Vaterland, 1917

Adel works as a steward on Germany's SS Vaterland, the largest liner in the world. But when war breaks out in Europe the ship is held at its Hoboken pier, its crew without work and soon unpaid.Wade, an American navy cadet, at first admires German ships and their crews, but when he witnesses several U-boat sinkings off Cape Cod he vows revenge.As the war progresses and the president struggles to stay neutral, Adel is forced to take more and more dubious assignments to stay alive. Wade trains as a gunner, and when America finally joins the fight he is assigned to her newest troopship-the Vaterland, now taken over and renamed Leviathan. But Adel has been tasked with stopping her before she can deliver her 9000 men to war.