The USS General Motors was the grandest cruise ship ever built when it came out of the shipyard in 1908. Luxurious and unsinkable, it was destined to overshadow the USS Ford and the USS Chrysler, two other fine vessels. GM maintained its leadership position for a long time.

Rather than unsinkable, GM's bulkheads were only somewhat watertight. It had other design flaws, but a string of captains and first mates saw no need to make changes. As former GM leader Charles Wilson said in the 1950s: "What was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa."

The ship's owners took excellent care of the ship's officers. From the vessel's formidable captain's quarters on the Renaissance deck, the entire world looked rosy. In 1986, Chief Executive magazine named Roger Smith, then GM's captain, as CEO of the year.

At the time, the USS GM was dealing with some quality-of-voyage issues. The vessel still had comfortable facilities, particularly for passengers on the Cadillac deck. The problem was that the vessel was somewhat run down compared with the JSS Toyota, JSS Honda, and GSS Volkswagen. Passengers noticed a declining quality of the fit and finish of cabins, failure to replace aging sheet metal and paint in public areas, and serving lower-quality food and beverages.

The bursar talked with a succession of captains about the vessel's growing legacy obligations, particularly pension and health care benefits for retired crew members. It also paid ongoing wages to nonworking engine room employees displaced by automation. He was concerned that the benefits negotiated with the United Crew Workers were more generous than the vessel could afford. The vessel once had more than 1,000 crew members supporting a handful of retirees who left the vessel with lifetime health care and a pension adjusted for inflation.

During labor negotiations, the UCW insisted on maintaining the benefits approved by earlier captains. At first, no problem existed. Crew members took early retirement with a relatively short life expectancy after years in the engine room and at sea. As time passed, the retirement pool grew dramatically, accompanied by a longer life expectancy. Although the agreements with the UCW grew increasingly untenable, a series of captains and the union did not address the situation.

This year, a serious problem became a crisis. The vessel was crossing the North Atlantic during iceberg season. Because the shipbuilders believed the USS General Motors was unsinkable, the ship did not carry enough lifeboats. The captain, proud of recent successful voyages to China, had the vessel going full speed ahead. Unfortunately, it hit an iceberg as did the USS Ford and USS Chrysler that were on the same pattern. The situation was not good for the three vessels.

GM's captain Rick Wagoner, Ford's Alan Mullally, and Chrysler's Robert Nardelli launched their private yachts and steamed toward Washington to talk to Congress. Chief mate Ron Gettelfinger from the UCW joined them. They said they had no warning about risk when icebergs suddenly hit their vessels. They told Congress they needed money from the government to rescue them. When asked what would be done with the money, they said they would buy lifeboats. When asked what they had been doing in recent years, they pointed out that all three vessels had increased the size of the musical band for the enjoyment of passengers and crew. When asked what would happen if Congress denied the request, they explained that the JSS Toyota, JSS Honda, GSS Volkswagen and other shipping lines would increase their presence in U.S. ports and may even hire their displaced crew members.

Any day now, we can expect Congress to act upon the request from the captains.