Leviathan toy ocean liner

Gebrüder Bing produced a variety of richly detailed clock-work toy ships and submarines. This example is painted in the livery of the United States Line’s flagship Leviathan. Measuring more than 800 feet long, the real liner was originally built in Germany as the Vaterland. Launched in the international race to dominate transatlantic trade, the crack liner had the misfortune of being docked in Hoboken, New Jersey when World War I was declared. Impounded by the United States, the ship was renamed and repurposed as a troop carrier. After the war the United States kept Leviathan as compensation for wartime losses. Unperturbed, Bing, a German company, made this big toy for U.S. families and so kept its American name.