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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43883 ***
+
+  Transcriber's note:
+
+  Italics is represented with underscores (_Text_).
+  A list of corrections made can be found at the end of the book.
+
+
+
+
+  _A BRIEF HISTORY_
+
+  _OF THE_
+
+  U. S. S. IMPERATOR
+
+  _ONE OF THE TWO LARGEST
+  SHIPS IN THE U. S. NAVY_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _The U. S. S. IMPERATOR, one of the two largest ships in
+the world._]
+
+
+
+
+  THE U. S. S. IMPERATOR
+
+
+The Imperator was first commissioned in 1913, at Hamburg, Germany, by
+the Hamburg-American Steamship Line of Hamburg. She made regular
+passenger runs from Hamburg to New York from the time she was
+commissioned by her original owners up until the latter part of July,
+1914. Her passenger quota was: 700 first class, 600 second class, 1000
+third class and 1,800 fourth class. And on account of her up-to-date
+safety devices, she was one of the best patronized steamers belonging
+to the Hamburg American Line.
+
+The Imperator was built by the Vulcan Steel Works of Hamburg. She has a
+length of 919 feet over all, a width of 98 feet 3 in., and a depth of
+70 feet. She is electric lighted throughout, and has a very powerful
+wireless set--installed after being taken over by the Navy, and
+supplanting the old set--together with submarine signalling devices,
+watertight bulkheads and doors, which are opened and closed by
+hydraulic power. She carries 2,000 tons of permanent ballast.
+
+The maximum speed of the Imperator is 22 knots, about 25 land miles,
+and she burns about 850 tons of coal per day. Her steaming radius is
+about 5,000 miles, and in port, under ordinary circumstances, she burns
+about 60 tons per day. The total capacity of her coal bunkers is 8,550
+tons. The maximum draft when she is loaded and ready for sea is 40 feet
+and 6 inches, and in a single trip across the Atlantic her draft
+diminishes to 36 feet and 4 inches.
+
+Her troop carrying capacity is 1,000 officers, 966 non-commissioned
+officers, and 7,939 enlisted men of the Army. Her total Naval
+complement is 2200 officers and enlisted men of the regular Navy.
+
+[Illustration: _Captain Casey B. Morgan, Commanding._]
+
+
+
+
+  CAPTAIN CASEY B. MORGAN, U. S. N.
+
+
+The Commanding Officer of the Imperator is Casey B. Morgan, Captain,
+U. S. N. He graduated from the Naval academy in 1888, and his first
+cruise in a seagoing vessel of the Navy was in the U. S. S. Atlanta. He
+took part in a number of campaigns and received his first commission,
+that of Ensign, in 1890. While in this rank he served in the Alert,
+Dolphin, and the Michigan--now the Wolverine; the Raleigh during the
+Cuban blockade. He sailed for the Asiatic in the Raleigh in December,
+1897, and arrived at Hong Kong, China, on Feb. 18th, 1898, and it was
+upon the arrival of the Dolphin that the destruction of the Maine was
+learned. He served with Admiral Dewey as a Lieutenant (jg) during the
+Spanish-American war, and took part in the Battle of Manila Bay, also
+the bombardment of the city of Manila and the capture of Subic Bay and
+Corregidor.
+
+Captain Morgan served in many vessels since the war, his service has
+been both varied and honorable. He was promoted up the ladder of
+success steadily, and in 1910 he received his commission as a Commander
+in the Navy. Captain Morgan was the first officer in the Navy to take a
+ship of the Navy through the St. Lawrence River and canals to Chicago,
+that vessel was the Dubuque. Captain Morgan was the senior Naval
+officer present during the Cuban outbreak in 1911, and was S. O. P.
+during the Santa Dominican and Haitian Revolutions in that year and the
+one following. He was in command of the battleship Minnesota at Vera
+Cruz in 1914, and was at the War College, Newport, R. I., when we
+declared war on Germany.
+
+His first command during the war was the Sixth Squadron, Patrol Force,
+with Hampton Roads as its base, and the Albany as the flagship. The
+patrol was ordered to the other side, and Captain Morgan was ordered to
+command the Agamemnon, the ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II. In April, 1918, he was
+ordered to the staff of Vice-Admiral Gleaves as Force Transport
+Officer, and remained in that capacity until May 23, at which time he
+took command of the Great Imperator.
+
+[Illustration: _The U. S. S. North Carolina which operated with the
+Force._]
+
+
+
+
+  PLACING HER IN COMMISSION
+
+
+It was a big job, placing the Imperator in commission for the first
+time by American Navalmen. Fresh from the hands of the enemy into the
+hands of proud Yankee sailors was the fate of this great leviathan of
+the deep. She had been tied up alongside the docks at Hamburg, Germany,
+for four years and nine months, and while her engines and boilers were
+in fair condition, they were, nevertheless new to the men who were
+first to sail her under the Stars and Stripes.
+
+Getting a crew to man her was also a big proposition. Without men she
+would not serve us our purpose, so her first commanding officer had to
+draw his crew from several naval bases in France, London, and Cardiff,
+Wales. The Imperator was brought to Brest by a German crew, including a
+commodore, two captains and a score of other German officers. She was
+officially placed in commission with Old Glory flying proudly at her
+flagstaff on the 5th day of May, 1919. Captain John K. Robison, U. S.
+Navy, was her first commanding officer, and Commander Laird, U. S.
+Navy, was her first executive officer, and 2500 Yankee fighting men
+comprised her crew.
+
+Many of the Imperator's officers and enlisted men had been on foreign
+station for some time, and her commanding officer was ordered from
+Admiral Sims' headquarters in London.
+
+
+
+
+  SHE SAILS FOR THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+She sailed from Brest on May 15, with 1500 officers of the Army, 300
+enlisted men of the Army, many distinguished civilians and 500 nurses
+on board. She left in company with the Leviathan, and the two vessels
+had an exciting trip across the Atlantic. While it was not officially
+announced as a race, it was a close run all the way over. The Leviathan
+won by a few hours, but be it remembered that the "Levi" had made about
+twenty trips over, they were hardened to the transport duty, and they
+knew their ship. When we get a little more accustomed to the packet,
+we'll show 'em how to put the old Imperator through the water!
+
+The Imperator arrived in New York on the 22nd of May, after a
+delightful passage over, and she tied up to the dock along with her
+sistership, the Leviathan. Two of the world's greatest ships--Leviathan
+and Imperator--at the same dock, and best of all the dock was in the
+good old U. S. A., and greatest of all, they had the American flag
+floating over them.
+
+The Imperator lay at the dock at Hoboken until June 3rd, at which time
+she sailed for Brest. During her stay in port she was given a complete
+overhauling, standee bunks were installed by the thousands, a new
+wireless outfit was placed on board, as was a complete and up-to-date
+printing department, installed by John F. Kennedy, chief printer, who
+was sent to her from the staff of Admiral Sims. She also took on board
+tons and tons of fresh provisions and supplies.
+
+It was the next day, after her first arrival in the United States after
+an absence of nearly five years, that the Imperator received her
+present commanding officer, C. B. Morgan, Captain, U. S. Navy, and her
+present executive officer. Commander R. A. White. Many other officers
+to head important departments were also received.
+
+
+
+
+  THE CRUISER AND TRANSPORT FORCE
+
+
+The Force to which the U. S. S. Imperator belongs and with which she
+has operated since being taken over by the U. S. Navy is the greatest
+force of vessels ever operated under any nation's flag. At the time the
+Cruiser and Transport Force was first commissioned, early in April,
+1917, there were only a handfull of vessels ready to carry the
+thousands of soldiers who were then being assembled all over the
+country, to France. However, by the time the first sailing date
+arrived--June 14th, 1917--we had equipped and ready to sail thirty odd
+vessels.
+
+The Force has been, and is to-day, under the command of Vice-Admiral
+Albert Gleaves, U. S. Navy, who commanded all of our troopships,
+transports and cruisers during our two years of war against the Central
+Powers of Germany; the untiring efforts of Admiral Gleaves, his staff
+of officers and enlisted men is now known to the world. Before the
+armistice was signed, and before the Force begun to diminish, there
+were one hundred and thirty-nine vessels in commission and extending
+their efforts in bringing our soldiers back to their homeland.
+
+There are ships operating in six different divisions, the largest of
+which is the New York Division, with headquarters at Hoboken, N. J. To
+transport safely approximately 1,750,000 troops to France and England,
+together with their fighting equipment, their food and supplies and
+food for our Allies, who had been three years at war, was no small
+undertaking--it required hundreds of ships and thousands of officers
+and enlisted men to accomplish the feat, but it HAS BEEN DONE!
+
+Not too much praise can be given to the officers and men of the Navy
+and especially those of the Cruiser and Transport Force, whether they
+made one trip or a dozen. Every man who had his shoulder to the great
+wheel which was pushed ahead until that spoke arrived which had
+inscribed upon it VICTORY, deserves a like amount of credit for the
+glorious accomplishments in the world's greatest struggle for humanity,
+justice and the final eradication of militarism and autocracy.
+
+[Illustration: _The "Y" gun, one of the valuable developments during
+the war._]
+
+
+
+
+  HER SISTER SHIP
+
+
+The sister ship to the Imperator, and largest vessel in the world, is
+the Leviathan. The Leviathan is 954 feet in length, and has a beam of
+one hundred feet. She displaces 68,000 tons of water and has a mean
+draft of 40 feet of water; has a speed of 24 knots, and carries 8,750
+tons of coal when loaded and ready for sea. She was also one of the
+Hamburg-American Line steamers, and was known as the Vaterland before
+being taken over by the Navy.
+
+The Leviathan was more fortunate in the cause of the Allied nations, as
+she was on this side of the Atlantic when war was declared. The
+Imperator was on the other side and she never ventured to sea again.
+
+The "Levi," as she is affectionately known by her crew, transported
+more than 110,000 troops to France and England before the armistice was
+signed, and has been bringing them back at a 12,000 rate a trip ever
+since. The Imperator was not taken over--as has been said--and has only
+made three successful trips with troops, civilians and nurses since the
+armistice. There is one redeeming feature about the "Imp" and that is
+the fact that all the troops and passengers she does carry--are
+homeward bound! Home to their beloved land for which they fought and
+for which they unstintingly offered their lives to defend. The fact
+that it is home matters not so much, but the fact that their homes are
+in the great United States means all to them!
+
+
+
+
+  SECRETARY DANIELS VISITS SHIP
+
+
+While in Brest, shortly after the ship was placed in commission, and
+before she sailed on her maiden voyage under the Red, White and Blue
+ensign, Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, visited the ship and
+made an address to the ship's company. He expressed himself as being
+sorry that he could not make the first trip with the new and
+all-American crew of one of the world's greatest vessels. "It is up to
+us (the Navy) to get the soldier boys home, and then we will go home
+ourselves," said the Secretary.
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber's note:
+
+  The following corrections have been made:
+  "runs from Hambrug to New York" -> Hamburg
+  "Ensign in 1890" -> Ensign, in 1890
+  "is 1,000 offiicers" -> officers
+  "Santa Domincan" -> Santa Dominican
+  "be it reembered" -> remembered
+  "packet, We'll" -> we'll
+  "militarism and autrocracy" -> autocracy
+  "since the the armistice" -> superfluous "the" removed
+  "import-and departments" -> important
+
+  Spacing after punctuation standardized, inconsistent hyphenation and
+  archaic spelling retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brief History of the U. S. S.
+Imperator, one of the two Largest Ships in the U. S. Navy., by Anonymous
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43883 ***