The fuel ship 'British Councillor' 'bunkering' (refueling) the large liner 'Leviathan'. The second of a trio of transatlantic liners built by Germany's Hamburg America Line as the SS Vaterland for the transatlantic passenger service, the liner's early career was halted by the start of World War I. Seized by the U.S. government in 1917 (and renamed Leviathan) she became a troopship during World War I and later became the flagship of the United States Lines.