History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, cruiser and transport forces, United States Atlantic fleet / Compiled from the ship's log and data gathered by the history committee on board the ship

by U.S.S. Leviathan History Committee

The Liverpool Drydock

The Gladstone Dock in Liverpool was the only drydock in the world at the time that would take the Leviathan. The entire development of this dock, which included a tidal basin, was not completed when the war broke out, so the tidal basin was abandoned and one of a pair of docks was finished up and a long channel dredged to the River Mersey.

The ship drew so much that we could not enter the dock except at the spring tides, or in other words, only about two days out of a month would permit us to enter the dock, provided the wind did not cut the tide too much.

The next thing was to decide on how to prepare the beds of the drydock to receive the ship. An examination of her bottom was necessary. Divers were sent down and they reported that she had neither docking nor bilge keels, and that her keel plate consisted of a plate of about 2 inches thick by 3 feet wide.

In converting the ship from a passenger to a troop ship, we naturally became familiar with every detail of her construction. With this knowledge of her construction and due consideration being given to the location of the heavy weights, etc., it was decided to place the main bed under the third intercostal, this bed running from frames 220 to 101, or a distance of 358 feet amidships. The spacing of these blocks was 6 feet, or every other frame space. The center of these blocks was 25½ feet from the center line of the ship.

In addition to the center line bed, which is placed underneath the keel, and the two main beds, one port and one starboard, which is placed under the third intercostal, an outer bed, consisting of four sets of five blocks each, space 6 feet centers, was placed under the fore and aft coal bunker bulkhead, at the intersection of the thwartship bulkheads.

The fore and aft center of these blocks came at frame 199, 174, 151 and 126. Blocks of the outer bed were staggered with those of the inner bed. This outer bed was 35 feet from the center of the ship. At the fore and aft ends of the ship where the dead-rise is considerable, an inner bed a few inches from the center of the ship for a distance of 60 feet was prepared, 12 feet 6 inches forward, and 13 feet 9 inches aft.

After deciding the location of these beds, the next step was to get some idea of how to prepare them, so that they would conform to the shape of the ship. Preparing the center line bed was of course easier, as it was known that the keel of the ship was a straight line.

The forward end of the center line bed consisted of a solid line of blocks for a distance of 104 feet, and the after end of a solid line of blocks for 144 feet, where exceptionally heavy weights would be carried. The balance of the blocks was spaced every 15 inch centers, except in the way of water-tight bulkheads. Under these bulkheads the blocks were filled in solid for 7 blocks. On each side of these, two spaces were omitted and then filled in solid for 5 blocks. Reference to the docking plans will show the spacing of these blocks.