When the _Lusitania_ was sunk in 1915 the German sailors held a celebration. Thinking war with the United States was imminent, they prepared to destroy the ships, only waiting for the word to carry out the orders previously given them. This was, again, the case in 1916, when we came so near war after the sinking of the _Sussex_. But the orders did not finally come until January 31, 1917, when, obeying Ambassador Bernstorff's instructions, they smashed the machinery of the vessels. They regarded it as a huge joke when, on the morning of April 1st, a naval vessel anchored off Pier 2, and set watch over them. But they laughed on the other side of their mouths when, four days later, United States officials rounded up officers and men, and sent them to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., and other Federal prisons and internment camps. The _Vaterland_ was taken over at 4 a. m., April 5th. On that day the United States armed forces seized 91 German ships in various ports. The night before, U. S. Government officials held a conference on the _Vaterland_ with the German commanders, who were warned against any violence. There was no resistance when the ships were seized. The _Vaterland_, with a displacement of 69,000 tons, was the biggest craft afloat. There was no drydock in America large enough to hold her. When the engineering officers reported to Captain J. W. Oman, her commander, that the former _Vaterland_ (she had been renamed the _Leviathan_) was "in all respects ready for sea," it was decided to test her out by a longer run than that to which any other vessel had been subjected, making a trial trip to Cuba. On her return, the ship was carefully gone over again, every part put in prime condition, and on December 15, 1917, in a snowstorm, she sailed on her first trip across the Atlantic. The ship's complement was 68 officers and 2,240 men. She had aboard 7,254 troops, including base hospitals 31 and 34, the 163rd and 164th Infantry, and headquarters of the 82nd Brigade, Brigadier General Edward Vellruth commanding. Running for the first day or two at 20 knots, the ship then speeded up to 21-1/2 knots. The _Leviathan_ had "struck her gait." She made the run across in record time. In describing this voyage, the "History of the _Leviathan_" says: