In the ship caught fire and afterwards was rebuilt as a troop ship. Post-war, the liner was moored in New York in May, before decommissioning in June She was laid up in reserve at Jones Point, New York. Manhattan never returned to commercial service, in , the ship was sold for scrapping.
When they were built, Manhattan and her sister ship SS Washington , also built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation , were the largest liners ever built in the United States, and Manhattan was the first large liner built in the US since This was considered an extreme cost in the Depression , and a gamble.
The ship's keel was laid as New York Shipbuilding's hull on 6 December with launch on 5 December and delivery to the owners on 27 July The ship was ft Eleven water tight bulkheads created twelve water tight compartments. She carried a crew of Manhattan was designed to carry 1, passengers in cabin, tourist, and third class rooms. Cabin class state rooms were forward on A deck with tourist class game space aft.
B deck had tourist class public rooms. Cabin class entrance foyer, state rooms, and dining were forward on C deck with tourist class entrance foyer, state rooms, and dining aft. Third class lounge and an open promenade were aft of the tourist class spaces on C deck.
D deck contained some cabin class state rooms, a swimming pool, and gymnasium, with tourist class state rooms aft. The ship had general cargo capacity of , cubic feet 11, m 3 , 47, cubic feet 1, m 3 refrigerated cargo space, and 16, cubic feet m 3 for cold storage. Prior to commercial passenger operation, the ship made a special twenty-four-hour cruise off New York with over seven hundred passenger agents representing companies and offices from across the nation.
