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United States Lines was a shipping company that operated ocean liners from 1921 to 1969, most famously the SS United States.
The company was formed from the tonnage of the failed United States Mail Steamship Company. It started with three ships, America, and George Washington, both German vessels seized during World War I and kept as reparations. They made New York - Bremen runs, while Centennial State went New York to London.
One of the founders was Kermit Roosevelt, a son of the US president.
Additional ships were acquired in 1922 and renamed after various US presidents. The 52,000 ton Leviathan, formerly the Vaterland and one of the largest liners in the world, was acquired in 1923.
Throughout the 1920s the line accumulated debt, and in March 1929 the line was sold to P.W. Chapman Company, and reorganized as "United States Lines Inc." of Delaware. The stock market crash just made matters worse, and in 1931 the remaining ships were sold to "United States Lines Company" of Nevada.
In 1932, the Manhattan became the first ship actually built for the line, followed the next year by Washington. In 1940, a new America joined them.
In World War II, the ships were converted into troopships. After the war, the company began to build smaller and cheaper ships, and operated a number of cargo ships, all named beginning with "American" or "Pioneer".
With goverment subsidy for her construction, the United States entered service in 1952. She was (and still is) the largest ocean liner built in the United States and the fasted ocean liner ever built. She immediately set transatalantic speed records, capturing the Blue Riband from the Queen Mary. But competition from airliners brought the glory days to an end; in 1964 America was sold to Chandris Line, and United States was withdrawn from service in 1969.
The name was revived briefly in 2000 and 2001 as a brand name of American Classic Voyages, but in October 2001 the company filed for bankruptcy.
Ships
- SS America (1905) - former Amerika
- SS America (1940)
- SS Leviathan - former Vaterland
- SS Manhattan
- SS United States
- SS Washington
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