List of passenger ships built in the United States
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/StateLibQld_1_169487_United_States_%28ship%29_%28colorized%29.jpg/220px-StateLibQld_1_169487_United_States_%28ship%29_%28colorized%29.jpg)
As a result of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, only ships built and registered in the United States are permitted to sail solely between ports in the United States.[1][2] The Merchant Marine Act of 1928 would continue to incentivize and spur the construction of U.S. built ships through government loans, which would lead the International Mercantile Marine Company and along with other U.S. run shipping lines to order new ships up through World War II.[2]
The largest passenger liner built in the United States to date is the SS United States, completed in 1952.[3] The last large passenger liner to be completed in the United States was Moore-McCormack Lines' SS Argentina in 1958.[4]
The only US-built deep water passenger ships still in existence today are the SS United States (laid up), former converted cargo liner SS Medina (hotel ship), cargo/passenger liner NS Savannah (museum ship), and the partly US-built Pride of America (still in service). Today, only small coastal and river passenger ships are still built in the U.S. and fly the American flag.
Shipyards
The primary yards that were building passenger ships in the 20th century include:
- Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Ltd., Newport News, Virginia[5]
- Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi[6]
- Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[7]
- William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[8]
- New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey[9]
- Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, NJ
List
Name | Entered Service | Line Built/Rebuilt For | Shipyard | Designer | Status | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | SS Morro Castle | 1900 | Ward Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia[10] | Scrapped 1926 | Laid down for Plant Line in 1899 | |
![]() | SS Kroonland | 1902 | Red Star Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1927 | ||
![]() | SS Finland | 1902 | Red Star Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1928 | ||
![]() | SS Minnesota | 1905 | Great Northern Steamship Company | Eastern Shipbuilding Co., New London, Connecticut | Scrapped 1923 | ||
![]() | SS Dakota | 1905 | Great Northern Steamship Company | Eastern Shipbuilding Co., New London, Connecticut[11] | Wrecked & sank 1907 | ||
![]() | SS Saratoga | 1907 | Ward Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1939 | ||
1910s | |||||||
![]() | SS Great Northern | 1914 | Great Northern Pacific Steam Ship Company | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1948 | ||
![]() | SS Northern Pacific | 1915 | Great Northern Pacific Steam Ship Company | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Burned and sank 1922 | ||
![]() | SS Oriente | 1917 | Ward Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1957 | Renamed SS Siboney for Ward Line after World War I | |
![]() | SS Orizaba | 1917 | Ward Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Scrapped 1963 | Commandeered by US Navy prior to launch for World War I, entered passenger service in 1920 | |
1920s | |||||||
![]() | SS President Roosevelt | 1922 | United States Line | New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey | Scrapped 1948 |
| |
![]() | SS Coamo | 1925 | New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Torpedoed & Sank 1942[12] | ||
![]() | SS Malolo | 1927 | Matson Line[13] | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Gibbs & Cox[2] | Scrapped 1977 | |
![]() | SS Iroquois | 1927 | Clyde Steamship Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Scrapped 1981[14] | ||
![]() | SS Shawnee | July 1927 | Clyde Steamship Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Burned 1949 | ||
![]() | SS Yarmouth | September 1927 | Eastern Steamship Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Theodore E. Ferris[15] | Scrapped 1979[16] | |
![]() | SS Evangeline | October 1927 | Eastern Steamship Line | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia | Theodore E. Ferris[15] | Burned & Sank 1965 | |
![]() | SS California | 1928 | Panama Pacific Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Scrapped 1964 |
| |
![]() | SS Virginia | 1928 | Panama Pacific Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Scrapped 1964 | ||
![]() | SS Pennsylvania | 1929 | Panama Pacific Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Scrapped 1964 | ||
1930s | |||||||
![]() | SS Morro Castle | 1930 | Ward Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Theodore E. Ferris[2] | Burned 1934 | |
![]() | SS Oriente | 1930 | Ward Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Theodore E. Ferris[2] | Scrapped 1957 | |
![]() | SS President Hoover | 1930 | Dollar Steamship Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Wrecked in storm 1937 | ||
SS Borinquen | 1931 | New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[18] | Theodore E. Ferris | Wrecked 1970 | ||
![]() | SS President Coolidge | 1931 | Dollar Steamship Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Sunk by Mine 1942 | ||
![]() | SS St John | 1932 | Eastern Steamship Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Theodore E. Ferris[15] | Scrapped 1959 | |
![]() | SS Mariposa | 1932 | Matson Line | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[19] | Gibbs & Cox | Scrapped 1974 | |
![]() | SS Monterey | 1932 | Matson Line | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[20] | Gibbs & Cox | Sank on way to Scrapyard 2000 | |
![]() | SS Acadia | 1932 | Eastern Steamship Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Theodore E. Ferris[15] | Sold 1955 | |
![]() | SS Manhattan | 1932 | United States Lines | New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey | Scrapped 1965 | Originally ordered for the Transatlantic Steamship Company | |
SS Santa Rosa | 1932 | Grace Line | Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Kearny, NJ | Gibbs & Cox | Scrapped 1989 | ||
![]() | SS Santa Paula | 1933 | Grace Line | Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Kearny, NJ | Gibbs & Cox | Scrapped 1971 | |
SS Santa Lucia | 1933 | Grace Line | Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Kearny, NJ | Gibbs & Cox | Torpedoed & Sank 1942 | ||
![]() | SS Lurline | 1933 | Matson Line | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[19] | Gibbs & Cox | Scrapped 1987 | |
SS Santa Elena | 1933 | Grace Line | Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Kearny, NJ | Gibbs & Cox | Torpedoed & Sank 1943[21] | ||
![]() | SS Washington | 1933 | United States Lines | New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey | Scrapped 1965 | Originally ordered for the Transatlantic Steamship Company | |
1940s | |||||||
![]() | SS America | 1940 | United States Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia[22][23] | Gibbs & Cox | Wrecked in Canary Islands 1994[22][24] | |
![]() | SS La Guardia | 1944/1948 | American Export Lines |
| Scrapped in 2005 | Converted from USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118), a troopship that served with the United States Navy in World War II | |
SS President Cleveland | 1947 | American President Lines | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co, Alameda, California | Scrapped in 1974 | Originally ordered by the Maritime Commission during World War II, as one of the Admiral-class Type P2-SE2-R1 transport ships, completed instead as passenger ship. | ||
![]() | SS President Wilson | 1948 | American President Lines | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co, Alameda, California | Scrapped in 1984 | Originally ordered by the Maritime Commission (MC hull 687) during World War II, as one of the Admiral W. S. Benson-class Type P2-SE2-R1 transport ships, completed instead as passenger ship. | |
1950s | |||||||
![]() | SS Independence | February 1951 | American Export Lines | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[26] | Henry Dreyfuss[27] | Wrecked on way to scrap yard 2011 | |
![]() | SS Constitution | June 1951 | American Export Lines | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts[26] | Henry Dreyfuss[27] | Sank while under tow to shipbreakers, 1997 | |
![]() | SS United States | 1952 | United States Lines | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia[28] | Gibbs & Cox[29] | Out of Service since 1969, Laid Up | |
![]() | SS Monterey | 1952/1955 | Matson Line | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co, at Sparrow's Point, Maryland[19] | Scrapped 2006 | Ordered by the U.S. Maritime Administration as cargo vessel SS Free State Mariner, completed 1952.[30] Converted to passenger ship by Matson Line in 1955. | |
SS Mariposa | 1953/1955 | Matson Line | Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts | Burned & Scrapped 1996 | Ordered by the U.S. Maritime Administration as cargo vessel SS Pine Tree Mariner, completed 1953.[30] Converted to passenger ship by Matson Line in 1955. | ||
![]() | SS Atlantic | 1953/1958 | American Export Lines | Sun Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., in Chester, Pennsylvania | Scrapped 1996 | Built as “Break Bulk Cargo Ship” for the “US Maritime Commission” in 1953 as the Badger Mariner. Converted to passenger ship by American Export Line in 1958. | |
![]() | SS Santa Rosa | June 1958 | Grace Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Gibbs & Cox | Scrapped 2012 | |
SS Santa Paula | October 1958 | Grace Line | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia | Gibbs & Cox | Bombed as Hotel ship 1990, Scrapped 2002 | ||
![]() | SS Brasil | September 1958 | Moore-McCormack Lines | Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi[4] | Scrapped 2004 | ||
![]() | SS Argentina | December 1958 | Moore-McCormack Lines | Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi[4] | Scrapped 2005 | Last deep water passenger liner to be completed in the United States | |
2000s | |||||||
![]() | Pride of America | 2005 | American Classic Voyages/NCL America | Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi & Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany | In Service | Ordered for American Classic Voyages[31] |
References
- ^ "Domestic Shipping | MARAD". maritime.dot.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ a b c d e Ujifusa, Steven (2012). A man and his ship : America's greatest naval architect and his quest to build the S.S. United States (1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-4507-1. OCLC 759912560.
- ^ Braynard, Frank O. The Big Ship The Story of the S.S. United States. Nashville. ISBN 978-1-59652-990-8. OCLC 1191044096.
- ^ a b c "Ingalls News - February 7, 1958". www.moore-mccormack.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "Newport News Shipbuilding". Newport News Shipbuilding. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "Who We Are". Ingalls Shipbuilding. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "A History of Shipbuilding at Fore River". thomascranelibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ Miller, William H. (1999). Passenger liners American style. London: Carmania Press. ISBN 0-9534291-1-3. OCLC 46965718.
- ^ "Passenger Liners". New York Shipbuilding Corporation. 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "S.S. Morro Castle, Cramps Shipyards, Philadelphia". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
- ^ "Vast Steamship Launched". The Boston Globe. February 6, 1904. p. 11.
- ^ "Coamo (American Steam passenger ship) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
- ^ "History". MATSON. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "S/S Iroquois - USS Solace - S/S Ankara : A ship that has a lot to tell". FreeShipPlans.com. 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
- ^ a b c d Crockett, David. (1997). Eastern Steamship. Dunbaugh, Edwin., Steamship Historical Society of America. Providence, R.I.: Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc. ISBN 0-913423-11-4. OCLC 41174827.
- ^ "Army Ship Photo Index". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
- ^ Harnack 1938, p. 303.
- ^ "Large or Otherwise Significant Shipbuilders". 2014-06-25. Archived from the original on 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
- ^ a b c O'Brien, Duncan (October 2014). The grand manner of Matson. Pier 10 Media. ISBN 978-0968673430. OCLC 881138788.
- ^ O'Brien, Duncan (2008). The white ships : Matson Line to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia via Samoa, Fiji, 1927-1978. Victoria, B.C.: Pier 10 Media. ISBN 978-0-9686734-1-6. OCLC 1029646221.
- ^ "Harvey Station, New Brunswick - Genealogy - Lt. Margaret A. Briggs". history.earthsci.carleton.ca. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ a b Driscoll, Lawrence (2003). S.S. America, U.S.S. West Point, S.S. Australis : the many lives of a great ship (1st ed.). Palo Alto, Calif.: Glencannon Press. ISBN 1-889901-30-X. OCLC 52239668.
- ^ "AMERICA". vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
- ^ "SS America | MARAD". www.maritime.dot.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
- ^ Plowman, Peter (2006). The Chandris liners and celebrity cruises. Dural, N.S.W.: Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-47-9. OCLC 162119399.
- ^ a b Miller, William H. (2001). SS Independence, SS Constitution : great American ocean liners (1st ed.). Fleischmanns, N.Y.: Purple Mountain Press. ISBN 1-930098-31-6. OCLC 48039110.
- ^ a b Roden, Christian T. (2015-12-01). "Henry Dreyfuss Designs the Postwar Ocean Liner". Winterthur Portfolio. 49 (4): 137–173. doi:10.1086/686143. ISSN 0084-0416. S2CID 111640066.
- ^ Maxtone-Graham, John (2014). SS United States : Red, White & Blue Ribband, Forever (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-393-24170-9. OCLC 890377082.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Naval Architecture & Engineering Firm | Mission & History". Gibbs & Cox, Inc. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ a b "SS Monterey (3)". ssmaritime.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ^ "AMERICAN CLASSIC VOYAGES CO. (AMCV) SIGNS MAJOR CONTRACT WITH INGALLS FOR LUXURY CRUISE SHIP CONSTRUCTION". 2007-08-14. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
External links
- U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) Vessel History Database
- Murals on the High Seas - Artwork on American Built Passenger Liners
- Moore-McCormack Lines History
- Matson Line History
- SS United States Conservancy
- Grace Line History
Bibliography
- Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 549.