SS George Washington

I put some of this information together for last years (2007) German Dinner. The details of the ship that EE and Gretchen Lifferth immigrated on in 1921 to the U.S.A. has a fascinating history.

This is the history of the SS George Washington ship from EllisIsland.org. Click here to go to the SS George Washington page on EllisIsland.org:

Built by A/G Vulcan Shipyard, Stettin, Germany, 1909. 25,570 gross tons;
723 (bp) feet long; 72 feet wide. Steam quadruple expansion engines, twin
screw. Service speed 18 1/2 knots. 2,679 passengers (568 first class, 433
second class, 1,678 third class).Two funnels and four masts, reduced to one
funnel 1943.

Built for North German Lloyd, German flag, in 1909 and named George
Washington. Bremerhaven-New York service. Interned at New York at the
start of World War I in 1914. Seized by United States Government, American flag,
in 1917 and renamed USS George Washington. Also Bremerhaven-New
York service. Transferred to U.S. Shipping Board, in 1920 and renamed George
Washington. New York Plymouth Cherbourg Bremen service. Chartered to United
States Mail Lines. Laid up U.S. Shipping Board, in 1932. Laid up at Patuxent
River, Maryland until WWII. Transferred to United States Navy, American
flag, in 1940 and renamed Caitlin. British transport but returned due to malfunctioning boilers. Transferred to U.S. authorities, in 1941 and reverted to George Washington. Panama and New York, then US Army transport service. Completely destroyed by a fire at Baltimore; wreckage scrapped in 1951.

Size Comparisons

To get a comparison of sizes between the SS George Washington, I put several landmarks of interest together.

• 882 feet - Titanic


• 723 feet - SS George Washington


• 305 feet (including base) - Statue of Liberty


• 1,472 feet - Empire State Building

Here are several photos that I have found of the SS George Washington, also known as the USS George Washington and the Caitlin.