Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Library blog. TheDaily Pressjust printed an article by Michael Welles Shapiro reviewing the new book by Steven Ujifusa, “A Man and his Ship: America’s Greatest Naval Architect and his Quest to Build the SSUnited States.” The book explores the tenacity displayed by SSUnited Stateschief designer William Francis Gibbs in his efforts to get the ships he designed built over the years, with great emphasis given to the SSUnited States. In order to highlight Gibbs’ determination Ujifusa covers an incident early in his career, when a great deal of friction erupted between Gibbs and the shipyard president Homer Ferguson over the redesign of a ship called theLeviathanafter World War I.

Ferguson made a below-cost bid on the shipbuilding rights to the ship and wanted to make up his deficit by charging money for a boatload of design changes to the ship specifications. Gibbs would have none of that – he designed theLeviathanwith a specific set of specifications and refused to allow any alterations to her blueprints that would increase her cost. Ferguson ended up getting in trouble for losing money on theLeviathan, but his resignation was not accepted. As for Gibbs, his determination in getting his ships built paid off for him when he designed the SSUnited States.Read more