class segregation in, 250, 303
crew selection and training for, 273–79
cruises and, 349, 353
declassification of design features of, 355–56, 365
delivery date for, 224–25
delivery voyage of, 279, 284
future of, 359, 365, 366, 368–70
halcyon years of, 320–32
interior decorating of, 234, 235, 246–59, 295, 300, 360
keel-laying of, 227–30
labor problems and, 344, 347–48, 349
launching of, 242–46
maiden voyage of, 265, 277, 278, 279, 285, 292–312, 317, 324, 356, 360
as masterpiece, 362–63
military personnel carried by, 345, 348
naming of, 223
as peace ship, 244, 245–46
propeller design for, 231, 233–34
public visiting day and, 286–88
retirement of, 354
revalued purchase price for, 319
safety of, 246–49, 251, 258–61, 291, 302, 362
sales of, 356–58, 368–69
sister ship of, 335–37, 344, 366
smoking rooms of, 253, 257, 258, 265, 300, 303
staterooms of, 246, 247–48, 255–58, 295, 302, 326–27, 329, 330
stewards of, 273–79, 294, 298, 300, 301, 306, 310, 361
swimming pools of, 250, 256, 257, 302
threat of military seizure of, 234–36
trials of, 263–72, 356
Truman disputes and, 226–29, 241, 279–84, 287, 313, 318–19
Voyage Number Two of, 317–18
see also Design 12201; superliner project
United States, USS (supercarrier), 226
United States Lines, 82, 83, 89, 90, 91, 112, 115–19, 126–28, 154–60, 194–99, 212–17, 336, 347–50, 366
board of directors of, 215, 291, 348
colors of, 81, 240
crew selection and training for, 273–75
eagle emblem of, 249, 251, 270, 279, 289
Europa rejected by, 214
Ferris’s superliner plans for, 126–27, 128, 133, 134
floundering of, 106, 116, 123, 154, 367
formation of, 77, 94
Gibbs’s interest in purchase of, 97, 113, 116–18
Gibbs’s superliner project and, 194–97, 203–208, 210, 215–17, 220–23, 227–28, 234, 236, 261–62, 267, 268, 273–75, 280–84, 294
Harris as interim president of, 197, 198–99
IMM deal for, 127–28
labor problems of, 347–48, 349
Manning’s replacement and, 318
Panamanian registry considered for, 161–63
superliner construction rejected by, 156
Trumans’ trip and, 331–32
United States’ retirement and, 354
United States’ revalued purchase price and, 319
Windsors and, 327
World War II and, 166–69, 180, 197–98
upholstery, 247, 253
Urquhart, Anne, 158
United States and, 234, 235, 246, 247, 296
Vanderbilt, Alfred, 53
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, III, 114
Vanderbilt, Cornelius “the Commodore,” 9, 11
Van Vechten, Carl, 103
Vaterland, 51, 62, 70, 74, 93–94
U.S. seizure of, 63–64, 69, 94
see also Leviathan
Veitch, Colin, 358
Verrazano Narrows, 314, 320–21
Vestris, 117
vibrations, 233, 361
cavitation and, 55, 233
Design 12201/United States and, 202, 231, 250, 257, 258, 324–25
of Leviathan, 88
of Normandie, 137, 202, 231
Vickery, Barbara, 183
Vickery, Howard L., 182–83
Victoria, Queen of England, 29, 151
Victory ships, 212
Vinson, Carl, 182–89
“Vinson Acts,” 182
Vinson Naval Plan, 182
Virginian, 42
Virginia Pilot-Ledger Star, 357
Volstead Act, 115
wages, 208, 212, 216, 217, 301, 347, 354
Wagner Hochdruck turbine company, 125
waiters, 265, 275, 330
Waldorf-Astoria hotel, 38, 41, 102, 278, 315, 339
Wales, Prince of, 114
Walker, Jimmy, 114
Wall Street, 21–22, 33, 100, 156
Walter Kidde & Company, 348
Ward Line, 106, 119, 131, 132–33
Warms, William F., 130–33
War Production Board, 179–80
war profiteering, 181–89, 211, 227, 229, 236, 313
Warren, Lindsay, 183, 217, 224, 227, 228, 280–84, 319
Washington, 128, 166–69, 198, 212, 294
Washington, D.C., 143, 179–89, 269
“Washington Merry-Go-Round” column, 155
Washington Naval Conference (1921), 107
Washington Navy Yard, 57–59, 62, 182
Watt, Richard M., 43
Weather, 340
welding, 230–31, 237, 238
Wendell, Raymond, 251
Westinghouse, 142, 231, 266, 356
Westminster College, 217–18
West Point, USS, 180
whistles, 120, 204, 240, 245, 274, 300, 306, 309, 311, 370
Gibbs’s death and, 350–51
White House, 179, 236
White Star Line, 9, 16, 24, 37–44, 67, 75, 92, 97, 106, 116
Cunard’s merger with, see Cunard White Star Line Limited
Majestic and, 81–82
rate war and, 39
ships retired by, 154
see also Titanic
Whitworth fluid-pressed steel, 30
Wich, Kurt, 330
Widener, George, 45
Widener, Harry, 45
Widener, Peter, 10, 14, 23, 45
Wilhelm II, Kaiser of Germany, 24, 39, 51, 64, 69
William Cramp & Sons, 4–5, 105, 108, 110, 111
William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, 11
Williams, J. Scott, 256
Wilmott, Roger, 130–31
Wilson, Woodrow, 53, 55, 63, 64, 75, 76, 104
winds, 7, 8, 26, 88, 131, 136
United States and, 264, 265–69, 271, 294, 306, 307, 311, 314, 349, 360
Windsor, Duchess of, 323, 326–27, 349
Windsor, Duke of, 323, 326–27, 349
“Winged Victory of Samothrace, The,” 290
wireless sets, 45
Wister, Owen, 60
Wolf, Otto, 63–64
women:
at Gibbs & Cox, 231–33, 321–22, 366
superstition and, 269–70, 279
United States maiden voyage and, 296, 302
wood, 132, 158, 201, 340
in Mauretania, 27
United States and, 246, 248–49, 253, 260, 317
Woodward, J. B., Jr., 222, 263, 266
World Trade Center, 368
World War I, 50–54, 60, 62–70, 79, 94, 96, 112, 223
Emergency Shipbuilding Program in, 118
troop transports in, 50, 52, 64–68, 89, 117, 197
Truman in, 198
veterans of, 89
World War II, 7n, 163–89, 193–95, 197–99, 213, 223, 273, 342, 368
aircraft design and, 214
blackout in, 177
bombing in, 165, 167, 198, 204, 213, 225
end of, 195, 198, 204
fate of great liners in, 164–66
Gibbs’s awareness of threat of, 147
Marshall in, 236
refugees in, 166, 167, 169