William Francis Gibbs

William Francis Gibbs (born Aug. 24, 1886, Philadelphia—died Sept. 6, 1967, New York City) was a naval architect and marine engineer who directed the mass production of U.S. cargo ships during World War II, designed the famous, standardized cargo-carrying Liberty ships, and made many improvements in ship design and construction, notably in the passenger liner “United States” (1952).

Gibbs became a lawyer in 1913 to please his father but abandoned the profession after winning his first and only case. Turning to naval architecture, he studied for a year in seclusion; then, in partnership with his brother Frederick H. Gibbs, he designed a transatlantic liner. On the strength of that design, the brothers were given positions with the International Mercantile Marine Company, where they continued on their project until the outbreak of World War I. Wartime design work for the U.S. government made Gibbs’s reputation, and at war’s end he was chief of construction of the company.

In 1922 the Gibbs brothers won a contract to recondition the “Leviathan,” for which they organized their own firm. Success with that project led to further reconditioning work and finally to shipbuilding contracts. In 1927 Gibbs designed the “Malolo,” whose numerous watertight compartments provided an exceptionally high safety factor. When during her trial run the “Malolo” was rammed and a gash torn in her hull, her survival made the Gibbs design standard.

Gibbs built several yachts and luxury liners in partnership with the yacht designer Daniel Hargate Cox, and in 1933 they began to design destroyers for the U.S. Navy, developing a high-pressure, high-temperature steam turbine of great efficiency. In 1940 Gibbs undertook the design of a cargo ship suitable for mass-production manufacture. Breaking completely with shipbuilding custom, he proved that different portions of a ship could be constructed in different places and brought together for assembly. The result was the reduction of production time for a single vessel from as long as four years to as little as four days.

After World War II Gibbs and Cox continued design work for the U.S. Navy. In 1952 the “United States” was launched. Built for speed, safety, and quick conversion to troop transport in case of war, the vessel incorporated many of Gibbs’s most advanced design concepts and set new speed records in transatlantic passenger service.