In 1952, he relieved Commodore Harry Manning as master of the superliner after the recordbreaking voyage on which she broke the translantic speed record previously held by the RMS Queen Mary and captured the Blue Riband for the United States.
In 1934 he was appointed to command the American Importer, his first passenger ship for United States Lines, sailing between New York City, Plymouth, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Hamburg and Liverpool.
While in command of the America, Anderson gained a reputation for outstanding seamanship, unfailing good nature and insistence on crew discipline and courteous service that helped dispel the myth that American passenger ships were inferior to European liners.
At the end of World War II, the nation's leading naval architect, William Francis Gibbs, was asked to design a supership of great size and speed that would not only be the finest luxury liner afloat, but would also be capable of carrying a full division of troops in wartime.
Described by The New York Times as "the loneliest merchant mariner in the port" that day, Commodore Anderson successfully docked the huge 990-foot, $78 million liner without tug assistance and without mishap, a navigational feat he would have to perform again on several occasions, including the final voyage before his retirement.