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WILLIAM FRANCIS GIBBS
1886-1967
BY WALTER C. BACHMAN
WILLIAM FRANCIS GIBBS WaS born August 24, 1886, in Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, son of a successful financier, William Warren
Gibbs, and of Frances Ayres Johnson) Gibbs. Active, almost to the
encl, he died on September 6, 1967, at the age of eighty~ne. An
early interest in ships was undoubtedly sumulated when, as a boy,
he had the opportunity to witness a ship launching at the Cramp
shipyard} in Philadelphia. This interest was confirmed and
strengthened by a number of transatlantic crossings he made with
his younger brother, Frederic, starting in 1901 with a trip on the
White Star Liner Oceanic, the largest transatlantic passenger ship at
that time. Hoer crossings were made on the Celtic and the Lusitania,
outstanding ships of their day, and in 1907 on the maiden voyage
of the Mauretania, which held the transatlantic speed record for
over twenty years.
W. F. Gibbs received his primary and secondary education in the
DeLancey School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating in
1905. Tn 1906 he entered Harvard, where with characteristic
individualism he clid not pursue a formal curriculum leading to a
degree, but selected a combination of courses, largely scienufi~c, in
his range of interest. His leisure was devoted to reading technical
publications dealing with ship design and construction. During this
period, he made an extensive study of all available information on
the newest warships of the British Navy, which was prominent at
that time.
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His studies at Harvard were completed in 1910. Even though no
degree was conferred, the Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa
made him an Honorary Member in 1945.
On the advice of his father, who considered engineers poor
businessmen, he entered the Columbia University Law School in
1911 and received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1913. At the same
time, he did graduate work in economics, for which he received the
degree of Master of Arts, also in 1913.
During this period, his father suffered financial reverses and
William Francis took a position in the law office of William Osgood
Morgan in New York. His vision of great ships remained, however.
For the next two years, while working at law in New York during
the week, he journeyed each weekend to the family home in
Haverford, Pennsylvania. There, he spent all of his spare time
together with his brother, Frederic Herbert Gibbs, investigating the
possibility of designing a high-speed transatlantic passenger liner,
1,000 feet long. By May 1915, he was so encouraged by the results
of this study that he gave up all other work so that he could devote
full time to this project.
By January 1916, this design had progressed sufficiently so that
the brothers presented it to Adm. David W. Taylor, then Chiel
Constructor of the U.S. Navy, and to the Honorable Josephus
Daniels, Secretary of the Navy.
Encouraged by these men, they continued their ellorts and, in
June 1916, presented their design to Mr. P. A. S. Franklin, Presi-
dent of the International Mercantile Marine Company. Their
proposal at this time included the development of a new port at
Montauk, Long Island, with last beat trains running to New York
in order to reduce the total travel time to a minimum.
Mr. Franklin introduced the Gibbs brothers to Mr. I. P. Morgan,
who was so impressed that he undertook the financing of further
development of the design, including the necessary model testing.
Work on this project was interrupted by the entry of the United
States into World War I in April 1917. W. F. Gibbs was appointed
Assistant to the Chairman of the Shipping Control Committee of
the General Stall of the U.S. Army and after the war was Assistant
to the Chairman, U.S. Shipping Board on the American Commis-
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sion to Negotiate Peace, in which capacity he attended the Peace
Conference at Versailles.
In 1919, he was appointed Chief of Construction of the Interna-
tional Mercantile Marine Company, for whom he planned and
supervised the conversion of the S. S. Minnekahda from a wartime
transport to a third-class passenger and cargo ship for the New
York to Hamburg service.
The great new German passenger liner Vaterland, which made
her maiden voyage to New York in May 1914, was trapped there by
the opening of World War I and seized by the United States
Government for use as a troop ship in 1917, when it was renamed
the Leviathan.
At the end of the war, the United States Shipping board decided
to convert the Leviathan for passenger service, and the Gibbs
brothers were asked to organize an independent firm to supervise
this work. Accordingly, in February 1922, Gibbs Brothers, Inc., was
organized, with William Francis Gibbs as President.
The Leviathan had been built by the German shipyard, Blohm &
Voss, which held the detailed plans needed for the conversion and
maintenance of the ship. The shipyard demanded $1 million for a
set of these plans an exhorbitant price at that time. Never one to
submit to pressure, W. F. Gibbs immediately assembled a team of
experienced men who completely measured the ship, including the
internals of the main machinery, and drew their own plans at a
considerable saving of money. The ship was converted for luxury
passenger service by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock
Co., under W. F. Gibbs' supervision, with the care and attention to
detail for which he soon became famous. The maiden voyage, on
July 4, 1923, and several voyages thereafter were made under the
supervision of Gibbs Brothers, Inc., acting as operating agents for
the Shipping Board. With the successful completion of this great
project, the reputation of the new firm was established.
Other commissions followed, and the firm supervised the con-
version of a number of ships released from their wartime service to
. . .
SUlt COmmerCla reqUlremeIltS.
In 1929, the firm of Gibbs Brothers, Inc., was succeeded by
Gibbs & Cox, Inc., a new firm organized to include Daniel H. Cox,
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an outstanding yacht designer of that period. This association
permitted the Gibbs talent to be applied to several outstanding
yachts, including the Savarona, the largest steam yacht ever built
and the first to include the highest safety standards for merchant
ships; and the great sailing yacht, Sea Cloud, 316 feet overall length,
with the number and arrangement of sails of a full-rigged ship.
The Gibbs' outstanding knowledge of passenger ships was then
devoted to the design and supervision of the construction of the
S.S. America. This was the largest merchant ship built in this
country up to that time and had safety features, including fire
resistant construction, to a degree unequalled by any other pas-
senger ship of the period. Completed in 1940 by the Newport News
Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., she could not be used by the United
States Lines in her intended service because of the war in Europe.
After a luxury cruise to California, she returned to Newport News,
where her luxurious furnishings were removed and she was reout-
fitted as the troop transport U.S.S. West Point. Refurbished at the
end of World War II, she became a popular ship in the transatlan-
tic service for which she was designed.
In 1933, the U.S. Navy, which had built almost no new ships
since World War I, started a new construction program. Three
shipyards, United Dry Docks, Inc., Federal Shipbuilding & Dry
Dock Co., and the Bath Iron Works Corporation undertook to
build destroyers to a single design developed by W. F. Gibbs.
This program was particularly significant in two ways. It repre-
sented the first step in the development of modern, rugged, and
more efficient steam propulsion machinery for naval ships. This
type of machinery, further developed through a series of destroyer
types, also of Gibbs design, was used to power practically all steam
driven combatant ships in the U.S. Navy built during World War
II, including destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers.
In 1940, the British Government sent a purchasing mission to
survey the busy American shipyards and order some cargo ships.
The head of the mission approached W. F. Gibbs and said that his
government wanted twenty ships. The reply was, "You don't need
them." He then explained that if Britain was within twenty ships of
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winning the war she had won already. If not, she needed many
more. The British then placed an order for sixty Ocean Class ships
to be built in two new shipyards. From these ships was evolved the
design of the great fleet of' Liberty ships that carried so much of'
our military cargo during the war years.
As the United States mobilized for the war effort, the War
Production Board was established and Charles E. Wilson, Vice-
Chairman for Production, requested W. F. Gibbs to become Con-
troller of Shipbuilding to coordinate the ship construction pro-
grams of the Navy, Army, and Maritime Commission. This ap-
pointment was made with an arrangement that permitted Gibbs to
control U.S. shipbuilding policies, while at the same time he was
freed of administrative detail so that he could continue to supervise
the very important activities of his own company.
During this period, he served as Chairman of the Combined
Shipbuilding Committee (Standardization of Design) ol' the Com-
bined Chiefs of Stal'l; He was also Special Assistant to Director,
Office of' War Mobilization, and representative of the Office of'
War Mobilization on the Procurement Review Board of the Navy.
The key position occupied by the Gibbs organization in large
government shipbuilding programs naturally invited several in-
vestigations by congressional committees. These committees, some-
times hostile at the outset, invariably ended with praise I'or the
I'irm's contribution to the national el'l'ort. At the end of' one such
investigation, Gibbs remarked, "Nothing educates a man like being
forced to look up the answer to every possible question that can be
asked about his business." The care with which he replied to every
question raised by the investigators undoubtedly was an important
factor in the outcome of' these hearings.
The dream ol'William Francis and Frederic H. Gibbs had been to
see a great ocean liner built to their design. TheAmerica, which was
completed just prior to our entry into World War I1:, was the largest
passenger vessel built in the United States up to that time, and a
fine and popular ship, but not a true competitor with the'l'ast
superliners, the Queen Mary, Normandie, and Queen Elizabeth.
At the end of' world War II, preliminary studies I'or a new ocean
~1
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liner were begun, and in 1946 the United States Lines Company
commissioned Gibbs & Cox, Inc., to develop contract plans and
specifications for the S.S. United States.
This superb ship resulted from the synthesis of all the experience
gained from passenger ships such as the Leviathan, Malolo, America,
as well as ships held by the Grace Company, combined with the
technical advances made in machinery, structure, materials, and
methods developed in work for the U.S. Navy.
That the combination of these many qualities in a single ship was
actually accomplished has been amply demonstrated by the re-
markable record of performance of the ship over the many years it
has been in service.
When the Gibbs brothers were boys in Philadelphia, their father
often permitted the family coachman, a former member of the city
Fire Department, to drive the boys to fires, taking them from
school, if necessary. This developed in W. F. Gibbs a fascination
with fire fighting that lasted all of his life.
Because of his interest in the subject, the New York City Fire
Department retained him as a consultant, and, in 1937, he de-
signed and supervised the construction of the New York City fire
boat Fire Fighter. Still the most powerful fire boat in the world, the
Fire Fighter has demonstrated its great value many times at water-
front fires that were unapproachable by other means or even by
ordinary fire boats.
The office of the President of Gibbs & Cox, Inc., was famed for
its simplicity and austere appearance. For many years, W. F. Gibbs
had no desk, but perched on a stool at a drawing board. These he
retained even after he moved to a chair and a simple table. He
worked surrounded by activity, and several secretaries were con-
stantly kept busy supplying him with information and transmitting
his numerous instructions and messages.
Devotion to ships, Ore engines, and business appeared to many
to be an all-consuming passion that took W. F. Gibbs to his office
for long hours seven days a week. He was usually the I;rst to arrive
and often the last to leave.
Francis Gibbs, as he was widely known by family and friends, had
many other interests as well. He frequently attended the theater,
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symphony, and opera and had many friends in the artistic world,
for he appreciated quality and superb performance in any field of
endeavor. He maintained a box at the Yankee Stadium for many
years. He was a vestryman and active supporter of St. Thomas'
Church on Fifth Avenue.
A keen sense of humor and a delight in surprising his listeners
made him a most effective extemporaneous speaker before an
audience of any size. He believed strongly that a sense of humor is
vital in any field of endeavor.
Great engineering projects require the coordinated efforts of
many people. William Francis Gibbs was a natural leader, who
inspired great loyalty in his staff and confidence and cooperation in
those with whom he did business. His extraordinary enthusiasm for
his work set the example that drove all who worked with him to
greater efforts to maintain the high standards of performance that
he demanded. He took a close personal interest in his employees
and quietly, often anonymously, assisted those in need.
Few men have so wholeheartedly dedicated a lifetime to a single
objective as William Francis Gibbs or derived so much enjoyment
from the great effort devoted to achieving his goals.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
francis gibbs
