I cannot speak too highly of the hearty co-operation received from the ship’s officers and crew, especially Naval Constructor J. H. Jack, U. S. N. This applies not only to the docking of the ship, but to her conversion from a passenger ship to a transport. No duty was too strenuous or hours too long, and during the conversion the living quarters on the ship were not of the best. They were continually shifted from one part of the ship to the other, even the meals were of a makeshift character and at times irregular. Every man seemed to realize what we were up against and that we must make good. Everyone pulling together, accomplishment was made possible.
The conversion of the ship to a transport speaks volumes for the Navy Department organization and more particularly for the New York Navy Yard, under whose direct supervision the work was undertaken.
The ship was so big that she could not be taken to a shipyard, nor transferred to the Navy Yard. The task had to be undertaken where she lay at her piers in Hoboken and the New York Navy Yard organization was elastic enough and active enough to carry on the work outside the Navy Yard.
The Bridge
W. J.
General conditions on the bridge were good. Instruments had deteriorated somewhat, owing to the long stay in port and not being used.
All signal flags and navigation instruments, including the three chronometers which comprised part of her equipment were removed. The ship was equipped with two master gyroscopic compasses installed on “G” deck and seven repeaters for use on the bridge in steering and taking bearings; these were all found to be more or less in need of repairs and after days of hard and tedious work on the part of Lieut. W. H. F. Schluter and his well organized staff they were put in fine condition and have been kept in this manner constantly even though he has had to add pieces of lead to each master gyro to maintain a level. Being of German manufacture, no spare parts could be obtained during the war, but whenever they were needed Lieutenant Schluter proved to be the “man of the hour.” The gyros were only one of his many troubles for, being electrical officer, there were numerous other duties about the ship. There were a great many German charts left on board but the ship was equipped by the Bureau of Navigation with American charts before leaving port. The steering gears and all the telegraphs were changed to English speaking. The deep-sea sounding machines are still in commission after a great amount of usage, and the motors attached to them for heaving in the lead are still in good working order. The patent log for measuring distance is the “Forbes,” an English patent. Loudspeaking telephones reached to all the principal parts of the ship, and are very much used. A fire-alarm indicator is placed in the wheelhouse and is set at fifteen-minute intervals. This indicator has pipes leading to all holds through which the smoke from any fire in a hold would be drawn and can be seen in the wheelhouse when the alarm goes off. A steam hose can be connected to the pipe and the fire smothered. There is a control for operating water-tight doors and a diagram showing location of each door; upon this diagram an electric light burns when each door is closed, showing the officer of the deck whether the control works properly.
The big 44-inch searchlight on the foremast is controlled very readily from the bridge by a small lever; the fog bell is rung and all whistles are blown by an electrical attachment. The master electric clock is on the bridge and gives the time to 550 repeaters situated throughout the ship. These clocks required a great amount of painstaking labor to be put into good condition and demand constant care and supervision. During the alterations in which first class staterooms were ripped out to make troop quarters, the wiring system to the clocks was torn out by the workmen as well as everything else which happened to be in their path.
As mentioned previously the ship’s chronometers, three in number, were missing. These were afterwards found by the Secret Service in a nautical school in New York City. The commanding officer had to send them to the Naval Observatory at Washington, D. C. This was done with great reluctance as they were of the finest type and a good chronometer is a very valuable and much used article aboard a ship. Others were sent to replace them. The bridge and signal bridge were altered for transport purposes. The fire control and range finder stations being built on the signal bridge, and the fine bright finish of the wood was changed to the more popular color at that time—the war gray. Otherwise the Leviathan remains the Vaterland, as when she was in the merchant service—a German transport in disguise.