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SS ''George Washington'' was an ocean liner built in 1908 for the Bremen-based North German Lloyd and was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States. The ship was also known as USS ''George Washington'' (ID-3018) and USAT ''George Washington'' in service of the United States Navy and United States Army, respectively, during World War I. In the interwar period, she reverted to her original name of SS ''George Washington''. During World War II, the ship was known as both USAT ''George Washington'' and, briefly, as USS ''Catlin'' (AP-19), in a short, second stint in the U.S. Navy. When ''George Washington'' was launched in 1908, she was the largest German-built steamship and the third-largest ship in the world. ''George Washington'' was built to emphasize comfort over speed and was sumptuously appointed in her first-class passenger areas. The ship could carry a total of 2,900 passengers, and made her maiden voyage in January 1909 to New York. In June 1911, ''George Washington'' was the largest ship to participate in the Coronation Fleet Review by the United Kingdom's newly crowned king, George V. On 14 April 1912, ''George Washington'' passed a particularly large iceberg south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and radioed a warning to all ships in the area, including White Star Line ocean liner , which sank near the same location. Throughout her German passenger career, contemporary news accounts often reported on notable persons—typically actors, singers, and politicians—who sailed on ''George Washington''. At the outbreak of World War I, ''George Washington'' was interned by the then-neutral United States, until that country entered into the conflict in April 1917. ''George Washington'' was seized by the United States and taken over for use as a troop transport by the U.S. Navy. Commissioned as USS ''George Washington'' (ID-3018), she sailed with her first load of American troops in December 1917. In total, she carried 48,000 passengers to France, and returned 34,000 to the United States after the Armistice. ''George Washington'' also carried U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to France twice for the Paris Peace Conference. ''George Washington'' was decommissioned in 1920 and handed over the United States Shipping Board (USSB), who reconditioned her for passenger service. SS ''George Washington'' sailed in transatlantic passenger service for both the United States Mail Steamship Company (one voyage) and United States Lines for ten years, before she was laid up in the Patuxent River in Maryland in 1931. During World War II, the ship was re-commissioned by the U.S. Navy as USS ''Catlin'' (AP-19) for about six months and was operated by the British under Lend-Lease, but her old coal-fired engines were too slow for effective combat use. After conversion to oil-fired boilers, the ship was chartered to the U.S. Army as USAT ''George Washington'' and sailed around the world in 1943 in trooping duties. The ship sailed in regular service to the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean from 1944 to 1947, and was laid up in Baltimore after ending her Army service. A fire in January 1951 damaged the ship severely, and she was sold for scrapping the following month. == Design and construction == SS ''George Washington'' was an ocean liner built in within two years (1907–1908) by AG Vulcan of Stettin, Germany (present-day Szczecin, Poland), for North German Lloyd ( or NDL).〔Bonsor, p. 570.〕 Intended for Bremen – New York passenger service, the ship was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States as a way to make the ship more appealing to immigrants, who then made up the majority of transatlantic passengers and believed formalities on arrival would be easier on a ship with an American name. ''George Washington'' was launched on 10 November 1908 by the United States Ambassador to Germany, David Jayne Hill.〔〔The launching was originally scheduled for 31 October 1908, but was postponed due to low water in the Oder River. See: Drechsel, p. 374.〕 At the time of her launch, she was the third-largest ocean liner in the world, behind only Cunard Line ships and .〔Bonsor, p. 533.〕 ''George Washington'' also became the largest German-built steamship,〔Bonsor, p. 533.〕 surpassing the Hamburg America Line's , and held that distinction until the 1913 launch of Hamburg America's .〔Putnam, p. 164.〕 After ''George Washington'' was completed, she was reported in contemporary news accounts as being , though present-day sources agree on a figure of .〔〔 Her displacement was reported as being approximately , more than twice the 18420 t displacement of the British battleship . She was powered by two quadruple-expansion steam engines that generated and propelled her considerably faster than the guaranteed by her builders. Because she was designed to emphasize comfort over speed, ''George Washington'' ''George Washington'' had accommodations for nearly 2,900 passengers, with 900 divided between first and second class and the balance as third class or steerage.〔 The ship had only eight decks rather than a more typical nine, which gave her passenger accommodations a spacious feel.〔 The first-class passenger section included 31 cabins with attached baths,〔 and the liner's imperial suites were designed by German architect Rudolf Alexander Schröder. The second-class, third-class, and steerage compartments were fitted out in a "comfortable manner" suitable for each class.〔 The first class public rooms were "sumptuously appointed",〔 and included murals by German fresco artist Otto Bollhagen that commemorated the life and times of George Washington. First-class passengers could visit a separate lounge, a reading room decorated by Bruno Paul, a two-story smoking room, and their own dining room that spanned the width of the ship.〔 The upper and lower floors of the smoking room were joined by a broad staircase which helped, according to a report in ''The New York Times'', make it "one of the most attractive parts" of the first-class areas. The dining saloon seated 350 diners at small tables designed for between two and six diners in "roomy and moveable" red Morocco chairs. The dining room was decorated in white and gold, with a gilded dome rising above, while its walls featured floral designs executed against a blue background.〔 Other first-class passenger amenities aboard ''George Washington'' included a gymnasium with machines for "Swedish exercises", and two electric elevators for those who didn't want to exercise at all.〔 There was also a darkroom open to amateur photographers; 20 dog kennels, along with a kennel master;〔 a solarium decorated with green and gold tapestry, palms, and flowers of all kinds; and an open air cafe on the awning deck for taking after-dinner coffee.〔 Second-class passengers had a separate dining room, a drawing room, and a smoking room, and third-class passengers had similar amenities.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SS George Washington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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