SS Vaterland was an ocean liner launched on 3 April 1913 and began service in 1914 for Germany's Hamburg America Line.

Vaterland served on the route for less than a year before being laid up at the line's piers in the neutral United States due to the start of World War I and risk of seizure by the Allies at sea.

At Liverpool, England, the ship spent fifty days in drydock, where her size was shown to be a problem, and troop capacity was expanded to 8,200.

British Metal Industries Ltd. bought Leviathan in 1937 with the ship arriving at Rosyth, Scotland, on 14 February 1938 for scrapping.

[8] At the reception luncheon held aboard at the Hamburg-American Line's Hoboken piers on that maiden voyage attended by the German Ambassador and officials of the line, Albert Gleaves, at the time Commandant of the New York Navy Yard and later Commander of the Cruiser and Transport Force in the war, asked an official how many troops the ship could carry.

With a safe return to Germany rendered questionable by British dominance of the seas, she was laid up at her Hoboken, New Jersey terminal and remained immobile for nearly three years.

[11][6] Her German crew was sent to a new internment camp in Hot Springs, North Carolina, where many of them later died of a typhoid fever outbreak in summer 1918 as they were about to be transferred to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

[6] The trial cruise to Cuba on 17 November 1917 prompted Captain Oman to order 241 Marines on board to relieve a detachment of Marines and to station themselves conspicuously about the upper decks, giving the appearance from shore that the great ship was headed overseas to increase the American Expeditionary Forces.

[11][6] Leviathan began regular passages between the Hoboken Port of Embarkation and Brest, France, delivering up to 14,000 persons on each trip.

[11] On 29 September 1918 she left New York for Brest on a voyage that would prove to have the worst in-transit casualties of the deadly second wave of the Spanish flu.

[15] Transports, including Leviathan underwent a needed overhaul after signing of the armistice before the major effort of returning the troops began.

[11] After that date Leviathan, repainted grey overall by December 1918, reversed the flow of men as she transported the veterans back to the United States with nine westward crossings, the last ending on 8 September 1919.

On 29 October 1919, Leviathan was decommissioned and turned over to the US Shipping Board and again laid up at Hoboken until plans for her future employment could be determined.

Before the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, the ship made ten round trips from Hoboken to Europe transporting more than 119,000 fighting men.

[16] The EFC directed the agents in March 1921 to prepare a new set of specifications for a fully operational ship, including all necessary articles such as table and silverware, linens and books.

The IMM construction department was thoroughly familiar with the ship including specifications for machinery repair which were not in the original request for bids.

[16] Blueprints for the original construction had not been received from Germany under the Versailles Treaty and the price now asked by the German builders, $1,000,000, was deemed outrageous so an army of workers measured every part of the ship until a new set of prints had been made.

[19] Despite the prolonged lay-up at Hoboken, the ship was quickly prepared with repairs and provision of necessary gear, fueled and crewed to sail to Norfolk.

[19] All wiring, plumbing, and interior layouts were stripped while her hull was strengthened and her boilers converted from coal to oil; virtually a new ship emerged.

The plan changed and the ship was to be docked in Manhattan with an agreement with United American Lines to use Pier 86 at the foot of 46th Street.

[20] The decorations and fittings, designed by New York architects Walker & Gillette, retained much of her prewar splendor of Edwardian, Georgian, and Louis XVI styles now merged with modern 1920s touches.

[19][18][21] This claim was immediately challenged by the Cunard Line, with a reminder that its RMS Mauretania still held the official speed record for trans-Atlantic crossing, as well as the White Star Line, which claimed the RMS Majestic as the world's longest ship, with a higher gross tonnage if properly calculated.

[19] She immediately proved popular with the American public in the '20s, starting her career fully booked for her maiden voyage departing on 4 July 1923.

Though investigation by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service found no negligence they noted that the grounding might have been avoided if the wing propellers had been fully operational astern.

[18] But Leviathan was an American symbol of power and prestige, which despite her economic failings, made her a popular ship with loyal travelers.

The only serious incident occurred one day out of Cherbourg on a winter crossing in 1924 where she met a fierce storm with 90 ft waves and winds up to 100 mph, at times forcing her into 20 degree rolls.

[28][29] In 1929 the United States Lines was advertised to be sold with two ships, Monticello and Mount Vernon, as purchase options which were not included in the final bid that was accepted.

A requirement of the sale mandated the new owners, with the construction loan fund, build two first class liners with plans approved by the USSB and U.S. Navy, to operate with Leviathan.

[34] United States Lines actively lobbied for the government to either take the Leviathan back or provide a subsidy for her operation.

[35] In 1937 she was sold to the British Metal Industries Ltd. On 26 January 1938 Leviathan set out on her 301st and last transatlantic voyage under the command of Captain John Binks, retired master of the RMS Olympic, with a crew of 125 officers and men who had been hired to deliver the ship to the breakers.