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A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
In the tradition of David McCullough’s grand histories, the sweeping story of one man’s quest to build the fastest, finest ocean liner in history—set against the politics, culture, and enterprise of twentieth century America.
The story of a great American builder.
At the peak of his power, in the 1940s and 1950s, William Francis Gibbs was considered America’s best naval architect.
His quest to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner of his time, the S.S. United States, was a topic of national fascination. When completed in 1952, the ship was hailed as a technological masterpiece at a time when “made in America” meant the best.
Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family’s sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the S.S. United States.
William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post–World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.
The story of a great American builder.
At the peak of his power, in the 1940s and 1950s, William Francis Gibbs was considered America’s best naval architect.
His quest to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner of his time, the S.S. United States, was a topic of national fascination. When completed in 1952, the ship was hailed as a technological masterpiece at a time when “made in America” meant the best.
Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family’s sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the S.S. United States.
William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post–World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2012
48 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Steven Ujifusa
7 books46 followersSteven Ujifusa is an historian and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous articles on architecture and urban history for PlanPhilly.com and PhillyHistory.org. When he is not writing, he enjoys singing, photography, rowing on the Schuylkill River, and travel. A native of New York City and raised in Chappaqua, New York, Steven received his undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and a joint masters in historic preservation and real estate development from the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the advisory council of the SS United States Conservancy, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the great ship and preserving her historical legacy.
"A Man and His Ship" is his first book. "The Wall Street Journal" named it as one of their top ten nonfiction books of 2012.
"A Man and His Ship" is his first book. "The Wall Street Journal" named it as one of their top ten nonfiction books of 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
April 14, 2016
To be a ship buff in the 21st century is to cultivate a certain fatalistic nostalgia, especially if you're not old enough to remember a time before aircraft supremacy. I'm talking, of course, about myself. I've always had a passion for boats, no doubt a seed planted early on by my father's enthusiasm for the same. Like my father I'm an armchair sailor, so it was with great glee that I snatched up a copy of Steven Ujifusa's excellent new history of the SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built and still the holder of the legendary Blue Riband award, and her driven designer William Francis Gibbs.
Ujifusa, a member of the United States conservancy, details Gibbs' early fascination with ships and his long gestation - reified by an illustrious career of naval innovation - before finally arriving at the creation of his "Big Ship." All in all, it's as much about a man and his boat as it is a fascinating history of the first half of the American 20th century. In many ways Gibbs and his ship embody a certain segment of that America. Gibbs was obsessed with design and modernity, though unlike portrayals of his contemporaries on shows such as Mad Men, Gibbs arrives at his obsession from a purely practical approach - there's nothing of the fad obsessed or dilettante here. If you're to build the fastest ship in the world you're going to need to think radically about design.
I mentioned nostalgia at the beginning of this review. It's an important factor throughout the book. While United States may have been the fastest, most luxurious (if not most opulent) ship of her day, she was also a swan song. Built in the 1950s she came on the stage just as air travel dawned. Her 17 year career saw a radical shift in how people moved about the globe. So there's definitely an elegiac tone to this book too. One that, at times, waxes too sentimental for my taste. Particularly at the end, the journalistic distance between author and subject collapses, resolving in muddle of fact and boosterism: The ship is currently in preservation limbo on the Philadelphia waterfront. Still, I give Ujifusa great latitude here. We seem to share a sympathetic world view.
If you liked this, make sure to follow me on Goodreads for more reviews!
Ujifusa, a member of the United States conservancy, details Gibbs' early fascination with ships and his long gestation - reified by an illustrious career of naval innovation - before finally arriving at the creation of his "Big Ship." All in all, it's as much about a man and his boat as it is a fascinating history of the first half of the American 20th century. In many ways Gibbs and his ship embody a certain segment of that America. Gibbs was obsessed with design and modernity, though unlike portrayals of his contemporaries on shows such as Mad Men, Gibbs arrives at his obsession from a purely practical approach - there's nothing of the fad obsessed or dilettante here. If you're to build the fastest ship in the world you're going to need to think radically about design.
I mentioned nostalgia at the beginning of this review. It's an important factor throughout the book. While United States may have been the fastest, most luxurious (if not most opulent) ship of her day, she was also a swan song. Built in the 1950s she came on the stage just as air travel dawned. Her 17 year career saw a radical shift in how people moved about the globe. So there's definitely an elegiac tone to this book too. One that, at times, waxes too sentimental for my taste. Particularly at the end, the journalistic distance between author and subject collapses, resolving in muddle of fact and boosterism: The ship is currently in preservation limbo on the Philadelphia waterfront. Still, I give Ujifusa great latitude here. We seem to share a sympathetic world view.
If you liked this, make sure to follow me on Goodreads for more reviews!
February 18, 2013
This book is an excellent example of how a exceptional author can make any subject seem fascinating, rather than merely a book for boating enthusiasts, naval historians, or prospective Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. It gave a nice sense of a romantic age of sea travel (unless you were in third class in those earlier ships), when immigrants traveled by sea, and when setting speed records by large cruise ships meant a lot. (Especially did in Titanic's maiden voyage...)
The book opens up with the earlier days if the emerging shipping trade in the late 1800s and talks of how the US railroads received western subsidies versus US shipping which largely lacked them. (The foreign competition was heavily subsidized.) Thanks to a 1908 act of Congress, foreign-built ships had to fly their respective foreign flags dreadnoughts. This proved a nice way to irk the British public following the sinking of the Titanic which was considered by many to be British in name only, as the White Star Line was owned by J.P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine amalgamation of companies. (Should seem ironic that a hundred years later the BBC and other British channels would produce documentaries and miniseries that emphasize the Harland and Wolff shipyards and how the Titanic was a triumph of the British economy as it existed a hundred years ago. Was either them or Modern Marvels that also talked about how the lifeboat requirements -- which well-exceeded the requirements under British law -- was based on shipping tonnage rather than number of passengers. Also liked History Channel's Modern Marvels, as, watching it, you suddenly get the intuition that, had Titanic not taken evasion actions and swerved to avoid the iceberg and instead hit it head-on, it likely would have survived the damage.) Although the book claims that the disaster haunted Morgan up until he died a year later, Jean Strousse's Morgan biography would suggest it was the interrogations by US prosecutor Samuel Untermyer that really chewed out Morgan on the hearings about the Crash of 1907. (After he left on his typical European holiday, he fell into a delirium and paranoia about being forced back to the US to testify. Untermyer would shortly after adamantly insist he had no cause in the collapse of Morgan's health and death at 75.)
As stressed throughout the book, the huge loss of life would cause Naval Architect William Francis Gibbs to emphasize safety throughout all his designs. (He designed the SS Malolo and was on it in 1927 when it was struck by Norwegian freighter SS Jacob Christensen. Thanks to properly designed watertight compartments, the Malolo was able to "sail into New York Harbor flooded with over 7,000 tons of sea water in her hull," as mentioned on Wikipedia.)
The other major driver in the 1910s decade, for anyone with a deep interest in history, was the navy rivalry between the British Empire and Germany, with the building of dreadnoughts and other big warships. (Nice tie-ins with William Manchester's Churchill biography I read some weeks back and does tempt me to read Robert Massie's books some time later this year.) There also was a commercial rivalry with Germany building the majestic ships Imperator, Bismarck, and Vaterland. (The latter would be seized by the United States during WWI and, apparently on Woodrow Wilson's suggestion, renamed Leviathan.)
As for the book's protagonist, William Francis Gibbs, he had his major "break" when, after devising the original blueprints for a cruise liner would become his life's ambition, he managed to get an introduction to Jack Morgan in 1916. After presenting and Morgan stepping out for 20 minutes that the book describes as feeling like 20 lifetimes, Morgan voiced his approval and hired Gibbs to International Mercantile Marine. As he had been forced to drop out of Harvard and only had a Columbia Law background with little formal engineering education (his Harvard grades were unimpressive), it was definitely a major achievement for him to be mostly a self-taught engineer. (His father was the famous financier William Warren Gibbs, but the family was in financial ruin by that point.)
After the US entry into WWI, he would be tasked with bringing the seized Leviathan into operational condition. (German crew had indeed sabotaged it but there was also some poor choices made in its design.) He would study all of the internals and catalog every detail of the ship as part of the process. When asked by the press whether it was easier to build a ship from scratch or to work from an existing ship, he would say from scratch. (Sounds like computer programming where it is often considered easier to just write new code from scratch rather than increasingly patch up old existing code.) Noteworthy too how Gibbs was quite the perfectionist and inspected every detail and really held Newport News Shipbuilding to the letter of the contract they had signed, which proved (and would subsequently prove in his future dealings with them) a money-losing endeavor for a shipyard that repeatedly would find itself desperate for work after wars.
Other great note was how when the SS Normandy first arrived in the US, Gibbs was among the tourists who paid 50 cents to tour the ship. Him and his engineer snuck off from the tour group when the guide had turned his back on him, so he got a good look at the ship's internals. Also meant playing a good cat and mouse game of hiding from the ship's crew before finally finding a place to sit down and having his engineer scribble down notes for 3 hours on everything they saw. (One would think Gibbs likely did that on other ships too.. While knowing from his own experience later to maximize security on the SS United States to keep competitors from finding out his ship's -- and Naval -- secrets.)
As for the Great Depression years, Gibbs famously refused to advertise on the logic that the problem with promoters is sooner or later you believe the things they say about you. One of his innovations was the use of a miracle material (asbestos) to prevent ship fires that, aside from a ship sinking, was the great nightmare about ships.
As for America's entry into the war, 70% of battleships would be designed by Gibbs' firm, it is believed he probably did have some casual meetings with FDR. (FDR was a huge navy enthusiast and would most probably have enjoyed talking to ship designers.) His firm would also be accused -- and acquitted of -- wartime profiteering, as it was revealed in testimony that they earned a rather low 4% profit on sales. (His brother -- who played an out-sized supporting role at the firm throughout his life that my review unfortunately lacks emphasis on -- managed the firm's books and gave William the financials to present at the hearings.)
30+ years after his initial design, Gibbs finally got to design and see the SS United States built. Beauty I thought was on how Gibbs was on board those test voyages as an engineer inspecting calculations and taking copious technical notes. (How the ship managed under various conditions, whether any adjustments were needed, etc.) Also worth mentioning the description -- surely an "epic" moment for all parties who bore witness -- of when she passed by the Queen Mary on the maiden voyage. (People watching a movie on the latter ship ran out of the theater to catch a glimpse.)
As for the critical financial details (obviously the main bottleneck that prevented the ship from being built sooner), worth noting the Truman administration gave huge construction and operating subsidies to get the ship built and to function as a troop transport in the event of another big war. (Korean War was going on around the time the ship was being built.) Another aspect was how the construction would support well-paying union jobs, as it got into the politics of it.
Thanks to the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956 (footage of which was televised) and air travel steadily becoming safer and more tolerable (at the time anyway?), people began to lose interest in ship travel which unfortunately at Gibb's peak, his desire for a sister ship to provide "complete" Atlantic Ocean service never materialized. Impression from those passages was Gibb's obsession with safety proved not only good for his own ships, but good for the perception of the industry.
As for the ship's fate, by 1968 the ship was no longer profitable and was taken out of service. (Also mention of how the unions frequently tried to push for better wages even as the tourist industry waned. Perhaps why the Sherman Antitrust Act had been applied in the past to unions, considering once or twice they went on strike on the day the ship was supposed to set sail.) Norwegian Cruise Lines attempted to buy the ship in 1979 but was turned down apparently due to some of the ship's design still being considered secret. (Unfortunate as they probably would have brought it back to its glory.) After some additional changes in ownership, a developer would gut a ton of its inside and auction off much of the artifacts of the ship. (Described as rape.) In 2003, Norwegian Cruise Lines successfully bought the ship and had hoped to renovate it back to its previous glory (at a cost of half a billion -- almost as much as building a new cruise liner), but the financial crisis and subsequent drop in the cruise line industry scrapped those plans and the ship's fate was put in limbo and was in danger of being sent to a scrapyard.
As for other personality notes on Gibbs, he was initially rather introverted and perhaps it showed by how he mainly kept from press appearances. (Also due to how it was better not to loudly make promises that he was unable to keep.) His brother would be the more spoken one and have the business savvy. (Seemed a reminder of the Disney brothers where Walt was the eternal optimist, while Roy helped bring some discipline.. among the more memorable lines was when Roy asked Walt "Did you even read the contract?" on a contract that was somewhat bad for the Walt Disney Company and Walt replied "Of course I didn't read it.") William would brag "When I retire, I'll be dead." Aside from frequent mentions of his wife and their relationship, not much to be said of the family life with his children. (They did not follow in daddy's footsteps and went their own separate paths.) He definitely possessed incredible engineering abilities. Although the book might have inferred it was his brother's calculations, he also warned in the 1920s that a government-supported plan for a rival to buy SS Leviathan would ultimately leave the government paying the bills. (He was right, even if the Great Depression might have helped toward that result.)
Needless to say (again), this book was great. I will probably refer back to it as I possibly have made mistakes in this review on some of the names (ships, people, probably would have erred on places too had I mentioned some) and goes without saying this review does lack some of the "in between" details. Greater emphasis on what I found to be of interest.
The book opens up with the earlier days if the emerging shipping trade in the late 1800s and talks of how the US railroads received western subsidies versus US shipping which largely lacked them. (The foreign competition was heavily subsidized.) Thanks to a 1908 act of Congress, foreign-built ships had to fly their respective foreign flags dreadnoughts. This proved a nice way to irk the British public following the sinking of the Titanic which was considered by many to be British in name only, as the White Star Line was owned by J.P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine amalgamation of companies. (Should seem ironic that a hundred years later the BBC and other British channels would produce documentaries and miniseries that emphasize the Harland and Wolff shipyards and how the Titanic was a triumph of the British economy as it existed a hundred years ago. Was either them or Modern Marvels that also talked about how the lifeboat requirements -- which well-exceeded the requirements under British law -- was based on shipping tonnage rather than number of passengers. Also liked History Channel's Modern Marvels, as, watching it, you suddenly get the intuition that, had Titanic not taken evasion actions and swerved to avoid the iceberg and instead hit it head-on, it likely would have survived the damage.) Although the book claims that the disaster haunted Morgan up until he died a year later, Jean Strousse's Morgan biography would suggest it was the interrogations by US prosecutor Samuel Untermyer that really chewed out Morgan on the hearings about the Crash of 1907. (After he left on his typical European holiday, he fell into a delirium and paranoia about being forced back to the US to testify. Untermyer would shortly after adamantly insist he had no cause in the collapse of Morgan's health and death at 75.)
As stressed throughout the book, the huge loss of life would cause Naval Architect William Francis Gibbs to emphasize safety throughout all his designs. (He designed the SS Malolo and was on it in 1927 when it was struck by Norwegian freighter SS Jacob Christensen. Thanks to properly designed watertight compartments, the Malolo was able to "sail into New York Harbor flooded with over 7,000 tons of sea water in her hull," as mentioned on Wikipedia.)
The other major driver in the 1910s decade, for anyone with a deep interest in history, was the navy rivalry between the British Empire and Germany, with the building of dreadnoughts and other big warships. (Nice tie-ins with William Manchester's Churchill biography I read some weeks back and does tempt me to read Robert Massie's books some time later this year.) There also was a commercial rivalry with Germany building the majestic ships Imperator, Bismarck, and Vaterland. (The latter would be seized by the United States during WWI and, apparently on Woodrow Wilson's suggestion, renamed Leviathan.)
As for the book's protagonist, William Francis Gibbs, he had his major "break" when, after devising the original blueprints for a cruise liner would become his life's ambition, he managed to get an introduction to Jack Morgan in 1916. After presenting and Morgan stepping out for 20 minutes that the book describes as feeling like 20 lifetimes, Morgan voiced his approval and hired Gibbs to International Mercantile Marine. As he had been forced to drop out of Harvard and only had a Columbia Law background with little formal engineering education (his Harvard grades were unimpressive), it was definitely a major achievement for him to be mostly a self-taught engineer. (His father was the famous financier William Warren Gibbs, but the family was in financial ruin by that point.)
After the US entry into WWI, he would be tasked with bringing the seized Leviathan into operational condition. (German crew had indeed sabotaged it but there was also some poor choices made in its design.) He would study all of the internals and catalog every detail of the ship as part of the process. When asked by the press whether it was easier to build a ship from scratch or to work from an existing ship, he would say from scratch. (Sounds like computer programming where it is often considered easier to just write new code from scratch rather than increasingly patch up old existing code.) Noteworthy too how Gibbs was quite the perfectionist and inspected every detail and really held Newport News Shipbuilding to the letter of the contract they had signed, which proved (and would subsequently prove in his future dealings with them) a money-losing endeavor for a shipyard that repeatedly would find itself desperate for work after wars.
Other great note was how when the SS Normandy first arrived in the US, Gibbs was among the tourists who paid 50 cents to tour the ship. Him and his engineer snuck off from the tour group when the guide had turned his back on him, so he got a good look at the ship's internals. Also meant playing a good cat and mouse game of hiding from the ship's crew before finally finding a place to sit down and having his engineer scribble down notes for 3 hours on everything they saw. (One would think Gibbs likely did that on other ships too.. While knowing from his own experience later to maximize security on the SS United States to keep competitors from finding out his ship's -- and Naval -- secrets.)
As for the Great Depression years, Gibbs famously refused to advertise on the logic that the problem with promoters is sooner or later you believe the things they say about you. One of his innovations was the use of a miracle material (asbestos) to prevent ship fires that, aside from a ship sinking, was the great nightmare about ships.
As for America's entry into the war, 70% of battleships would be designed by Gibbs' firm, it is believed he probably did have some casual meetings with FDR. (FDR was a huge navy enthusiast and would most probably have enjoyed talking to ship designers.) His firm would also be accused -- and acquitted of -- wartime profiteering, as it was revealed in testimony that they earned a rather low 4% profit on sales. (His brother -- who played an out-sized supporting role at the firm throughout his life that my review unfortunately lacks emphasis on -- managed the firm's books and gave William the financials to present at the hearings.)
30+ years after his initial design, Gibbs finally got to design and see the SS United States built. Beauty I thought was on how Gibbs was on board those test voyages as an engineer inspecting calculations and taking copious technical notes. (How the ship managed under various conditions, whether any adjustments were needed, etc.) Also worth mentioning the description -- surely an "epic" moment for all parties who bore witness -- of when she passed by the Queen Mary on the maiden voyage. (People watching a movie on the latter ship ran out of the theater to catch a glimpse.)
As for the critical financial details (obviously the main bottleneck that prevented the ship from being built sooner), worth noting the Truman administration gave huge construction and operating subsidies to get the ship built and to function as a troop transport in the event of another big war. (Korean War was going on around the time the ship was being built.) Another aspect was how the construction would support well-paying union jobs, as it got into the politics of it.
Thanks to the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956 (footage of which was televised) and air travel steadily becoming safer and more tolerable (at the time anyway?), people began to lose interest in ship travel which unfortunately at Gibb's peak, his desire for a sister ship to provide "complete" Atlantic Ocean service never materialized. Impression from those passages was Gibb's obsession with safety proved not only good for his own ships, but good for the perception of the industry.
As for the ship's fate, by 1968 the ship was no longer profitable and was taken out of service. (Also mention of how the unions frequently tried to push for better wages even as the tourist industry waned. Perhaps why the Sherman Antitrust Act had been applied in the past to unions, considering once or twice they went on strike on the day the ship was supposed to set sail.) Norwegian Cruise Lines attempted to buy the ship in 1979 but was turned down apparently due to some of the ship's design still being considered secret. (Unfortunate as they probably would have brought it back to its glory.) After some additional changes in ownership, a developer would gut a ton of its inside and auction off much of the artifacts of the ship. (Described as rape.) In 2003, Norwegian Cruise Lines successfully bought the ship and had hoped to renovate it back to its previous glory (at a cost of half a billion -- almost as much as building a new cruise liner), but the financial crisis and subsequent drop in the cruise line industry scrapped those plans and the ship's fate was put in limbo and was in danger of being sent to a scrapyard.
As for other personality notes on Gibbs, he was initially rather introverted and perhaps it showed by how he mainly kept from press appearances. (Also due to how it was better not to loudly make promises that he was unable to keep.) His brother would be the more spoken one and have the business savvy. (Seemed a reminder of the Disney brothers where Walt was the eternal optimist, while Roy helped bring some discipline.. among the more memorable lines was when Roy asked Walt "Did you even read the contract?" on a contract that was somewhat bad for the Walt Disney Company and Walt replied "Of course I didn't read it.") William would brag "When I retire, I'll be dead." Aside from frequent mentions of his wife and their relationship, not much to be said of the family life with his children. (They did not follow in daddy's footsteps and went their own separate paths.) He definitely possessed incredible engineering abilities. Although the book might have inferred it was his brother's calculations, he also warned in the 1920s that a government-supported plan for a rival to buy SS Leviathan would ultimately leave the government paying the bills. (He was right, even if the Great Depression might have helped toward that result.)
Needless to say (again), this book was great. I will probably refer back to it as I possibly have made mistakes in this review on some of the names (ships, people, probably would have erred on places too had I mentioned some) and goes without saying this review does lack some of the "in between" details. Greater emphasis on what I found to be of interest.
August 6, 2014
I was very interested in reading this book because a) I am interested in landmark engineering achievements and b) because I had met Frederic Gibbs, the brother, in the late 60s while working at the Weekapaug Inn in RI. Frederic had a red 1957 Ferrari that had raced in LeMans. I fell in love with that car.
The book was interesting from a historical perspective but I would have appreciated much more information about the engineering and construction challenges of the many ship building projects.
It wasn't too clear how a lawyer developed the engineering skills needed to pull this off. The author implies he was self taught.
The book was interesting from a historical perspective but I would have appreciated much more information about the engineering and construction challenges of the many ship building projects.
It wasn't too clear how a lawyer developed the engineering skills needed to pull this off. The author implies he was self taught.
June 23, 2013
I've long been fascinated by the great ocean liners, those unparalleled combinations of grace, size, speed and style that carried passengers across the seas before the jet age.
That's what led me to "A Man and His Ship," Steven Ujifusa's story of the S.S. United States and the man whose vision the ship embodies, William Francis Gibbs.
The book is a must-read if you share my interest in these great ships.
If you don't, it's not likely to convert you or necessarily interest you.
The S.S. United States is the fastest large passenger ship ever made, by a long shot, and arguably an object of great beauty as well.
Mr. Ujifusa definitely demonstrates the extent to which this ship reflects Gibbs' will and his vision. It was Gibbs' will, after decades of trying, that got the United States to finance and build his great liner. It was his vision that made it the fastest of the superliners, and arguably the safest, safer indeed than any of the massive cruise ships that ply the waters six decades later.
Where the book falls down is that it is a biography of a famously reticent man. The author is successfully able to explain Gibbs' role in creating the United States as a technical achievement. Indeed he proves quite able in providing layman-readable explanations of things like why the steam engines used in this ship more effective than those in others.
But he's less successful in getting across the core of Gibbs' motivation in creating such a ship, the main theme of the book. Given the subject's lifelong reticence, he's essentially forced to rely on circumstantial evidence (the father's fall from grace in business, et al) to explain the choices that drove his career and life, and that's a bit unsatisfying.
That's what led me to "A Man and His Ship," Steven Ujifusa's story of the S.S. United States and the man whose vision the ship embodies, William Francis Gibbs.
The book is a must-read if you share my interest in these great ships.
If you don't, it's not likely to convert you or necessarily interest you.
The S.S. United States is the fastest large passenger ship ever made, by a long shot, and arguably an object of great beauty as well.
Mr. Ujifusa definitely demonstrates the extent to which this ship reflects Gibbs' will and his vision. It was Gibbs' will, after decades of trying, that got the United States to finance and build his great liner. It was his vision that made it the fastest of the superliners, and arguably the safest, safer indeed than any of the massive cruise ships that ply the waters six decades later.
Where the book falls down is that it is a biography of a famously reticent man. The author is successfully able to explain Gibbs' role in creating the United States as a technical achievement. Indeed he proves quite able in providing layman-readable explanations of things like why the steam engines used in this ship more effective than those in others.
But he's less successful in getting across the core of Gibbs' motivation in creating such a ship, the main theme of the book. Given the subject's lifelong reticence, he's essentially forced to rely on circumstantial evidence (the father's fall from grace in business, et al) to explain the choices that drove his career and life, and that's a bit unsatisfying.
November 16, 2013
I knew some of the story of SS United States but didn't realize it was truly the lifelong ambition of William Francis Gibbs to build the finest, fastest, safest passenger ship in the world. This is a good story of one of those obsessed people who achieve their dream despite seemingly everything being against them. There were a few apparent discrepancies among the dates the author gives for certain events that bothered the flow of the story for me, and one statement regarding the projected scrapping of the ship that I thought was a glaring error, but over all I thought it was very good read. Plus, there is a tip about a Disney movie, "Bon Voyage," that was partially filmed aboard the ship, so you still have a chance to see the long-gone interiors of this "very fast lady."
December 27, 2018
A fascinating look at a naval engineer, his life an ambition to build the best transatlantic ocean liner, one that Still to this day holds the average speed record. This book fails to get a five star as the author seems to uncritically praise Gibbs genius while hardly commenting negatively on his unethical moves such as engaging in corporate espionage and business betrayals.
December 20, 2022
Ujifusa gives not only an interesting character study of William Francis Gibbs and chronicle of the SS United States, but also a unique perspective of 20th century maritime history.
July 11, 2021
I had a hard time deciding how to review this. I had the option of reviewing it as macaroni, or as penne a la pesto.
"If this was supposed to be macaroni and cheese, it would be very bad. But it's penne a la pesto, and judged by the standards of penne a la pesto, it's very good." -Jake Morgendorfer, Daria
As a biography, I think Mr Ujifusa did a great job of understanding William Francis Gibbs and his dream. As someone who has loved ocean liners since childhood, even though I was born too late to appreciate them the way someone in their native era would have, I find WFG to be one of two men who were truly fathers to a dream which they managed to see enter service, the other being Vladimir Ivanovich Yourkevitch. Both men saw too that their creations would be cut short by their times, an unfortunately common fate for so many great achievements.
Seeing Gibbs' formative years roll into his professional career was particularly enjoyable. Despite the constant intrusion of politics into the topics at hand, the end result was that he won his battles with excellence, not deception.
Overall, the depiction of WFG is the penne a la pesto.
As far as the ships themselves are concerned, there's where we hit the macaroni and cheese. As a book about WFG, it's really not a good book about him building ships other than one ship. It's a book about how he came to create the United States. If that's what you want, excellent. But it barely touches on most of his other projects except as they pertain to his quest to build United States.
The depictions of Leviathan were interesting but are necessarily couched in the conditions of her era, which was a bad time to be a big ship and a bad time to be a US-flagged passenger ship.
America is only barely touched on, and was an amazing ship in its own right. His absolutely beautiful Grace Line Santa-* ships are mentioned only in passing. Malolo gets a little attention, and his wartime work was key but only tangentially discussed outside of how it made his firm respected enough to get the project and avoid appearance of war profiteering.
The descriptions of construction and entry into service of United States were solid. Perhaps a bit of favouritism shown in the writing, and that's to be expected. She is, after all, the greatest liner of her era, as Normandie was of hers. What's unfortunate about telling the story of United States is that she was so good that there are no incidents to write about. Reliability and uneventfulness in ocean travel are wonderful and admirable, but very difficult to make interesting. Safety is boring. Setting records is fun, but is not a frequent event. I firmly believe WFG would consider travelers and historians considering his ship's service record so uneventful as to be boring to be the highest compliment, as long as they enjoyed their crossings and found the ship itself interesting.
His last liners are hardly noticeable in the text at all, and get only passing mention.
United States is an amazing ship, and is still afloat, albeit in a tenuous situation and with so much of her history either removed or destroyed. I've seen her from the road in Philadelphia, and she remains my favourite liner. Ujifusa is right in pointing out how much she's been ruined. We have the know how to make her what she once was if we wanted to as a nation, but we won't.
I have concerns about various proposals to make her an economical preservation object. I visited Queen Mary in the early 90s, and she has a hard enough time of it even without having been gutted. I've visited Pampanito in San Francisco and found her lovely and well-restored, I even took a cruise on Jeremiah O'Brien. All of these ships came to their homes with most of their history intact.
I hope United States finds a way to dodge the scrapper's torch and the ignominy of eternally rusting in limbo across the street from IKEA, but without the solution somehow being demeaning to her and her legacy.
---
As a side node, sometime in 2000 or 2001, a coworker at a pizza place lent me a self-published memoir of a Dutch man who seems to have been a crewman aboard the 1937 Nieuw Amsterdam for pretty much her entire career, or nearly so. I wish I had written down the name of the author and the title he gave it, but I suspect I will never be able to read it again. If I could, I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read the history of a ship which served a long and relatively uneventful life made into an absolutely amazing story. The man's passion for his ship and for her service was absolute gold for anyone who wants to really understand the life of such a vessel in its fullness. I sometimes wonder how many copies exist and where I might find one, but I suspect that opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"If this was supposed to be macaroni and cheese, it would be very bad. But it's penne a la pesto, and judged by the standards of penne a la pesto, it's very good." -Jake Morgendorfer, Daria
As a biography, I think Mr Ujifusa did a great job of understanding William Francis Gibbs and his dream. As someone who has loved ocean liners since childhood, even though I was born too late to appreciate them the way someone in their native era would have, I find WFG to be one of two men who were truly fathers to a dream which they managed to see enter service, the other being Vladimir Ivanovich Yourkevitch. Both men saw too that their creations would be cut short by their times, an unfortunately common fate for so many great achievements.
Seeing Gibbs' formative years roll into his professional career was particularly enjoyable. Despite the constant intrusion of politics into the topics at hand, the end result was that he won his battles with excellence, not deception.
Overall, the depiction of WFG is the penne a la pesto.
As far as the ships themselves are concerned, there's where we hit the macaroni and cheese. As a book about WFG, it's really not a good book about him building ships other than one ship. It's a book about how he came to create the United States. If that's what you want, excellent. But it barely touches on most of his other projects except as they pertain to his quest to build United States.
The depictions of Leviathan were interesting but are necessarily couched in the conditions of her era, which was a bad time to be a big ship and a bad time to be a US-flagged passenger ship.
America is only barely touched on, and was an amazing ship in its own right. His absolutely beautiful Grace Line Santa-* ships are mentioned only in passing. Malolo gets a little attention, and his wartime work was key but only tangentially discussed outside of how it made his firm respected enough to get the project and avoid appearance of war profiteering.
The descriptions of construction and entry into service of United States were solid. Perhaps a bit of favouritism shown in the writing, and that's to be expected. She is, after all, the greatest liner of her era, as Normandie was of hers. What's unfortunate about telling the story of United States is that she was so good that there are no incidents to write about. Reliability and uneventfulness in ocean travel are wonderful and admirable, but very difficult to make interesting. Safety is boring. Setting records is fun, but is not a frequent event. I firmly believe WFG would consider travelers and historians considering his ship's service record so uneventful as to be boring to be the highest compliment, as long as they enjoyed their crossings and found the ship itself interesting.
His last liners are hardly noticeable in the text at all, and get only passing mention.
United States is an amazing ship, and is still afloat, albeit in a tenuous situation and with so much of her history either removed or destroyed. I've seen her from the road in Philadelphia, and she remains my favourite liner. Ujifusa is right in pointing out how much she's been ruined. We have the know how to make her what she once was if we wanted to as a nation, but we won't.
I have concerns about various proposals to make her an economical preservation object. I visited Queen Mary in the early 90s, and she has a hard enough time of it even without having been gutted. I've visited Pampanito in San Francisco and found her lovely and well-restored, I even took a cruise on Jeremiah O'Brien. All of these ships came to their homes with most of their history intact.
I hope United States finds a way to dodge the scrapper's torch and the ignominy of eternally rusting in limbo across the street from IKEA, but without the solution somehow being demeaning to her and her legacy.
---
As a side node, sometime in 2000 or 2001, a coworker at a pizza place lent me a self-published memoir of a Dutch man who seems to have been a crewman aboard the 1937 Nieuw Amsterdam for pretty much her entire career, or nearly so. I wish I had written down the name of the author and the title he gave it, but I suspect I will never be able to read it again. If I could, I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read the history of a ship which served a long and relatively uneventful life made into an absolutely amazing story. The man's passion for his ship and for her service was absolute gold for anyone who wants to really understand the life of such a vessel in its fullness. I sometimes wonder how many copies exist and where I might find one, but I suspect that opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
May 14, 2020
A Man and His Ship takes place in the very late 1800s & early 1900s with William Francis Gibbs as the main character. When William is eight years old, his father, William Warren Gibbs takes him to Philadelphia’s Cramp Shipyard, to see the launch of the ocean liner St. Louis. This is where Gibbs first discovers his lifelong dream of designing ships. William Warren Gibbs has grown rich from when he first came to Philadelphia about thirty years ago. Gibbs was almost never at school, because “A sneeze was always good for a week at home. A slight cough was good for a month, A pronounced bark enabled him to stay away from school for an entire year.” As a child, Gibbs did not attend an Episcopal boarding school, but rather the De Lancey School, which was close enough for Gibbs to walk to. Gibbs didn’t graduate from De Lancey until he was almost twenty. Gibbs’ father had him attend Harvard, even though Gibb’s report cards had many C’s & D’s. He was still admitted to Harvard, most likely due to the fact that he came from a very rich family. Gibb’s father wanted him to become a lawyer, not an engineer, because he believed that engineers were “impractical and inarticulate.” William withdrew from Harvard during his second year, on the account of sickness. At this point, William's father's fraudulent doings were starting to come to light. That summer, William Francis Gibbs and his brother, Frederic, were going to sail on the newest ocean liners, Lusitania & Mauretania, owned & operated by the British Cunard Line. In 1908, Gibbs reenrolled at Harvard. In June of 1910, Gibbs' original college class graduated, but Gibbs did not. Gibbs never ended up graduating, instead dropping out, because his father could no longer afford the cost of tuition. Gibbs then made a deal with his father that he would finish his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, and then attend Columbia’s law school. He would have to work while at Columbia, to pay for his education. After graduation, he would work for one year as a lawyer and had to send money home. After that one year, Gibbs could do what he wanted to. On December 2, 1910, the Philadelphia’s sheriff office seized their grand mansion at 1733 Walnut Street. The $15 million that William Warren Gibbs was once said to have possessed was gone, and none of their rich friends were coming to their aid. Gibbs eventually becomes one of America's greatest naval architects, designing hundreds of ships, and building his dream the United States, the biggest ocean liner of its time.
July 20, 2025
I found out about this book from a video by Mike Brady on YouTube when he was talking about the final voyage that the SS United States was taking at the time and due to my very passionate interest in her, felt like I had to have it.
The only issue that I found with the book was that it was written in 2012, thirteen years before the destiny of the SS United States was finally decided. So it was wonderful to learn so much about William Francis Gibbs and everything that he went through in his life leading up the final completion of his dream, building the greatest ocean liner ever built. A dream that he magnificently accomplished. I learned a lot about him, his previous ships that he designed, (which other than the warships he helped design, always had spotless safety records due to his attention to detail and planning,) and about the SS United States itself. I didn't know that she had never reached her top speed, only that she was the fastest liner and safest ever built. It was also surprising to me how so many of her secrets were held for so long by Gibbs and the Government.
As I said, it was really sad to finish the book because in 2012, the author noted that there was still hope of saving the ship, but now we know what will happen. His description of how a ship is scrapped was really hard for me to read because I do find it to be so nasty of a process, even if it does provide some benefit. However the SS United States will be different because she isn't completely ravaged, just prepared to be sunk. Though for me, it's still a tragedy for it to be under the ocean after everything William Francis Gibbs did and designed to make sure that it wouldn't happen.
The only issue that I found with the book was that it was written in 2012, thirteen years before the destiny of the SS United States was finally decided. So it was wonderful to learn so much about William Francis Gibbs and everything that he went through in his life leading up the final completion of his dream, building the greatest ocean liner ever built. A dream that he magnificently accomplished. I learned a lot about him, his previous ships that he designed, (which other than the warships he helped design, always had spotless safety records due to his attention to detail and planning,) and about the SS United States itself. I didn't know that she had never reached her top speed, only that she was the fastest liner and safest ever built. It was also surprising to me how so many of her secrets were held for so long by Gibbs and the Government.
As I said, it was really sad to finish the book because in 2012, the author noted that there was still hope of saving the ship, but now we know what will happen. His description of how a ship is scrapped was really hard for me to read because I do find it to be so nasty of a process, even if it does provide some benefit. However the SS United States will be different because she isn't completely ravaged, just prepared to be sunk. Though for me, it's still a tragedy for it to be under the ocean after everything William Francis Gibbs did and designed to make sure that it wouldn't happen.
November 13, 2019
His quest to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner of his time, the S.S. United States, was a topic of national fascination. When completed in 1952, the ship was hailed as a technological masterpiece at a time when “made in America” meant the best.
Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family’s sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the S.S. United States.
William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post–World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.
https://www.fahasa.com/
Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family’s sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the S.S. United States.
William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post–World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.
https://www.fahasa.com/
August 26, 2020
The title of this book is very much truth in advertising, as one gets the life story of the great American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and his dream to see the greatest ocean liner in the world fly the American flag; the dream being realized in the form of the S.S. "United States." Much of this story is a parable of salvage, as Gibbs preserved his dreams after his father's business interests collapsed, and molded himself into the sort of person who could achieve his dreams. This is also a history of the pursuit of the so-called "Blue Riband;" the international competition to build the fastest North Atlantic liner in the world. This book makes it very clear that this was the sort of race one only pursued with a national government at one's back, as many of these efforts were really not cost effective; particularly after such body blows to the industry as the suppression of mass migration to the United States, World War I, and the Great Depression. If I have a particular gripe it's that Ujifusa does becomes bogged down in personal anecdote at times, but this is still a good introduction to a bygone time and a great American technologist.
September 26, 2017
Steven Ujifusa has made an unassailable topic of naval engineering engaging, and for me, he also made it inspiring, because the narrative offers a view to what you might call the earliest example of high tech venture capital. It shows how even 100 years ago, passion was enough to make up for a lack of engineering training to make the most technologically advanced dreams possible. This story weaves the histories of elite society, government subsidies, naval and merchant marine engineering, racing, travel and interior design from the turn of the century immigration era through two world wars and beyond. This book is a chronicle of the major moments and disasters of each major Ocean Liner and leaves you with a real understanding of the technological challenges involved with each ship built by the US, France, Germany, Italy and England. A Man and His Ship is a puzzle piece of history that will leave you with an understanding of what the world was like before the dominance of air travel and an appreciation for just how much USS United States is a culmination the shipbuilding era.
November 13, 2025
An overall good book but a few areas where it wasn't accurate. Such as the claim that USS Pennsylvania was the first US navy ship to use turbo electric engines, USS Jupiter was the first. Or the fact they used five bladed propellers on the in board shafts and four on the outer. The navy was doing that 10 years prior with the fast battleships and carriers. Still a good book overall but had to dock points for the inaccuracies
May 7, 2017
Easily one of the best books I've read this year. The author does a masterful job of not only telling the story of William Francis Gibbs and his ship, but also that of transatlantic passenger shipping in general.
Anyone who likes nautical topics and or has a sense of American patriotic pride should really enjoy this one.
Anyone who likes nautical topics and or has a sense of American patriotic pride should really enjoy this one.
May 3, 2018
A boy with a dream, later a man persistent with that dream, produces a ship, the fastest and safest to ply the seas. It was, and still is, a thing of beauty. William Francis Gibbs was truly gifted, his talent, his designs, his tenacity, his foresight, along with his management of the personnel of Gibbs and Cox, he gave us one of the most beautiful ships in the world.
August 12, 2019
More fascinating than I expected, this is a good account of the history of the shipping industry, one of the most innovative naval architects, and the most famous American built and flagged passenger liner.
July 7, 2017
Transatlantic luxury liners in the twentieth century.
January 5, 2020
Interesting.
It could have used a bit more engineering explanation,especially her boiler and engine room design and layout.Otherwise an interesting read.
It could have used a bit more engineering explanation,especially her boiler and engine room design and layout.Otherwise an interesting read.
February 29, 2020
Excellent bio of a ship and the man who’s life obsession was to build it.
June 29, 2025
Fascinating, and led me to go on a YouTube binge about the ship after I finished
October 19, 2025
Ending was so good. Kinda sad to see where America was and were it is now in a sense. What a guy
July 7, 2023
A Wonderful Tale for Ship Lovers
Anyone who has seen the majestic yet sad SS United States ties up in Philadelphia and been interested in this historic ship should read this book. It is enthralling, well-written, and a story worthy of the liner herself.
Anyone who has seen the majestic yet sad SS United States ties up in Philadelphia and been interested in this historic ship should read this book. It is enthralling, well-written, and a story worthy of the liner herself.
March 23, 2017
A Biography of the Navel Architect William Francis Gibbs and his beloved USS United States. This book tells you more about ocean liners and their golden age then you'll ever need. It really helps capture one mans passion for such things. I want to take a voyage on the queen Mary 2 now.
August 8, 2020
A good book. A bit of a brick. But an interesting read. William Francis Gibbs was an interesting man and it was fun learning about his life. I love the SS United State and that is why I chose to read this book. I was not disappointed with the information giving on The SS United States, the book takes a long time to get her. All in all this was a great read. Would I reread this book. No, but I did enjoy reading it.
October 21, 2022
In the mid-1980s, during a dinner cruise along the waterfront in Norfolk, Virginia, I was intrigued to see the long-retired ocean liner SS United States tied up and rusting away. I didn't know anything about her, but I had an interest in ships and ocean liners, and the memory of seeing the United States stuck with me.
So I was excited, many years later, to run across Steven Ujifusa's A Man and His Ship, an account of the long struggle of naval architect William Francis Gibbs to design and build the United States, which ultimately would prove to be the greatest, safest, and fastest ocean liner ever to ply the waters of the Atlantic—so fast that it set a record for the Atlantic crossing on its maiden voyage in 1952, a record that still stands.
The book certainly captures the glamour of ocean travel in the days before trans-Atlantic air service and ably unveils the numerous innovations that made the United States so special. However, I was somewhat disappointed in Ujifusa's depiction of Gibbs, who never really comes alive in the book.
All in all, I enjoyed the book. It certainly left me wishing I could have seen the United States in her glory years. 3.5 stars
So I was excited, many years later, to run across Steven Ujifusa's A Man and His Ship, an account of the long struggle of naval architect William Francis Gibbs to design and build the United States, which ultimately would prove to be the greatest, safest, and fastest ocean liner ever to ply the waters of the Atlantic—so fast that it set a record for the Atlantic crossing on its maiden voyage in 1952, a record that still stands.
The book certainly captures the glamour of ocean travel in the days before trans-Atlantic air service and ably unveils the numerous innovations that made the United States so special. However, I was somewhat disappointed in Ujifusa's depiction of Gibbs, who never really comes alive in the book.
All in all, I enjoyed the book. It certainly left me wishing I could have seen the United States in her glory years. 3.5 stars
October 21, 2012
In describing the life of William Francis Gibbs and his eventual building of the S.S. United States, you learn the history of the passenger liner -- really the century of passenger liners. Starting in 1894 with the steamship St. Louis to the retirement of the S.S. United States. It will turn you into a ship geek and ruin all romantic notions regarding the blip in ship history known as the Titanic. The human element is Gibbs himself. His drive and perseverance that culminated in the S.S. United States is inspirational. The S.S. United States was "the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the US, the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction." [wikipedia] During World War II, Gibb's design firm, Gibbs & Cox had a hug influence. "Between 1940 through 1946, 63 per cent of all merchant ships of 2,000 tons up and 74 per cent of all American naval vessels (destroyers, landing craft, escort carriers, etc.) were built to the designs or working plans of Gibbs & Cox" [wikipedia] The pinnacle moment of his career was arriving at Southampton, England, on the S.S. United States after breaking the eastbound, transtlantic record by 10 hours being celebrated by the locals. From the book, "For the failed lawyer from Philadelphia, now heralded as America's greatest naval architect, the moment couldn't have been sweeter." The book finishes by describing the fate the S.S. United States with the demise of the North Atlantic passenger ship industry. The S.S. United States is moored at Pier 82, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its interior has long since been stripped, but it's still structurally sound, so maybe there is a future as a museum and maybe a hotel as happened to the HMS Queen Mary (this ship held the transatlantic crossing record from 1938 to 1952 until the S.S. United States made its first crossing). I was shocked to find out that I had passed by the ship multiple times when traveling on business through Philadelphia. The ship can be seen from the Walt Whitman Bridge, which I have driven over many times. The S.S. United State was the pinnacle of steamship, passenger liner technology. What else is just off the main flow of life that we don't notice?
July 23, 2017
I think this book has an unfortunate title that might cause readers to steer away from it.Ujifusa's book is about so much more. History buffs, readers with an interest in science and technology, and those who enjoy reading about the culture and social customs of first half of the 20th century would all find much to enjoy in this work.
William Francis Gibbs and his brother Frederick are two of the children of a wealthy father. Both boys are shy and share a deep interest in ships especially the large passenger liners. Even in grade school, William can be found reading nautical engineering journals.
Their fascination with ocean liners began when their father took them to the pier to witness the christening of such a ship. These ships were the only way to travel across the ocean until after WWII when travel by air began to replace these elegant ships. During this previous time period, ocean liners from various countries competed for a prize called the Blue Ribbon. The prize was awarded for the fastest Atlantic crossing. An american ship had never won the prize.
William and Frederick had a goal of designing the world's fastest, safest, and greatest ship. Unfortunately, thier father loses all his money due to poor investments and the depression and William must go to law school and work as an attorney to support the family. Frederick never attends college. William was not successful in his engineering classes at Harvard.
Against this background the story unfolds of how the brothers struggled to obtain their dream and how essential William's expertise in ship design to the United States military during WWII. All the great liners of the day were coverted to troop transport in WWII. Gibbs was responsible for the remarkable design of the United States destroyers and their quick assembly.
A fascinating read, I loved the details about ship design and safety measures, the stories about disasters at sea, the triumph of the achievement of a dream against great odds. Lots of excellent detail about life aboard one of these huge ships and what it took to keep them running and their wealthy, famous passengers happy. In addition, I learned about the merchant marine and a fair amount about the politics involved in getting the government to subsidize part of a great venture.
William Francis Gibbs and his brother Frederick are two of the children of a wealthy father. Both boys are shy and share a deep interest in ships especially the large passenger liners. Even in grade school, William can be found reading nautical engineering journals.
Their fascination with ocean liners began when their father took them to the pier to witness the christening of such a ship. These ships were the only way to travel across the ocean until after WWII when travel by air began to replace these elegant ships. During this previous time period, ocean liners from various countries competed for a prize called the Blue Ribbon. The prize was awarded for the fastest Atlantic crossing. An american ship had never won the prize.
William and Frederick had a goal of designing the world's fastest, safest, and greatest ship. Unfortunately, thier father loses all his money due to poor investments and the depression and William must go to law school and work as an attorney to support the family. Frederick never attends college. William was not successful in his engineering classes at Harvard.
Against this background the story unfolds of how the brothers struggled to obtain their dream and how essential William's expertise in ship design to the United States military during WWII. All the great liners of the day were coverted to troop transport in WWII. Gibbs was responsible for the remarkable design of the United States destroyers and their quick assembly.
A fascinating read, I loved the details about ship design and safety measures, the stories about disasters at sea, the triumph of the achievement of a dream against great odds. Lots of excellent detail about life aboard one of these huge ships and what it took to keep them running and their wealthy, famous passengers happy. In addition, I learned about the merchant marine and a fair amount about the politics involved in getting the government to subsidize part of a great venture.
January 9, 2013
This was an excellent book for those interested in learning more about the golden age of trans-Atlantic ocean liners.
While the book is ostensibly about the building of the SS United States, there is equally if not more information about the design of liners which preceded the "Big U". Her designer, William Gibbs, was not exactly an avuncular chap. Somewhat of a misanthrope, he dreamed of creating the world's largest and most technically advanced ocean liner to steal the coveted Blue Riband from America's European rivals. The Result: The SS United States, which plied the transatlantic routes during the 50s and 60s. This ship featured his exacting standards about hull and engine design along with his mania for fire retardant materials creating what appears to be a technically brilliant, but ultimately sterile ship that today lies rusting at a Pier in Philadelphia.
One would love to see the ship restored, but honestly, its interior wasn't exactly breathtaking, due in equal parts to the design aesthetic of the 1950s and the heavy use of metal and synthetic fire retardant materials. Maybe it looked better in real life?
The book points out that the ship was a money loser from day one, but was kept in service mostly as a propaganda tool for the USA. One funny thing...I was surprised to learn that the issue of expensive union labor has been around a lot longer than I thought. Even back in the 1950s, the Government had to subsidize the ship because American labor was so much more expensive, due to Union contracts, than European labor.
The book is very well written and generally very enjoyable. However, based on the book, I think I would have preferred a passage on the Queen Elizabeth or Mary.
While the book is ostensibly about the building of the SS United States, there is equally if not more information about the design of liners which preceded the "Big U". Her designer, William Gibbs, was not exactly an avuncular chap. Somewhat of a misanthrope, he dreamed of creating the world's largest and most technically advanced ocean liner to steal the coveted Blue Riband from America's European rivals. The Result: The SS United States, which plied the transatlantic routes during the 50s and 60s. This ship featured his exacting standards about hull and engine design along with his mania for fire retardant materials creating what appears to be a technically brilliant, but ultimately sterile ship that today lies rusting at a Pier in Philadelphia.
One would love to see the ship restored, but honestly, its interior wasn't exactly breathtaking, due in equal parts to the design aesthetic of the 1950s and the heavy use of metal and synthetic fire retardant materials. Maybe it looked better in real life?
The book points out that the ship was a money loser from day one, but was kept in service mostly as a propaganda tool for the USA. One funny thing...I was surprised to learn that the issue of expensive union labor has been around a lot longer than I thought. Even back in the 1950s, the Government had to subsidize the ship because American labor was so much more expensive, due to Union contracts, than European labor.
The book is very well written and generally very enjoyable. However, based on the book, I think I would have preferred a passage on the Queen Elizabeth or Mary.
May 10, 2016
I loved this book. Well written, just enough technical detail, and an interesting narrative of a great American - William Francis Gibbs. It really piqued my interest into the culture of great ocean liners in the past. I have looked at the SS United States from the South Philadelphia Ikea parking lot dozens of times, and while I knew it was the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic, finding out more about its back story was a real pleasure. The idea that, like so many things that changed after WW2, it represents naval architecture and American industry's highest peak, but also the was quickly made obsolete by the convenience of safe air travel. (Think that by the time Gibbs died, the Concorde was already flying, and would make travel from NY to London and back possible in a single day.) I'm now very invested in the current push to revive the SS United States, and the emerging interest in returning to the slow luxury of pre-Cold War standards. I hope the ship is saved!
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