But they, like the Kaiser and Admiral Von Holtzendorff, underestimated American ingenuity and enterprise. By using new methods, and keeping at the task day and night, in a few months all these vessels were repaired and in service, carrying troops and supplies.
The German Vaterland, re-christened the Leviathan, alone carried nearly a hundred thousand troops to Europe. When she was performing such prodigies for us it interested me to recall an occurrence when this great vessel, the largest afloat, reached New York on its first voyage, not long before the war began in 1914. Glorying in the attention it evoked, the Vaterland's officers gave a dinner, inviting leading American shipbuilders and engineers, as well as prominent citizens, to view this latest creation in marine construction.
"It is a veritable floating palace for voyagers to Europe," remarked one of its officers, "but that is not the best or most important thing about the Vaterland."
"Well, what is it?" asked the visitors.
"Come below," said he, "and I will show you."
Below went the party, and there they were shown how the whole vessel had been planned so that it could quickly be converted into a carrier for 10,000 soldiers. "In a remarkably short time, if need arises," the officer remarked, "it can be turned into a troop transport."
He was right. We proved it in 1917, not only in regard to the Vaterland, but the other Teuton liners.
Repaired, renamed, manned and operated by United States naval officers and men, those former German vessels carried to Europe 557,788 American soldiers. Here is the record in detail:
The repair of those vessels was a triumph of ingenuity and engineering skill. But they were not the only interned ships the Navy restored. When war was declared there were seized German merchant vessels aggregating 592,195 gross tons, Austrian ships, 40,461 tons—a total of 632,656 tons of shipping placed under the United States flag from these two sources.