SS American (1900) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, shortly after its March 1899 formation, placed orders for its first four ships for the company's planned sugar service between Hawaii and the East Coast of the United States. Three ships—American, Hawaiian, and Oregonian—were ordered from Delaware River Shipbuilding in Chester, Pennsylvania, while the fourth—Californian—was ordered from Union Iron Works of San Francisco. The contract cost of the three Pennsylvania-built ships was set at $425,000 each, but financing costs drove the final cost of each ship higher; the final cost of American was $61.00 per deadweight ton, which totaled just under $540,000.

American (Delaware River yard no. 308) was launched on 14 July 1900, and delivered to American-Hawaiian in October, joining Californian in the American-Hawaiian Fleet. American, the first of the trio of Pennsylvania ships to be completed, was 6,861 gross register tons (GRT), and was 430 feet 1 inch (131.09 m) in length and 51 feet 2 inches (15.60 m) abeam. She had a deadweight tonnage of 8,850 DWT, and her cargo holds had a storage capacity of 376,699 cubic feet (10,666.9 m3). American had a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h), and was powered by a single triple-expansion steam engine with coal-fired boilers, that drove a single screw propeller. American and her sister ships, equipped with two upright masts, carried and used two large trysails, a fore staysail and jib, and a main staysail, to help conserve coal for their journeys.