SS City of Rome
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City of Rome
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | City of Rome |
| Namesake: | Rome |
| Owner: | Inman Line (1881) |
| Operator: | Anchor Line (1881–1900) |
| Port of registry: |
 Barrow-in-Furness
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| Route: | trans-Atlantic (1881) |
| Builder: | Barrow Ship Building Co |
| Commissioned: | 1881 |
| Maiden voyage: | 13 October 1881 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1902 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 560.2 ft (170.7 m) |
| Beam: | 52.3 ft (15.9 m) |
| Depth: | 37.0 ft (11.3 m) |
| Installed power: | 1,500 NHP |
| Propulsion: | 3 × 2-cylinder compound inverted steam engines |
| Sail plan: | 4-masted schooner |
| Speed: |
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| Capacity: |
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City of Rome was a UK ocean liner, built by the Barrow Ship Building Company for the Inman Line to be the largest and fastest liner on the North Atlantic route. However, she was a major disappointment and after only six voyages she was returned to Barrow-in-Furness. The Anchor Line then managed her on various routes until 1900. She was scrapped in 1902. City of Rome was widely regarded as the most beautiful liner to ever cross the Western Ocean.
The completion of the Guion Line's Arizona in 1879 forced all major trans-Atlantic companies to consider building new high-speed passenger liners. Designed by William John, who later would design the United States Navy's first battleship, the USS Texas), City of Rome was Inman's answer. She was a much larger ship designed to cross the Atlantic at 18 knots (33 km/h). City of Rome carried 520 first class passengers in quarters of especially high quality, as well as 810 in the inexpensive steerage class. She was one of the first liners to be lighted entirely by electricity.
The contract specified a steel hull, but Barrows convinced Inman to accept iron due to the difficulties in securing sufficient supplies of the then relatively new metal. Unfortunately, because of this and also inadequate calculations resulting from the change of material, City of Rome draught was too great.
Twin screws were at considered but ultimately rejected. Her boilers supplied steam at 90 lbf/in2 to three inverted two-cylinder compound steam engines to drive her single screw. These produced a total of 1,500 Nominal Horsepower, which was only 75% of her intended power. She was completed in June 1881.
Being under-powered, too heavy and drawing too much water, City of Rome reached only 15.75 knots (29.17 km/h) on sea trial. Also, her cargo capacity was only 2,200 tons, instead of the 3,800 tons originally specified.
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Wikipedia