SS City of Paris (1888)

For other ships with the same name, see SS City of Paris.

SS Paris (formerly City of Paris) in the mid 1890s
History
Civil Ensign of the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
NameCity of Paris
Owner Inman Line (later International Navigation Company)
RouteAtlantic crossing.
BuilderJ & G Thomson of Clydebank, Scotland
Cost$1,850,000
Yard number241
Launched20 October 1888
Maiden voyage3 April 1889
FateMerged into American Line in 1893
Flag of the United StatesUnited States
NameParis
Owner
  • American Line (1893–1922)
  • US Navy (1898-1899 and 1918-1919)
  • New York-Naples Steamship Company (1922-1923)
RouteAtlantic crossing.
Renamed
  • USS Yale (1898)
  • Philadelphia (1901)
  • USS Harrisburg (1918)
  • Philadelphia (1919)
FateScrapped at Genoa, Italy in 1923
General characteristics
TypeSteamship
Tonnage10,508 GRT, 5,589 NRT
Displacement17,270 tons (17,550 tonnes)
Length560 ft (170 m)
Beam63 ft (19 m)
Installed power18,000 hp (20,880 kW)
PropulsionTriple expansion reciprocating steam engines, twin propellers.
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement1,740 passengers
Crew362 Officers and crew

City of Paris, was a British-built passenger liner of the Inman Line that held the Blue Riband as the fastest ship on the north Atlantic route from 1889 to 1891 and again from 1892 to 1893.[1] A sister ship of the City of New York and a rival of the White Star Line Teutonic and Majestic, she proved to be the quickest of the pre-Campania twin-screw express liners. In 1893, she was renamed Paris and transferred to US registry when the Inman Line was merged into the American Line. She and her sister were paired with the new American built St Louis and St Paul to form one of the premier Atlantic services.

Paris served in the US Navy as the auxiliary cruiser USS Yale during the Spanish–American War and is remembered for slipping into the harbor at San Juan, Puerto Rico, under the Spanish guns of Morro Castle.[2] After Paris returned to commercial service, she was seriously damaged in 1899 when she grounded on The Manacles off the British coast. Rebuilt and renamed Philadelphia, she sailed for the American Line until requisitioned again during World War I as the transport Harrisburg. After the war, she continued with the American Line until 1920 and was scrapped in 1923.[3]

  1. ^ Kludas, Arnold (1999). Record breakers of the North Atlantic, Blue Riband Liners 1838–1953. London: Chatham.
  2. ^ Flayhart, William Henry (2000). The American Line. New York: Norton.
  3. ^ Gibbs, Charles Robert Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff. pp. 122–124.