GRACE LINE’S FOUR SISTERS
The opening of the Panama Canal helped to spur the development of the American intercoastal route between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and this route was the catalyst that led to the design and construction of four of the more notable ships in the American merchant marine.
The venerated Pacific Mail Steamship Company, established in 1848 and sailing from New York to the US West Coast via the isthmus of Panama, was acquired by Grace Line in 1915. While Grace Line expanded its South American operations, the intercoastal service was maintained by older steamers. With its ships being outclassed by a competitor, Panama Mail Line, as it was then known, applied to the US Government for construction and mail transportation subsidies to modernise its fleet.
At the beginning of 1930 naval architect William Francis Gibbs, who later designed the superliner United States, prepared plans for a 508ft long 11,000gt liner, with a modified clipper bow, a cruiser stern, and two cylindrical, evenly spaced funnels, the aft being a dummy, with a slight rake to create a balanced profile.
The construction contract for four
