In my UNITED STATES LINES historic review I want to
show the rise and fall of the last national shipping and post line of the United
States of America.
by Earl of Cruise
USS AMERICA (ID-3006), ex AMERIKA, built 1905 (HAPAG) - source: Wikipedia
After the war UNITED STATES LINES began building smaller and cheaper cargo vessels, which have been named with the suffix `American´ or `Pioneer´.
The
name UNITED STATES LINES revived briefly in 2000 and 2001, as a brand name of AMERICAN CLASSIC VOYAGES, for their Hawaiian
cruises brand with a single ship, the PATRIOT, ex NIEUW AMSTERDAM of HOLLAND AMERICA LINE, a subsidiary of
CARNIVAL Corp.. Construction started in 2000 on the 72,000 gt future PRIDEOF AMERICA, and a sister ship as part of the ProjectAmerica cruises. But in October 2001, in the wake of 9/11, AMERICAN CLASSIC
VOYAGES filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations. The two unfinished vessels have
been acquired by NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE for their new "Homeland
Cruising" NCL AMERICA division. PATRIOT was repossessed by HOLLAND AMERICA
LINE. The unfinished hull was towed to the LLOYD WERFT in Bermerhaven, Germany
to be finished by using all produced steel parts of both vessels.
"S.S. United States, Historic Ocean Liner of Trans-Atlantic Heyday, May Sail Again". The New York Times. 4 February 2016
by Earl of Cruise
© UNITED STATES LINES
The UNITED STATES LINES has been at
first a transatlantic shipping company that operated passenger, mail and
cargo services from 1921 to 1989. The passenger service with oceanliners was offered until 1969 - most famously by ss UNITED STATES.
The line became well known in the 1920s,
when two valiant rescues were made. These ships involved have been the ss PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT in
1926, and the ss AMERICA in 1929 both under the command by Captain George Fried.
19th
Century
Since the dramatic ending of the COLLINS
LINE in mid 19th century, after successfully crossing the North Atlantic, there
has not been any major US American steamship line. The congress was not able giving
a push to any new entrepreneur to come. So foreign companies got the main share
in post trading and passenger transport. It was similar with transport of gods
from America across the ocean. Primarily America was more covered up in itself
with its internal economic war - the industrial North and the agricultural
South, and the ever pending question about slavery. Then after the Civil War
came the time for reorganising the destroyed country. There was any place for
thoughts about any merchand fleet.
The vast continent had to be
"conquered" and "developed". Therefore railroad building
was a neccessaty. And with the big railroad companies and emerging trusts came
finally the wish for an uninterupted transport line for freight and at least passengers
from the USA to Europe. But too emigrants transporting from Europe into the
States and settling them on the granted land railroad companies owned.
Out of this later emerged the IMM, based
on PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD´s shipping interests
and J. P. Morgan´s bank
interests.
While on the East Coast in the beginning
of the 19th century the shipbuilding came to a first peak with the developement
of the clipper ships, which later have been refined in the former motherland,
Great Britain. These shipbuilders did stick to long in wodden hulls, which brought
COLLINS LINE the desasterous blows. In Great Britain started meanwhile the age
of iron hull shipping and with that the technological frontline. American
shipbuilders lost their track into the future.
Ships from America, flying the US flag,
concentrated on the coastal trade, or went into the Caribbean Seas. Further the
Congress began as of protectionism, starting work on a legislative, what is
later known as the JONES ACT (Merchant Marine Act of 1920). Protectionism from a country that is others
calling for opening the markets for free trade ... e.g. Japan in 1865.
After
WWI
After armistice in 1918 and the illfull
Versailles Treaty, the US Shippingboard finally possed the ships, the USA was
seizing in 1917 when she entered WWI on the Allied´s side. The Wilson
administration withdraw frustrated from Versailles and signed a single peace treaty
with Germany and Austria in 1921, with no paragraph of war guilt, but resting
with the reparations. The U.S. Shipping Board was by the end of the war encumbered with surplus
tonnage and government sponsored shipping companies.
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (ID-3018), ex GEORGE WASHINGTON, built 1909 (NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD) - source: Wikipedia
USS LEVIATHAN (SP-1326), ex VATERLAND (HAPAG), built 1913 - source: Wikipedia
1920s
The UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY was formed with three former German vessels among them
ss AMERIKA (1905), renamed AMERICA and ss GEORGE WASHINGTON (1908). Even if the new line contracted the former
owners NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD and HAPAG as general agents and shipmanagers, the
line failed due to no experience in shipping and mean passenger service, depsite the service of LLOYD and HAPAG.
ss AMERICA, ex AMERIKA (HAPAG) - own collection
Just after the collapse of U.S. MAIL STEAMSHIP in 1921 the UNITED STATES LINES was formed with the US SHIPPING BOARD. The new company steped into the contracts with the German partners of US MAIL and send ss AMERICA and ss GEORGE WASHINGTON on the New YORK - Bremen route. While the ss CENTENNIAL STATE served the New YOrk - London route.
One of the founders of UNITED STATES LINES was Kermit Roosevelt, third son of former, 26th, U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.
ss GEORGE WASHINGTON (ID-3018), ex GEORGE WASHINGTON, built 1909 (NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD) - own collection
In 1922 additional second hand ships were acquired and named after various U.S. presidents. 1923 was the ss LEVIATHAN, the 1917 seized ss VATERLAND and one the largest liners in the world, brought under UNITED STATES LINES control.
ss LEVIATHAN, ex VATERLAND 1913 (HAPAG) - own collection
On 17 December 1919 the IMTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE signed an agreement to maintain their intended
acquisition until a final decision could be made.
The Gibbs Brothers Inc., later Gibbs & Cox in 1929, was hired to survey
the vessel and her economic potential from every aspect when newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst objected to the purchase by claiming populistic a British
influence over I.M.M, riding on nationalistic sentiment to stop the deal.
The Gibbs brothers were allowed to continue with
their task by the Shipping Board even as the deal fell through. Their first
big task was recreating a complete set of blueprints. None had been recieved
from Germany under the Versailles Treaty. The price the builders, Blohm + Voss, asked was deemed outrageous. An army of workers measured
every part of the ship until a new set of blueprints had been made.
LEVIATHAN languished in political limbo at her
Hoboken pier until April 1922. Then a decision was finally made. With US $ 8,000,000
in funds "loaded" LEVIATHAN sailed to Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
in Newport News, Virginia, for her 14-month reconditioning and refurbishment. LEVIATHAN´s
war duty and age meant that all wiring, plumbing, and interior layouts were
stripped and redesigned while her hull was strengthened and her engines
converted from coal burning to oil, while being refurbished. Virtually a new
ship emerged.
The
Ritz-Carlton of the Leviathan - source: Wikipedia
The decorations and fittings, designed by New York
architects Walker & Gillette,
retained much of her prewar splendor of Edwardian, Georgian, Louis XVI styles.
these have been merged with modern 1920s touches. The biggest deviation was
an pre Art Deco night club emerging out of the
original `Veranda Café´.
ss Leviathan's Night Club and Ballroom, done in a Twenties modern style
source: Jazz Age 1920s
source: The Great Oceanliners
In June 1923 she was handed back to the Shipping
Board. LEVIATHAN´s measured tonnage had increased to 59,956.65 GRT and
her speed trials showed an average of 27.48 knots.
Partly to
Gibbs´ clever accounting she had become the world's largest and thanks to the
Gulf Stream the fastest ship. This claim was immediately countered by CUNARD LINE who reminded their rms MAURETANIA (1906)
still held the official speed record for Trans-Atlantic crossing, as well as
the WHITE STAR LINE,
who claimed the rms MAJESTIC as the
world's largest ship as its length was longer, and its gross tonnage was
higher as Gibbs used a skewed formula.
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As the USA under the grib of the Prohibition, and all ships from 1920 onwards have been "US teritory" ss LEVIATAHN was one of the "dry ships". Throughout the first decade, the UNITED STATES LINES accumulated debt.
In March 1929 P.W. Chapman Company aquired UNITED STATES LINES and reorganized the Delaware registered company. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 made matters worse.
1930s
In 1931 the ramining ships have been aquired by UNITED STATES LINES COMPANY of Nevada. Later that year year UNITED STATES LINES was aquired by the ROOSEVELT INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE COMPANY, which has been formed earlier in the year from the merger of the ROOSEVELT STEAMSHIP COMPANY and International Mercantile Marine Co.
ss MANHATTAN - own
collection
Fresh money was fueld in. And ss MANHATTAN (1931), commissioned in 1932 at a cost of US $ 21 Billion, became the first new built ship of the line. She was followed by ss WASHINGTON in 1933.
Fresh money was fueld in. And ss MANHATTAN (1931), commissioned in 1932 at a cost of US $ 21 Billion, became the first new built ship of the line. She was followed by ss WASHINGTON in 1933.
ss WASHINGTON - own
collection
In 1940 ss AMERICA followed, as the first US American flagged `Ship of State´. 
ss AMERICA 1940 -
source: Wikipedia
UNITED STATES LINES offered in 1932
building a William Francis Gibbs designed new passenger liner and mail
ship. The project was called the U.S. EXPRESS LINER. It would offer a
dramtic decrease in time of delivery for Transatlantic mail by
catapulting an aircraft, when it was in rage of the shore. The US
Congress refused to give a guarantee on postal rates for this liner and
service. The liner was then never built.
The French Poste Francais and the German Deutsche Reispost AG offered this service in cooperation with Cie Gén TRANSATLANTIQUE and NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD. UNITED STATES LINES experimented with the same service on board the ss LEVIATHAN.
© Deutsche Post
The
proposed UNITED STATES LINES express and mail liner - source: Damned by Destiny
During the 1930s, UNITED STATES LINES parent company, ROOSEVELT INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE, began shifting its shipping interests. The other operations have been winded down and it merged several of its divisions into UNITED STATES LINES.
The AMERICAN LINE was merged into UNITED STATES LINES in 1932. The RED STAR LINE, once a founding of PENNSILVANIA RAILROAD, was sold to Arnold Bernstein in 1934. The BALTIMORE MAIL LINE merged into UNITED STATES LINES in 1937, as the PANAMA PACIFIC LINE was dissolved and its ships divested. The AMERICAN MERCHANT LINE was merged into UNITED STATES LINES in 1938.
1940s
The new decade started, under the impression of the war in Europe and in Asia, with UNITED STATES LINES absorbing the ROOSEVELT LINE in 1940, leaving the UNITED STATES LINES as ROOSEVELT INTERNATIOANAL MERCANTILE MARINE´s sole operating business. ROOSEVELT INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE finally changed in 1942 its name into UNITED STATES LINES, which was reflecting its new and only focus.
In World War II, after the entrance of the USA, the ships were converted into troopships. The ss MANHATTAN became the USS WAKEFIELD, the ss WASHINGTON became the USS MOUNT VERNON, while the flagship ss AMERICA became the USS WEST POINT. The rebuild MANHATTAN / WAKEFIELD and WASHINGTON / MOUNT VERNON never came back in service with UNITED STATES LINES after the war. They stayed with the US NAVY / ARMY.
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In 1941, two Nazi spies, Franz Joseph Stigler and Erwin Wilhelm Siegler, worked for UNITED TATES LINES as ss AMERICA crew memebrs. While on the ss AMERICA, they obtained information about the movement of ships and military defense preparations at the Panama Canal and in the Canal Zone. They met with other German agents to advise them in their espionage pursuits. They operated as couriers, transmitting information between the United States and German agents abroard. Stigler worked undercover as the chief butcher aboard the ss AMERICA. Both agents remained on the ss AMERICA untill the U.S. Navy converted her into the USS WEST POINT.
Stigler, Siegler along with the 31 other German agents of the Duquesne Spy Ring, were later uncovered by the FBI in the largest espionage convistion in U.S. history.
Source: Wikipedia
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1950s
After WWII the world was divided in two blocks of power - the Western World, with the USA at the helm and the Eastern Hemisphere, with the USSR as their leader. The Cold War began.
ss UNITED STATES - colouring © Nickolas Nogueira
The ss UNITED STATES was constructed with a government subsidy, as the USA experienced the advantage of big liners as troopers. As well they have lost the ss NORMANDIE, seized in 1941 and lost in careless caused fire, added by ignorance and stupid arrogance ...
The new express liner ss UNITED STATES was built as a trooper and / or hospital ship in wartime, which could be put in war duties within 48 hours. Her powerplant was from a never built battle ship and enabled her sailing at a top speed into war zones. She was and still is the largest ocean liner ever built in the USA. Her building costs have been US $ 79,4 Billion.
A long time secret, the bodylines of ss UNITED STATES
The Big U entered service in 1952 and gained the Blue Riband on her inaugural East Bound crossing, as well on her return trip West Bound. Her speed was declassing the British liner rms QUEEN MARY.
own source
A contemporary Socony-Vacuum advertisement, showing a CIA cesored cutaway of ss UNITED STATES - own source
But the airliners competition brought the glory days to an end, beginning in the end of the 1950s, when the first jet airliners appeared. The ss AMERICA made some cruise voyages for UNITED STATES LINES, which prolongued the Transatlantic service on a regular base to Bremerhaven. The German port was in the former US Sector of Germany, and the entrance port for the US ARMY into Germany. Both the ss AMERICA as the ss UNITED STATES used to transport US military personel to Europe.
ss UNITED STATES leaving Columbus Kaje in Bremerhaven - source Columbus Bahnhof
In 1964 ss AMERICA was sold to CHANDRIS LINES for their Australia run from Europe, Great Britain, via the Suez Canal. After a massive rebuilding she reemerged as the ss AUSTRALIS.
When the US subsidiaries have been canceld in 1969 for the ss UNITED STATES, UNITED STATES LINES withdraw her from service. Big U was laid as reserve vessel for the USA.
At present the ss UNITED STATES is docked along the Delaware river in South Philadelphia.
ss UNITED STATES in Philadelphia - © SS UNITED STATES CONSERVANCY
After the termination of passenger service in 1969, UNITED STATES LINES continued to operate as a container shipping line.
1970s, Expansion and Bancruptcy
In 1978 containerrization pioneer Malcom McLean bought UNITED STATES LINES. During the 1980s the line operated 43 vessels and was one of the main freight shipping lines.
US $ 1 Million has been spend in a rapidly expanding fleet and again, as in the 30s and 40s, UNITED STATES LINES aquired competitors - the MOORE MCCORMACK LINES and DELTA STEAMSHIP LINES.
In expectation of a furtherworldwide surge in oil prices, UNITED STATES LINES borrowed heavily to construct a class of 12 fuel efficient gigantic container ships. These 57,000 GT large vessels became known as the `Jumbo Econships´. Then they have been the largest container vessels ever constructed.
But when the vessels have been delivered, international freight rates fell and the oil price collapsed. UNITED STATES LINES was left with the giant and slow Econships, and the older container ships, in overcapacity and deply in dept. As competitors to the faster ships, as the those faster vessels became viable again, the Econships lost competition.
Straining under the accumulated dept by the fleet expansion, UNITED DTATES LINES filed for bancruptcy in November 24th 1986. It was then one of largest bankrupcies in US history. Most of the vessels had to sold paying creditors. The reorganisation failed finally July 5th 1988. The company was formally liquidated in 1992.
Legacy
Pursuant to the revised reorganization plan approved by
the bankruptcy court in 1989, United States Lines Inc. was restructured as
Janus Industries Inc. in November, 1990, with its shares distributed to United
States Lines creditors and the court-managed bankruptcy trust fund. The
company's new management spent several years searching for new business
opportunities, finally acquiring Pre-Tek Wireline Service Company, a provider
of services to the oil, gas, and logging industries in 1996. In 1997, Janus
acquired a number of hospitality assets from companies affiliated with the
investors Louis S. Beck and Harry Yeaggy, gaining ownership of 6 hotels, an 85%
interest in a 7th hotel, a management company operating another 21 hotels, a
fee-sharing joint venture with another management company on another property,
and control of two mortgaged-backed loans. Beck and Yeaggy gained control of
43% of Janus Industries, and the former United States Lines decided to
concentrate exclusively on the hotel business. Pre-Tek Wireline was spun off to
its management in 1998 and Janus Industries changed its name again to Janus
Hotels & Resorts Inc. in 1999. United States Lines' successor company now
controls hotels and resorts in 21 states.
Source: Wikipedia
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U.S.
Lines LLC, a new container line, which is in any way not related to the
original company, was established in Santa Ana, California in 2003 and is in
business as a subsidiary of the French shipping company CMA CGM.
January
14, 2015, Hector Louis Aponte III., supporter of S.S. UNITED STATES Conservacy , purchased the trademark rights of
UNITED STATES LINES. Mr. Aponte has the future intentions of a potential re-launching
of the shipping line. But for the timebeing his intentions are foremost
preserving the heritage of UNITED STATES LINES and its last passengervessel,
the ss UNITED STATES, along with a museum planed, dedicated to history of the
original shipping line.
Several piers in New
York City remain as artifacts left behind by the company. Pier 76, UNITED
STATES LINES Terminal, was constructed as a cargo pier on West Side Highway at what was then the foot of
36th Street, and is now in use by the NYPD. Neon letters spelling
"UNITED STATES LINES" are located on the west side of the pier,
facing New
Jersey. One letter, "I", on the sign was working until sometime
in the 2000s. The sign can be seen by the arriving NY
Waterway ferry passengers or those taking the New York Circle Line water
tour of Manhattan. The pier head building facing the street is also marked
with the Line's name, at each end. Pier 86, United States Lines'
passenger pier, still exists, although the pier building has been demolished.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space
Museum is now based there, with the USS Intrepid
permanently berthed at the pier. In Newport News, Virginia, where many of the
United States Lines ships were built, one of the huge propellers from the SS United States is on display at
the entrance of the Mariners' Museum.
Source: Wikipedia
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On February 4, 2016, CRYSTAL
CRUISES announced a proposal to re-activate the former flagship of the UNITED
STATES LINES, ss UNITED STATES,
as a 800 passenger liner and cruise vessel. CRYSTAL has signed a purchase
option and will cover docking costs in Philadelphia for nine months while it
conducts a feasibility study.
UNITED STATES LINES passenger vessels
·
America
·
Republic
References
Brian J. Cudahy (2006). Box boats: how container ships changed the world.
Fordham Univ Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8232-2568-2
"USS President Grant (Centennial State, President
Adams)". Pacific Wrecks
James Claude Malin (1972). The United States after the World War. Ayer
Publishing. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-8369-6735-7
McKenna, Robert (10 June
2003). The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. McGraw-Hill
Professional. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-07-141950-5
"Uncle Sam Enters Atlantic Race". Popular Mechanics. February 1931
World Ship Society (1996). Marine
news
McKenna, Robert (10 June
2003). The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. McGraw-Hill
Professional. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-07-141950-5
"SS
United States". SS United States Conservancy
Feder, Barnaby J. (6 July 1988). "McLean Industries Files Its Reorganization Plan".
The New York Times
"Janus Hotels and Resorts March 2002 SEC filing".
EDGAR Online. EDGAR Online Inc.
"Form 10-SB, June 27, 1997, Janus Industries Inc.".
www.sec.gov/Archives. US Securities and Exchange Commission
"About Janus
Hotels and Resorts". Janus Hotels and Resorts. Janus Hotel
Management
"Trademark Category - Education and Entertainment
Services - UNITED STATES LINES". US Patent and Trademark Office
"Pier 76". Hudson River Park Trust
"United States Lines". New York Neon.
Blogger. 19 April 2013
Marks, Brittany (30 March
2012). "Help save the SS United States passenger liner".
WTKR
"Cruise ship company in deal to buy SS United
States". 4 February 2016
"ss United States - CRYSTAL CRUISES erste Umbauideen und andere Vorschläge"
"S.S. United States, Historic Ocean Liner of Trans-Atlantic Heyday, May Sail Again". The New York Times. 4 February 2016
"oceania.pbworks-United States Lines",
Fleetlist, Tomasz Walczyk
"AMERICAN BANKER - IMO 5277153".
Shipspotting.com
"Bethlehem Steel Company", Quincy MA".
ShipbuildingHistory.com
"United States Lines Fleet".
TheShipList.com
"Flyer Class Miscellaneous Auxiliary: USNS Flyer
(T-AG-178)". NavSource Naval History
"Transports and Troopships". T. Colton
United States Shipping
Board (1933). "Seventeenth Annual Report of the United States Shipping
Board" (1933). Government Printing Office: 29
There is no evidence that Prohibition impacted the popularity of Leviathan.
ReplyDeleteTop 5 liners in 1923. (Average passengers per crossing)
1. Majestic (1268)
2. Leviathan (1122)
3. Aquitania (1082)
4. Berengaria (1031)
In 1926 & 1927, the Levi was the NUMBER ONE liner on the Atlantic in terms of average passengers per crossing.