Commercial Career
After a period of about 10 years under the ownership of the Shipping Board, Eclipse was acquired by the Baltimore Mail Steamship Company, of Baltimore, Maryland, in about 1930. Reconstructed at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey, to the lines drawn up by the noted naval architect firm of Gibbs & Cox, Eclipse was lengthened by 46'6"; accommodations were installed for 81 tourist-class passengers; and the ship was re-engined to give her a substantial boost in power and speed.
Renamed City of Hamburg, the steamship performed passenger, fast freight, and mail service between the terminal ports of Baltimore, Hampton Roads, Le Havre and Hamburg with the Baltimore Mail Steamship Company from 1938 to 1939, when the United States government refused further subsidies for the firm's international operations.
City of Hamburg was acquired by the Panama-Pacific Line and renamed City of San Francisco in 1939, and she operated between New York and San Francisco until acquired by the Navy on 13 November 1940.
Read more about this topic: USS William P. Biddle (APA-8)
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