was encouraging, and the brothers, with the financial backing of J. P. Morgan and the United States Navy, then approached the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC) later that year. Although a model was tested in the Experimental Model Basin at the Washington Navy Yard, World War I put an end to these early designs. Gibbs became Chief of Construction for IMMC in 1919. Gibbs & Cox In February 1922 the Gibbs brothers started their own naval architecture firm, Gibbs Brothers, Inc.; their first major contract was to convert the former German liner Vaterland into the American luxury liner . When shipbuilders Blohm + Voss asked over $1 million for the original plans, Gibbs decided to draw his own. Between 100 and 150 draftsmen documented the existing ship and designed its new layout. Gibbs Brothers was renamed Gibbs & Cox in 1929. The Gibbs designed a series of four trim white-hulled ocean liners for the Matson Lines service to Hawaii, starting with the design of in 1924. Malolo was built at William Cramp & Sons under the Gibbs Brothers' exacting supervision and tolerances. At the time she was launched, Malolo was the largest and fastest passenger liner built in the United States. During sea trials in May 1927, Malolo was rammed by ; the Gibbs brothers' modern design and safety features were credited with keeping the disabled ship afloat while she was towed back to the yard. Three sister ships to Malolo would be built in the 1930s: and in 1931 and in 1932. The Grace Line contracted with Gibbs & Cox for four smaller 9,000 ton ocean liners in 1930, receiving the , , , and in 1932. Gibbs & Cox also designed the for the United States Lines, which was completed in 1940. All nine of these ships served as U.S. troopships in the war. During the war, Gibbs & Cox created plans for thousands of American warships and cargo vessels, including destroyers, LST landing craft, minesweepers, tankers, cruisers, and Liberty ships. Between 1940 through 1946, 63 per cent of all merchant ships of 2,000 tons up and 74 per cent of all American naval vessels (destroyers, landing craft, escort carriers, etc.) were built to the designs or working plans of Gibbs & Cox. After the war, the Gibbs brothers were among the promoters for the US government and military to subsidize the construction and operation of a new