(coll. WS)

In 1819 the wooden 319-ton "Savannah", owned by Colonel Steven and fitted with an auxiliary steam engine, absolved her historic North Atlantic crossing from Savannah via New York to Liverpool. Nineteen years passed until three companies undertook what they hoped to become the first regular transatlantic service. The famous Great Western S.S. Co., the Trans-Atlantic S.S. Co and the British & American S.N. Co were British, but the latter one at least had been founded by an American, Junius Smith. He chartered the Irish Sea steamer "Sirius", which reached New York ahead of the "Great Western".

The first American steamship which crossed the North Atlantic since the historic voyage of the "Savannah" was the "Massachusetts" of R.B. Forbes. In 1845 she went from New York to Liverpool. In 1847 the 1,400-ton "Sarah Sands" had been completed in Liverpool as the second large iron screw vessel. She was chartered by the American financed Red Cross Line to open a service Liverpool - New York. The U.S. Mail contract however had been awarded to Edward Mills, who founded the Ocean Steam Navigation Co. Backed by a participation of the City of Bremen, the company started the first transatlantic service to the European continent in 1847 with the paddle-wheeler "Washington" on the route New York - Bremerhaven, then joined by the ''Hermann''. Disappointing, the service ended in 1857. In 1848 the "United States" of the Black Ball Line travelled from New York to Liverpool, but then she was transferred to Germany, undertaking her first voyage Bremerhaven - New York as "Hansa" in 1853. In 1849 the New York & Havre S.N.Co. started, introducing the "Franklin" and the "Humboldt" on mail services New York - Le Havre.

"Washington", Ocean Steam Navigation Co. (Deutsches Museum Munich)	Black Ball Line ticket of 1859 (via Wikimedia)
"Pacific", Collins Line (via Wikimedia)	"Arctic", Collins Line (via Wikimedia)

"Adriatic", Collins Line (via Wikimedia)

More important was the Collins Line, founded by Edward K. Collins. From 1850 his wooden paddle steamers ''Atlantic'', "Pacific", ''Arctic'' and "Baltic", each of a tonnage of 2,856, crossed the Atlantic under mail contract. The Collins Line won the Blue Riband with the "Arctic" and the "Pacific", but from 1852 they necessitated subsidies. In 1854 they lost the ''Arctic'' with 233 victims, including Mr. Collins' family. In 1856 the "Pacific" disappeared, probably hit by an iceberg during a race with Cunard's "Persia". In 1858 the services of the Collins Line ended.

In 1853 Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wife travelled on their wooden paddle steamer "North Star" from New York to Southampton and further on to St. Petersburg. In 1855 the Vanderbilt Line inaugurated services from New York to Southampton and Le Havre. In the same year the 3,360-ton "Vanderbilt" attained the Blue Riband and in 1857 Vanderbilt got a mail contract for a route to Bremen. The mail from New York to Hamburg was entrusted to the Hapag and in 1861 the German company was awarded also the exclusive contract for conveying American mail to Southampton. Vanderbilt had to give up, but the 'Commodore' became the famous tycoon in the railway business with the New York Central system.

"Vanderbilt", later transferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast as "Three Brothers" (Wikimedia)

Baltimore Pier 8, emigrant train (B&O)

The competing Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road, supporting the harbour of Baltimore, founded in 1867 with Norddeutscher LIoyd (NDL) the Baltimore Line. Their "Baltimore" had in 1868 the first arrival at Bremerhaven, followed by more ships. Baltimore lost its position to New York and in 1878 the fleet was integrated into the NDL. The U.S. Government had decided to abandon exclusive mail contracts.

The Blue Riband-winner Guion Line, founded in 1866 by the American Stephen Barker Guion, is dealt with the chapter White Star and Competitors, for their ships sailed under British flag. The national pride among the shipping lines became the American S.S. Co. , participated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the competitor of the New York Central and the Baltimore & Ohio RR. In 1873 their iron screw steamer "Pennsylvania" had her maiden voyage from Philadelphia to Liverpool. The Pennsylvania Railroad helped also to build up the Atlantic Transport Line, which started in 1882, under British flag however.

"Minnehana" passing Shakespeare Cliff, Atlantic Transport Line (old card, coll. WS)

"Manchuria", American Line, postcard of 1920 (coll. WS)

Morgan's I.M.M.
A successful British transatlantic operator was the Inman Line, "By mid-1886 however, the fleet had been heavily mortgaged to the International Navigation Company of New Jersey (...). The Inman Steamship was wound up and the purchasers created a subsidiary, the Inman & International Steamship, (...). The new owners decided to use the fleet to form the American Line ..." (according to C.R. Vernon Gibbs: British Passenger Liners of the five Oceans). It became the basis for the worldwide combine founded by John Pierpoint Morgan. He controlled already the steel industry and "... the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, owning the Belgian-flag Red Star Line (...). Later acquisitions were an American concern founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the British-flag Inman Line. From these additions the American Line of 1893 was created (...)".

At the latest with the victory in the Spanish-American war, the USA had realized that they needed a shipping company competitive with the British and German giants. Historian Arnold Kludas summarized the next steps: In 1901 the U.S. Senate passed a law regulating subsidies for building up world's biggest merchant fleet within twenty years. J.P. Morgan and his bank Morgan & Co. controlled the American Line, Red Star Line, Leyland Line and they prepared for acquisition of Britain's famous White Star Line. Morgan's activities scared even Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. In 1902 Morgan & Co. concluded an agreement with American and British shipping firms to found an international shipping group. It included the 'Builders' Agreement' with the Harland & Wolff shipyard, a deal by its boss W.J. Pirrie, who was an influential White Star Manager and who arranged the sale of the White Star Line. The British Government could only secure that the liners must continue to run under British flag (and enormous subsidies for the Cunard Line were conceded to retain her in British hands). Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company, known as I.M.M., was incorporated in 1902. It comprised the American Line (closed down in 1924), Red Star Line (see chapter Belgium), White Star Line and the less important Atlantic Transport Line, Leyland Line, Dominion Line and National Line of Liverpool. I.M.M. held also a stake in the Holland America Line and with Hapag under Albert Ballin a clever arrangement was concluded.

After World War I
Acquisition of the White Star Line was "a sad blow to British pride" (Bonsor). The attempts to save it for Britain were described by John M. Maber (North Star to Southern Cross): "Back in 1919 the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. under the chairmanship of Owen Philipps (Iater Lord Kylsant) had made an unsuccessful bid to acquire control of the White Star Line (...)". In 1926 however, "...the public heard with satisfaction that Lord Kylsant's Royal Mail group was to acquire the share capital of 7,000,000 pounds (...). The transaction was, however, to be the ruin of White Star Line, for the Royal Mail group had over-reached itself (...)."

The American-owned, but Liverpool-registered Red Star Line suffered severely from the crisis of the late '20s and in 1934 its owner Chemical Bank & Trust Co. of New York sold the company to Arnold Bernstein of Hamburg (see chapter From Norddeutscher Lloyd and chapter Other Nations). Imprisoned and expropriated by the Nazis in 1937, Bernstein could move to America.

With World War I, Germany had lost her entire transatlantic fleet. The U.S. Shipping Board distributed the requisitioned ships to American operators. One of them was the United American Lines of railway and shipping tycoon Edward A. Harriman. From 1920 their "Mount Clay" (ex "Prinz Eitel Friedrich") and later also the "Resolute" (ex "Johann Heinrich Buchard", "Limburgia"), "Reliance" (ex "William O 'Swald", "Brabantia") and "Cleveland" served Hamburg. These liners with the buff funnels sporting blue ribbons ran in a friendly cooperation with Hapag until 1926, when they went into full ownership of Hapag. For the previous interlude of the Resolute" and "Reliance" with the Netherlands see chapter South Atlantic/ Other...

"Reliance", United American Lines (old card, coll. WS)

This card, entitled "Leviathan", truly shows the "Vaterland" (old card, coll. WS)

United States Lines Eleven other German ships went to the US MaiI Line, which failed already in 1920, where upon the Shipping Board initiated a new holding. The companies Moore & McCormack, Roosevelt Steamship Co. and United American Lines founded the United States Lines as a common successor. Their most prominent ship became the huge former Hapag liner "Vaterland" (1914/ 54,282 gt). In 1914 laid up at New York, she was requisitioned by the U.S. Shipping Board in 1917 and rebuilt into the trooper "Leviathan". Refurbished in 1922 at Newport News she was delivered to the United States Lines for North Atlantic services in 1923. Too big for the reduced traffic volume during the years of recession, she was laid up in 1932, resumed New York Southampton services in 1934 and finally she went in 1938 to Rosyth for being scrapped.

History had continued with the Morgan combine and Vernon Gibbs pointed out: "The I.M.M. gradually shed its foreign holdings and in 1931 bought the United States Lines. The metamorphosis from a financial trust owning vessels under many flags was compIeted during WWII with alteration of the name to United States Lines Company". When the huge "Leviathan" had been in service, she sailed in partnership with the ex-German 24,000-ton "George Washington" and the 21,000 ton ''America''. New ships on the New York - Hamburg route were the sisters "Manhattan" and "Washington'', built in 1932/33, measuring 24,300 tons each.

WWII and Aftermath
When World War Il had already started in Europe, the new 26,454 ton ''America'' was delivered by Newport News SB & DD Co. in 1940. Though built for the North Atlantic, she could not take up that service and she was used only for cruising to the Caribbean. In 1941 she was taken over by the U.S. Navy and, refurbished as a trooper, she became reintroduced in 1942 as "West Point". During the first post-war years, the U.S. Navy continued to maintain a "globe-circling fleet operated under the Military Sea Transportation Service", as it was described, continuing: "This Navy agency provides ocean shipping for the United States armed forces and other authorized agencies". With arrival of modern transport aircraft, that sea operation was dropped.

"Laguardia", Military Sea Transportation Service (old card, coll. WS)

The daring entrepreneur Bernstein founded in 1940 in the USA the Arnold Bernstein S.S. Corp., known as the Silver Star Line. After WWII he participated in transatlantic services of the Incres Line. For Bernstein's outflagged fleet, the "Silver Star", "Atlantic", "Continental" and "Europa" were listed by Wikipedia. The "Continental" was the former "Tidewater" of 1902. The "Europa" was the former "Mongolia", built in 1923 for the P&O, then "Rimutaka" of the New Zealand Shipping Co., sold in 1950 to Incres Line for New York - Antwerp services and transferred in 1952 to the Incres Nassau Line. In 1958 Bernstein started a New York - Antwerp - Rotterdam service under the label American Banner Lines. The C4 freighter "Badger Mariner", converted into a 14,138-ton passenger ship, was used as "Atlantic". In 1959, when Bernstein retired, the ship was given away to American Export Lines for Haifa services - see chapter Levant-America.

"Continental" of Bernstein, Algiers 1948 (old card, coll. WS)

"Atlantic" with the American Banner Lines label, Amsterdam 1959 (WS)

United States' Pride
In 1946 the "West Point" was rebuilt once again into the North Atlantic liner ''America''. She entered regular passenger services of the United States Lines on the route New York - Le Havre in November 1946. The twin-screw steamer, now measuring 26,314 gt, built for a speed of 22 knots and accommodating 1,202 passengers in a three-class layout, became the new flagship. In 1949 the company extended the services to Bremerhaven, which after the war had become America's outpost in British-occupied North Germany (and a point of departure for U.S. Army special trains). The pre-war "Washington" was the first American liner to call there, followed by the ''America''. Although being a handsome ship, the ''America'' was no match to the British 'Queens' and could not really represent the world's first superpower. After the end of transatlantic services, the ''America'' survived for years with Chandris of Greece - see the chapters Indian Ocean / Other flags and Cruises / Chandris.

The United States, although being the greatest seafaring nation and depending upon the mightiest navy in the world, had neither a premier Iiner to cope with those of the European maritime nations nor being able to boast the Blue Riband since the short period of 1851/52, when Collins' "Pacific" and "Arctic" had won it. Therefore the government-dependent United States Lines was glad to place an order for a ship, that must not exceed the British Queens in size, but was to set up a new speed record to last for a long time, unless for all future. The design featured a synthesis of high technology, updated practical comfort, long range and a maximum of safety. More important, over 60 percent of the capital cost had been borne by the government, intending to use the ship in the case of an armed conflict to convey in a rush 14,000 soldiers with all equipment to the theatre of war. The renowned chief designer William Francis Gibbs created a ship of 53,329 tons and a length of 301.8 metres, constructed in the drydock of the Newport News Shipbuilding Company. According to Arnold Kludas, the size became later defined with 44,839, then 38,216 gross tons. Initially, Gibbs had targeted a larger liner of post-Panamax size, but due to Navy requirements the size was limited. Flooded on 23 June 1951, the ship was christened "United States" by Mrs. Truman, the President's wife, and ready for sea after another year.

Provisions were taken for a quick and efficient conversion into a troopship. That meant tightly separated engine rooms, ammunition chambers, vast fuel supply and the exclusion of any inflammable materials (the butcher's block and the piano being exceptions). The accommodations for 1,998 passengers in three classes were not flamboyant but of a decent elegance, greatly differing from that of the pre-war European consorts. Glass, enamel and metal have been the prevailing materials of the interior design, created by Dorothy Mackwald, spreading a modern cool atmosphere. The slender outlines of the black and white painted ship have been dominated by two slightly inclined funnels showing the national colours.

Already on the first sea trials the ship surpassed all expectations. Reports told of attained 35 knots, but some enthusiasts believe, that she did more. The power of her four turbines, driving 4 screws, had been declared delivering 240,000 h.p., but the true initiated power potential no outsider got ever known. When the "U.S." went on her maiden voyage on 3 July 1952 to Southampton, she averaged the distance between Ambrose Lightship and Bishop Rock at 35.59 knots, taking 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes for the passage, having been the ultimate speed record of a classic ocean liner. During 23 hours she held out a speed of 36.21 knots. She attained the Blue Riband with a 34 1/2 knot westward passage. The "United States" operated regularly between New York and Southampton, continuing to Bremerhaven during the winter season, but made some cruises, too. At the beginning of her career, she was the great favourite of the travelling public, carrying more passengers than the larger British "Queens", every voyage being subsidized by the U.S. Government (according to Vernon Gibbs). But even that most modern ship was not able to stand the competition of the increasing air transport. On 8 November 1969 she made her last sail.

"America" (old card, coll. WS)

"United States" (old card, coll. WS)

"United States", a luxurious suite (contemporary press)

Having been chained up at Newport News, later at Hampton Roads, the "United States" was taken over by the U.S. Maritime Administration to be integrated into the navy reserve. On account of the government's condition to run the ship under the flag of the USA, it would hardly be cost-effective to rebuild her into a cruise ship, mainly after she had been robbed of her interior decoration. In 1978 the United States Cruises Inc. tried it, but the project of rebuilding her at HDW shipyard of Hamburg was not carried through due to unsecured financing. From 1989 the proud ship rusted over at Newport News. Some hope emerged in 2003, when Norwegian Cruise Line had informed that they had bought the legendary "United States" - see chapter Cruises / Norwegian. In 2009 NCL offered the ship for sale and numerous plans emerged to rescue that historic monument from the scrap yard. Even ex-President Bill Clinton tried to help.

With the victory of the jet aircraft every dream of a second prestige liner ended. It meant also the end of private American proposals of a completely new category of passenger ships. Leonce Peillard described them in 'Sur les chemins de l'ocean', edited in 1972: "Vessels of 90,000 tons, 350 meters long, providing accommodation for 6,000 passengers in 2,750 cabins; the North Atlantic passage would cost 50 to 100 dollars, meals not included. Other proposals are mentioning 120,000 tons, 380m loa and 8,000 passengers. That's not necessarily a pure fantasy, as financing has already been pushed forward by two American, Cantor and Detwiler (American European Line)... They are designed for a speed of 34 knots and every ship would cost 100 million dollars".

"United States", laid up (via Wikimedia)