SS Ohio (1872)

SS Ohio anchored off Nome, Alaska, 1907
History
Name	SS Ohio
Namesake	Ohio, USA
Owner	American Line
Operator	American Steamship Company
Port of registry	United States
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Cost	$520,000
Yard number	181
Launched	October 30, 1872
Maiden voyage	August 7, 1873
Refit	1887
Fate	Wrecked off the coast of British Columbia, August 26, 1909
General characteristics
Class and type	Pennsylvania class passenger-cargo ship
Tonnage	3,104 gross
Length	343 ft
Beam	43 ft
Depth of hold	32 ft 2 in
Propulsion	Compound (later triple expansion) steam engine, single screw, auxiliary sails
Speed	11.5 knots
Capacity	46 x 1st-, 132 2nd class and 789 steerage passengers

SS Ohio was an iron passenger-cargo steamship built by William Cramp & Sons in 1872. The second of a series of four Pennsylvania-class vessels, Ohio and her three sister ships—Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois—were the largest iron ships ever built in the United States at the time of their construction,^[1] and amongst the first to be fitted with compound steam engines. They were also the first ships to challenge British dominance of the transatlantic trade since the American Civil War.

Ohio spent most of her career on the Liverpool-Philadelphia route she had originally been designed to service. After 25 years of transatlantic crossings, Ohio was sold in 1898 for service in the Alaskan gold rush. She was wrecked in British Columbian waters in 1909.