Here is a superb article on two of the great transatlantic liners of the 1930s. The “Normandie”, the French liner, of the same period, is much better-known and when searching the internet one can find many articles and images of it.

The “Manhattan” and “Washington” are not so fortunate. I do hope this remedies the imbalance.

The information was extracted from “Shipping Wonders of the World” (1935).

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The two finest liners on the United States Line’s service to and from Europe are the Manhattan and the Washington. These luxuriously-equipped liners are sister ships, each of 24,289 tons gross. They have a speed of over 20 knots and run between New York and Hamburg by way of Cobh (Queenstown), Ireland. Eastbound, they put in at Plymouth and Havre, westbound at Havre and Southampton.

The Manhattan and the Washington have an identical external appearance, with a straight-raked stem and counter stem. The two elliptical streamlined funnels are widely spaced and painted red with a white band and a blue top. The hulls of both vessels are painted black and their superstructures white.

Internally, the two ships differ slightly. The Manhattan accommodates 1,239 passengers in cabin, tourist and third classes, and the Washington 1,100 in the three classes, as she has a smaller tourist-class and third-class capacity. Each vessel carries a crew of 478.

The great liner Manhattan towers above the tug Steinhoft in Hamburg Harbour. The tug is 82 ft. 9 in. long and the Manhattan 668 ft. 5 in. long. The Manhattan and her sister ship the Washington are on a regular service between Hamburg and New York. These sister ships are identical in every feature except for certain differences in cabin accommodation.

The two vessels were built in the shipyard of the New York Shipbuilding Company at Camden, New Jersey, on the east side of the Delaware River, opposite Philadelphia. The elder ship, the Manhattan, was the first vessel for thirty-five years to be laid down in an American shipyard as a liner for the North Atlantic trade. Her keel was laid on December 6, 1930, and she was launched almost exactly a year later, on December 6, 1931, by Mrs. Edith Kermit Roosevelt, widow of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Launch of the Manhattan, 24,289 tons gross. She was built by the New York Shipbuilding Co., at Camden, New Jersey, on the Delaware River. Her keel was laid on December 6, 1930, and she was launched by Mrs. Theodore Rossevelt on December 5 in the following year.

The Manhattan left New York on her maiden voyage on August 10, 1932. Ten days later, on August 20, the Washington was christened with water from the old spring at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate on the Potomac River. She started on her maiden voyage from New York on May 10, 1933.

When these two vessels were put into service they were the fastest passenger liners of the cabin class in the world. They were designed to offer new luxuries at moderate rates. Before the Manhattan and the Washinqton were built, the St. Louis and the St. Paul, belonging to the American Line, had been the largest American-built ships of their day. The house flag of the American lane, the well-known blue spread eagle on a white ground, is flown by the Manhattan and the Washington.

Children’s playroom in the United States liner Washington. This playroom is aft on the boat deck and is for the use of the children of cabin-class passengers. The decorations on the walls of the playroom and elsewhere in the ship are painted by Aldo Lazzarini. Toys and games of every kind are provided and a stewardess is in charge of the playroom. There is a similar room in the Manhattan.

The dimensions of the two liners are identical. Each has a length of 668 ft. 5 in, the moulded beam of each vessel is 86 ft. 3 in. and the depth to the promenade deck is 75 ft. 3 in.

Motive power is supplied by two sets of triple-expansion turbines geared to two propeller shafts and developing a shaft horse-power in service of 30,000.

There are eight passenger decks in the Manhattan and in the Washington. In addition to the sun deck, boat deck and promenade deck, there are five passenger decks-A to E. Another deck extends forward of the machinery space and over part of the space aft. So carefully has every detail been considered that passengers wishing to take dogs will find on the sun deck large, airy kennels, complete with port-holes and steam heating. The sun deck, between the two funnels, is about 4.000 square feet in area and has a full-size court for lawn tennis and space for deck tennis. Forward is a steel house enclosing the wheel-house and chart-room. The spacious promenade of’ the boat deck is not hampered by the lifeboats. These are carried on patent davits that raise the boats to the level of the aim deck.

Each of the standard lifeboats, which are built of copper-bearing steel, is 30 feet long and 104 feet beam and carries eighty-four persons. Sixteen of the lifeboats are on the boat deck mid four of similar type are aft on A Deck. There are two wooden motor lifeboats aft on the promenade deck. The motor lifeboats are 30 feet long, with a beam of 8 ft. 8 in., and can proceed at eight miles an hour when fully loaded with passengers. The motor lifeboats are propelled by petrol engines and are equipped with radio for sending and receiving messages. Enough fuel is carried to cruise 200 miles.

On the boat deck aft are the cabin-class children’s playroom and the wire-enclosed play-decks that have their exits through the playroom to prevent the children from straying.

The officers’ quarters are in two houses on the boat deck. The captain’s office, stateroom and bathroom are on the starboard side forward, and the chief officers’ quarters to port. Navigating officers, wireless operators and a few engineer officers occupy the rest of the cabins forward. In the after-house are the messrooms and quarters for the chief engineer and his staff.

The eight passenger decks of the Manhattan are shown in this sketch. The sun deck is amidships above the boat deck. F Deck is a small deck extending forward of the machinery space and not used by passengers. The grand salon can be seen reaching from the promenade deck to the boat deck. The external appearance of the Manhattan is identical with that of the Washington.