List of passenger ships built in the United States

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]

SS United States, the largest passenger ship built in the U.S.

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

U.S. Built Passenger Ships

	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	Originally built as a Harris-classattack transport towards the end of World War I, as Peninsula State, entered commercial service after her completion.
	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	First major ocean liner built with turbo-electric transmission. [17]
	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	Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Kearny, NJ, Converted to passenger service at Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi 1948[25]		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

1. "Domestic Shipping | MARAD". maritime.dot.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
2. 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.
3. Braynard, Frank O. The Big Ship The Story of the S.S. United States. Nashville. ISBN 978-1-59652-990-8. OCLC 1191044096.
4. "Ingalls News - February 7, 1958". www.moore-mccormack.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
5. "Newport News Shipbuilding". Newport News Shipbuilding. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
6. "Who We Are". Ingalls Shipbuilding. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
7. "A History of Shipbuilding at Fore River". thomascranelibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
8. Miller, William H. (1999). Passenger liners American style. London: Carmania Press. ISBN 0-9534291-1-3. OCLC 46965718.
9. "Passenger Liners". New York Shipbuilding Corporation. 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
10. "S.S. Morro Castle, Cramps Shipyards, Philadelphia". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
11. "Vast Steamship Launched". The Boston Globe. February 6, 1904. p. 11.
12. "Coamo (American Steam passenger ship) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
13. "History". MATSON. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
14. "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.
15. 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.
16. "Army Ship Photo Index". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
17. Harnack 1938, p. 303.
18. "Large or Otherwise Significant Shipbuilders". 2014-06-25. Archived from the original on 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
19. O'Brien, Duncan (October 2014). The grand manner of Matson. Pier 10 Media. ISBN 978-0968673430. OCLC 881138788.
20. 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.
21. "Harvey Station, New Brunswick - Genealogy - Lt. Margaret A. Briggs". history.earthsci.carleton.ca. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
22. 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.
23. "AMERICA". vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
24. "SS America | MARAD". www.maritime.dot.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
25. Plowman, Peter (2006). The Chandris liners and celebrity cruises. Dural, N.S.W.: Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-47-9. OCLC 162119399.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. 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)
29. "Naval Architecture & Engineering Firm | Mission & History". Gibbs & Cox, Inc. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
30. "SS Monterey (3)". ssmaritime.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
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.