Leviathan
SKU N-06-6032
Leviathan
Dimensions: 20" (w) x 28" (h)
The SS Leviathan was the fastest passenger liner of its time, steaming its 54,282 gross tons along at 26 knots. Originally launched in April 1913 as the SS Vaterland for HAPAG Lines, a German passenger shipping line, the Leviathan was built for transatlantic passenger travel. With the outbreak of World War I, the SS Vaterland was unable to sail due to British control of the Atlantic. The SS Vaterland was forced to remain anchored in Hoboken, NJ. When the United States entered the war, the SS Vaterland was seized by the United States Shipping Board and commissioned the USS Vaterland by the U.S. Navy. President Woodrow Wilson renamed the ship the Leviathan in 1917. The Leviathan was decommissioned in 1919.The SS Leviathan operated in transatlantic trade until 1934; it was broken up in 1938.
The archival photographic print of this poster can be found in Record Group
32: Records of the U.S. Shipping Board, 1914-1938, Still Picture Records
Section, Special Media Services Division at Archives II in College Park,
Maryland.
--description by Cyrus Sethna
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