York on account of the height of the tide, as she can only go through the Ambrose Channel, the entrance to New York, at high tide. ”

“ On the Declaration of War, April 6, 1917, the American robbers seized the steamer Vaterland along with others of the German merchant fleet that was interned in the United States. The crew and most all the ship’s equipment have been taken off. However, they found the machinery unfit for use and it took them months to repair it and get the ship in a seaworthy condition. The big ship was never built to carry troops and ammunition, and to make it fit for such uses the thieves tore out all of our beautiful art and all of the fine woodwork, regardless of all feeling. ”

“ The success of the big ship is due to their hearty co-operation. The part taken in the war by the Leviathan is known the world over, and the spirit of the “black gang” merits commendation and a chapter in this book.
While in the dreaded war zone, trip after trip, these boys plugged the fires, day and night, determined to beat Kaiser Bill and fool the submarines. The submarine scare from time to time aroused the firemen and the ship made far greater speed than even the original contractors thought possible. The pressure on the gauges at all times was on the blood mark. ”

“ The camouflage design was so perfect that when the destroyer convoy met us at sea it was necessary for them to approach us in the shape of a fan to make sure as to the direction we were going. Many persons have been misled as to the real use of camouflage on ships. Contrary to most beliefs it is not to make a ship absolutely invisible to a submarine, but to deceive the eye of the periscope in the submarine. A ship is disguised so that from a distance it appears to be going in an opposite direction, or on an angle to the real course traveled.
On Lincoln’s Birthday the Leviathan left Liverpool. ”

“ When the Armistice was signed this three-funnelled colossus of the waves had made ten trips across the Atlantic as a naval transport and had landed a grand total of 110,591 American soldiers in France and England. In other words, this single ship had transported to Europe one twentieth of the total number of the American Expeditionary Force.
This tremendous achievement did not depend alone upon the great size and speed of the ship; it was accomplished also by the splendid [8] spirit of the officers and men of the Leviathan and their unfailing devotion to duty. ”

“ When a ship is designed the Naval Architect always prepares a docking plan showing in detail just how to prepare these beds so that the ship will rest evenly without straining her in any way. Ordinarily, docking a ship up to 32,000 or 33,000 tons is not much of a problem, nor does it involve much of a risk, but on larger ships with all the necessary data known, those connected with the docking always feel easier when they see the ship setting safely on the blocks.
To give some idea of the size of the Leviathan consider our latest, biggest and most powerful battleship, the New Mexico. ”

“ How many developed pneumonia there are no means of knowing. Over 75 cases of the latter disease were admitted to the sick bay, most of them moribund. Of these, 3 improved so much that they went back to their compartments, 29 were transferred to hospital ashore, and about 40 died. As the records required to transfer patients from the army to the navy medical officers were furnished in but few cases, and as my records embrace all the dead, I had no means of knowing how many died in the sick bay and how many in the E-deck ward. ”

“ The Disbursing Division of the Supply organization is just what the name implies, and expends more real cash than a flock of youthful Pittsburgh millionaires. Besides paying the volumes of never-ending bills for never-ending supplies used on board, the pay roll of the ship’s officers and men are kept by the yeomen, who comprise the personnel of this division. The Disbursing Officer peels off seventy thousand cold iron men each pay day, which happens twice a month. Pay day, the day the Eagle does his big stunt, to the sailors is “Der Tag.” ”

“ But regardless of geographic origin, stormy weather creates desires much akin to all doughboys—a desire to lay off such joys as chocolates, bon-bons and poker; a desire to be left alone, not too far from the out board rail, with a package of that wonderful panacea, lemon drops, of which as many as three tons will be consumed during a particularly stormy crossing. ”

“ The sick officer was treated in the open air on B deck, had a special army nurse during the day, and a navy hospital corpsman at night.
Hospital Corps
I cannot speak in terms of sufficient commendation of the work of the hospital corps of this ship. Every man was called upon to exert himself to the limit of endurance during the entire round trip. No one complained, every man was on the job. Many of them worked twenty-four hours at a stretch amid conditions that can never be understood by one ashore or on a man-of-war. ”

“ The coaling of this vessel by the ship’s force, when from 4,500 to 5,000 tons of coal are taken on, is a large task, the largest coaling proposition ever accomplished by a Navy crew, as our largest battleships only carry about 2,800 tons of coal and they coal from colliers which are fitted with modern machinery for handling coal cargoes.
Too much credit cannot be given to the crew of the Leviathan. They worked faithfully, earnestly and cheerfully. The men were all young, the probable average age being not more than twenty years. ”

“ Like most passenger vessels she is designed to have a slow and easy roll, which means that she has not a great margin of stability. In entering New York, bringing troops homeward, it is necessary to keep the troops in control and evenly distributed, because in their excitement and happiness, they tend to rush from one side to another on the passing of every cheering ferryboat, heeling over even this great ship. ”

“ Verily, the life of the Supply Officer is far from being a bed of roses.
Five distinct divisions of the Supply Department were organized during the early days of going into commission—Commissary, Disbursing, Sales, Storekeeping, and Officers’ Mess—each in charge of an Assistant Supply Officer. The original plans of organization and operation, evolved by Captain G. C. Schafer, were developed and carried out by Lieut.-Comdr. F. Simonpietri, upon whom rested the responsibility of filling the office of Senior Supply Officer on the Leviathan’s maiden trip with more than ten thousand men on board. ”

“ A lighted cigarette upon a dark deck high in the air may be seen a half a mile at sea and thus would enable an enemy submarine to radio a lookout warning to another “sub” lying in wait ahead. These pests of the deep generally worked in pairs. To show how strict the rules were one man was court martialed and sent to prison, an officer was court martialed and reduced, and an army chaplain, who was assisting the chaplain of the ship in administering to the dying, was threatened with court-martial because he had opened a port slightly in response to a dying soldier’s request for air. ”

“ Thus during the war, in rushing troops to France, and after the Armistice in the great task of bringing them home again, the Leviathan proved herself of greatest value to the government and her great achievement will forever remain an undying credit to the United States Navy, and the men of the Navy who manned her. ”

“ As the slack water at Hoboken is after the slack water in Ambrose Channel, we enter Ambrose Channel then at high water and carry slackwater all the way up the channel and dock at Hoboken on the high water slack tide. On sailing from Hoboken she is undocking on the low water slack tide, so as to arrive in Ambrose Channel at the next high water. The deep draft of the ship on leaving New York, namely, forty-one feet ten inches, requires that in leaving New York Harbor and as far as the Narrows, the ship must seek what might be called the prehistoric gorge of the Hudson River. ”

“ The ground tackle on the ship was all that could be desired. Of the three Hall type anchors, the largest, or stem anchor, weighed a little more than twelve tons. The other two, port and starboard, tipped the scales at eleven tons. These little trinkets were the only articles on board considered safe from souvenir hunters. For the information of landsmen, the “anchor watch” has no connection with the anchor itself, but is merely the men on watch as Officer of the Deck’s night messengers while the ship is at anchor. ”

“ These tanks have hot soapy and clear water in which the men wash and rinse their mess gear, returning to their compartments by other established routes. All the mess lines, both to and from the mess, are kept under control so that in case of an emergency during the messing the men may be brought to their proper stations quickly and without confusion. This arrangement of the messing lines and mess hall has kept intact and separate the feeding space of the troops from their sleeping quarters, an arrangement of much sanitary value and in evidence only upon United States Navy transports. ”

“ Vernon were on board, each body being draped with the flag which they had heroically died for. These thirty-six victims were trapped in the fire-room of the Mt. Vernon when the torpedo struck her and they had no chance to escape before the water filled the lower compartments. The loss of life would not have been so great had not the ship been torpedoed at a time when the fire-room watches were being relieved, for at such time there are almost double the number of men in the fire-rooms. ”

“ We were rapidly approaching the war-zone and the men were continually cautioned not to neglect wearing their life-preservers at all times, day and night, not to undress upon turning in, and never to strike a match on the open deck at night. In fact, it was contrary to ship regulations for an enlisted man to carry any matches at all about his person. ”

“ The English mode of travel was another puzzle to the American Bluejacket, there being three different class distinctions. It seemed queer to an Englishman that an American sailor should ride in a first class compartment on a train supposed to be only for the “higher class” people. It took our bluejackets quite some time and cost a few black eyes and bumped noses to convince some Englishmen that an American would not stand for any inferior rating. ”

“ Splendid co-ordination existed at all times between the Navy Yard people and the ship’s force which helped materially to expedite the work. Considerable effort and labor were required to get the ship in readiness to receive the guns, mounts, etc. Gun foundations and gun platforms had to be built; blast bulkheads erected in proper places so as to protect one gun from the fire of the other; certain portions of the deck were extended in order to give the after guns a greater arc of train. ”

“ One strict rule had to be made in connection with the embarkation, which was that no meals would be served until all messing details were stationed, and although it seemed harsh, an amusing incident proved its value. Soldiers are akin to sailors, inasmuch as they are blessed with healthy appetites, so that invariably when troops arrive aboard they are hungry, and if not restrained naturally gravitate to the kitchen. The first troops aboard followed their natural instincts and wormed their way into the galley. ”