The Guion Line, which until then had been engaged principally in the emigrant trade, then entered the race for the Atlantic Blue Riband with the "Arizona" of 1879, a ship of 5,147 tons with a sea speed of 16.25 knots. An improved edition of the same design was the same company's "Alaska" of 1881, her gross tonnage being 7,142 and her speed 17.75 knots. In the "Oregon," which was built just before the company got into serious financial diffi culties and which eventually sank in collision with a small schooner, the gross tonnage went up to 7,375 and the speed to 19 knots.
The reply of the Cunard Line was the construction of the "Umbria" and "Etruria" at the same establishment which had turned out the big Guion ships, Elder's Fairfield Yard. They were ships of 8,12o tons with a speed of 19.5 knots and they marked the final development of the single screw express liner on the Atlantic. Although they were specially designed to com pete with the "Oregon," that ship had passed to the Cunard Line before they were completed.
The next great improvement was the design of the "City of New York" and "City of Paris," when the twin screw system was adopted for express ships. They were built for the Inman Line in 1889 but were better known under the flag of the American Line to which they were transferred in 1893. These ships secured the Atlantic Blue Riband and were the last big Atlantic liners to be built with the old-fashioned clipper stem. When it was de sired to transfer them to the American Line Congress only per mitted them to hoist the Stars and Stripes on condition that two ships of at least equal tonnage were built in American yards, which resulted in the "St. Louis" and "St. Paul," of 11,630 tons and 21 knots speed, being built in 1895, the first big Atlantic liners to be built in the United States since the 'sixties.
The White Star Line replied to these ships with the "Teutonic" and "Majestic" in 1889, ships which had a great struggle with the "New York" and "Paris" for the Atlantic record. In 1893 the Cunard Line secured the Blue Riband without doubt with the "Campania" and "Lucania" of just under 13,00o tons with a sea speed of 22 knots.
In 1897 the German companies, which had built up a big business in comparative obscurity beside the companies racing for the Blue Riband, came out with the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" of the North German Lloyd, which lowered the record very con siderably. She had a gross tonnage of 14,35o and a speed of 23
knots. Their rivals, the Hamburg American Line, built the 14,500 ton "Deutschland" to compete for the record, but on their ex perience with her they decided to follow the policy of comfort and good cargo capacity on more moderate speed, a policy which was also followed by the White Star Line after the "Teutonic." The North German Lloyd on the other hand steadily lowered their own record with the three ships which foilowed in the same series and to the same general design—the "Kronprinz Wilhelm" of 1901, the "Kaiser Wilhelm II." of 1902, and the "Kronprincessin Cecilie" of 1906. Each of these ships marked a further advance in size and speed.
Before the last named could be tried at her best the Cunard Line had built the "Lusitania" and "Mauretania" with the finan cial assistance of the British Government, which wanted the Cunard Company to remain a purely British concern at a time when the International Mercantile Marine, under the guidance of Mr. Pierpont Morgan, was absorbing company after com pany. The former was built on the Clyde, the latter on the Tyne, and they differed slightly in minor details. The "Mauretania's" dimensions were 762.2 X88X57.1 feet depth of hold, giving her a gross tonnage of 31,938, while her quadruple screw direct coupled turbine engines had a designed shaft horse power of 68,000, intended for a speed of 25 knots. The "Lusitania" was sunk by a German submarine during the war; the "Mauretania" had the unique distinction of holding the Atlantic Blue Riband for 22 years and when 20 years old proving herself capable of steaming at 29 knots to the rescue of a disabled cargo ship.
When these two ships were built their use as auxiliary cruisers by the Navy had a very considerable influence on their design, but experience in the early days of the war showed that they were far too extravagant with fuel for this purpose, although the "Maure tania" and other big and fast ships later proved themselves to be extraordinarily useful both as transports and hospital ships. The Germans had precisely the same experience with their express liners which had been heavily subsidised as auxiliary cruisers.