SS Manhattan (1931)

When they were built, Manhattan and her sister ship SS Washington, also built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, were the largest liners ever built in the United States, and Manhattan was the first large liner built in the US since 1905.[1] Manhattan and Washington were two of the few pure liners built by New York Shipbuilding, which had previously built a large number of cargo liners. United States Lines signed contracts in 1931 for the two ships at a cost of about $21 million (equivalent to $353 million in 2019) each. This was considered an extreme cost in the Depression, and a gamble.[2]

The ship's keel was laid as New York Shipbuilding's hull 405 on 6 December 1930 with launch on 5 December 1931 and delivery to the owners on 27 July 1932.[3] Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. christened the ship with speakers representing shipping lines joining interest into the new United States Lines. Those lines were International Merchantile Marine Company, Roosevelt Lines, and the Dollar Lines.[4]

The ship was 705 ft (214.9 m) length overall, 666 ft (203.0 m) length between perpendiculars and 685 ft (208.8 m) on water line. Eleven water tight bulkheads created twelve water tight compartments.[5] Manhattan had nine decks: sun, boat, promenade, and decks A through F.[6] Her tonnages were 24,289 GRT and 13,924 NRT, her registered length was 668.4 ft (203.7 m), her US official number was 231779 and until 1933 her code letters were MJSG.[7] In 1934 these were superseded by the call sign WIEA. She carried a crew of 481.[8]

Manhattan was designed to carry 1,239 passengers; 582 cabin rooms, 461 tourist rooms, and 196 third class. The main cabin class public rooms, including a grand salon, library, palm court, verandah cafe, and open recreation or dance space aft, were on the promenade deck. Cabin class state rooms were forward on A deck with tourist class game space aft. B deck had tourist class public rooms. Cabin class entrance foyer, state rooms and dining were forward on C deck with tourist class entrance foyer, state rooms and dining aft. Third class lounge and an open promenade were aft of the tourist class spaces on C deck. D deck contained some cabin class state rooms, a swimming pool, and gymnasium, with tourist class state rooms aft. Crew quarters and mess hall/station were on E deck with third class dining room and state rooms aft.[6]

The ship had general cargo capacity of 380,000 cubic feet (11,000 m³), 47,000 cubic feet (1,300 m³) refrigerated cargo space and 16,000 cubic feet (450 m³) for ship's cold storage.[6]

Prior to commercial passenger operation, the ship made a special twenty-four-hour cruise off New York with over seven hundred passenger agents representing companies and offices from across the nation. The guests were entertained with the full services passengers could expect, including dancing and viewing a new movie in the ship's theater.[9]

Manhattan beached at Palm Beach

Beginning in August 1932 Manhattan operated the New York – Hamburg route, a route she would continue to serve with only one short break until December 1939, when President Roosevelt invoked the Neutrality Act against Germany. In 1936, the ship carried the US Olympic team to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. In 1938 she carried some of the Kennedy family to the United Kingdom when Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was appointed US Ambassador to the UK.

Travel writer Douglas Ward claims in his book Berlitz Guide to Cruising that the alcoholic cocktail "Manhattan" was named after the ship. However, there is little evidence to confirm this. A one way trip, off-season, in the cheapest room available cost roughly the equivalent of $1,800USD in 2019.[10]

On 22 March 1939 passengers embarking on Manhattan in Hamburg included 88 unaccompanied children who were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.[11] This roughly 24-hour journey from Hamburg to Southampton was part of the Kindertransport, as it later came to be known, between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939.

70% of the children (62 individuals) had been born in Berlin.[11]

In October 1939 Manhattan carried passengers, mostly Americans, from England (then at war with Germany) to New York. On 4 February 1940, the ship was seized by British forces in Gibraltar and released after 390 sacks of mail bound for Germany were confiscated. From January 1940 until Italy's entry into World War II in June 1940 Manhattan sailed between New York and Genoa. On 12 July 1940, “Manhattan” transported passengers, including Eugene Bullard, fleeing Europe from Lisbon to New York City. [12]On 12 January 1941, while in coastal service on the Atlantic seaboard, she ran aground 9 nmi (17 km) north of Palm Beach, and was re-floated 22 days later. On 6 March 1941, the commander of the marine inspection bureau suspended the master and first officer after finding them guilty of negligence in the grounding. The master received an eight-month suspension while the first officer was suspended for one month.[13]

• SS Washington
• USS Wakefield (AP-21)
• Short Documentary – The Story Of A Transport: USS Wakefield (1944)[16]

• Gibbs, CR Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean (2nd ed). London: Staples Press Limited. LCCN 57001880
• New York Shipbuilding Corporation (1948). 50 Years: New York Shipbuilding Corporation. Camden:house publication
• Newell, Gordon (1963). Ocean Liners of the 20th Century (1st ed.). Seattle: Superior Publishing Company. LCCN 63-18494

• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1937), "The Manhattan and the Washington", Shipping Wonders of the World, pp. 678–682 illustrated description of these ships