CHAPTER IX THE FLEET THE KAISER BUILT FOR US EX-GERMAN VESSELS CARRIED 557,000 AMERICAN TROOPS TO EUROPE--ENGINES AND MACHINERY WRECKED BY THEIR CREWS, GERMANS BELIEVED THEY COULD NEVER BE USED--NAVY REPAIRED LINERS, AND HAD ALL RUNNING IN TRANSPORT SERVICE IN A FEW MONTHS--TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN GENIUS AND ENGINEERING SKILL--REMARKABLE RECORD MADE BY "LEVIATHAN." More than half a million of the troops that defeated the Germans were transported across the Atlantic in German vessels. I sometimes wonder if the Kaiser ever dreamed, when his liners came scurrying into American ports in 1914, that he was presenting us with the one thing we needed most, a lot of the finest transports that ever sailed the sea. That could not happen according to the Teuton mind. They had figured it all out. If America kept out of the conflict, their ships would be as safe here as in their home ports. If we did enter the war, they would be so badly damaged that we could not use them. This was all carried out according to schedule. Before ruthless U-boat warfare was declared, Bernstorff had issued his orders, and all the interned vessels were disabled, their engines and machinery smashed. "Some you may get running in a year; some you can never use," boasted the German crews. "If America can repair this ship, I will eat my hat," said another. He has not yet tested his digestion by a diet of headgear. But they, like the Kaiser and Admiral Von Holtzendorff, underestimated American ingenuity and enterprise. By using new methods, and keeping at the task day and night, in a few months all these vessels were repaired and in service, carrying troops and supplies. The German _Vaterland_, re-christened the _Leviathan_, alone carried nearly a hundred thousand troops to Europe. When she was performing such prodigies for us it interested me to recall an occurrence when this great vessel, the largest afloat, reached New York on its first voyage, not long before the war began in 1914. Glorying in the attention it evoked, the _Vaterland's_ officers gave a dinner, inviting leading American shipbuilders and engineers, as well as prominent citizens, to view this latest creation in marine construction. "It is a veritable floating palace for voyagers to Europe," remarked one of its officers, "but that is not the best or most important thing about the _Vaterland_." "Well, what is it?" asked the visitors. "Come below," said he, "and I will show you." Below went the party, and there they were shown how the whole vessel had been planned so that it could quickly be converted into a carrier for 10,000 soldiers. "In a remarkably short time, if need arises," the officer remarked, "it can be turned into a troop transport." He was right. We proved it in 1917, not only in regard to the _Vaterland_, but the other Teuton liners.