Initially named Servian, this ship was built by Harland & Wolff of
Belfast and was intended for Wilson's & Furness-Leyland Line's planned
London-Boston service. In 1901, however, Wilson's & Furness-Leyland was
bought by International Navigation Co., which also acquired Frederick
Leyland & Co. at about the same time. Since Frederick Leyland already
served the Boston market, Wilson's & Furness-Leyland's Boston service
never came about and the order for Servian (and her sister, Scotian) was
canceled before launching. So, after she was launched in February
1903, the ship was laid up, unfinished, until purchased by the Hamburg
American Line (Hapag) in 1906.
Hapag initially intended to rename the ship Brooklyn but later changed
the name to George Washington. After learning that Norddeutscher Lloyd
had selected that name for its latest ship, Hapag again renamed her, this
time selecting President Grant. Thus, by the time she made her maiden
voyage from Hamburg to New York on 14 September 1907, she was already on
her fourth name and there were more to come. (Scotian had gone through
even more names after she, too, was bought by Hapag. She was named
Chicago, Berlin, Boston and Abraham Lincoln before entering service as
President Lincoln.)
Interned at New York when World War I began in August 1914, President
Grant was seized by the United States when it entered the war in 1917
and used as a troop transport. Renamed President Buchanan and laid up
in 1921, the ship was rebuilt in 1923-24 and again renamed, emerging as
United States Lines' Republic. (As can be seen be comparing the President
Grant card with the Republic cards on this page, she also emerged with
only four masts instead of six, and with a bridge that was no longer
separated from the rest of the superstructure.)
Republic made her first United States Lines voyage, from New York to
Bremen, on 29 April 1924, and remained in service until 1931. She then
became a War Department troopship in the Pacific (1931-41), Navy
troopship AP 33 (1941-45), an Army hospital ship (1945-46), and a troop
repatriation ship (1946). She was scrapped at Baltimore in 1952.
Sources: Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway; Kludas' Great Passenger Ships
of the World; Haws' Merchant Fleets in Profile.
