City of Berlin was a British ocean liner that won the Blue Riband for the Inman Line in 1875 as the fastest liner on the Atlantic. She was also the largest active passenger ship for six years except for the inactive Great Eastern Built by Caird & Company in Scotland, City of Berlin was the Inman Line's premier unit for thirteen years until City of New York was commissioned in 1888. She served the Inman Line until 1893 when Inman was merged into the American Line, and she was operated by her new owners on both the American Line and Red Star Line until 1898. She was sold to the U.S. Government, and was in their service until after World War I.[1]
Development and design
When Inman learned of White Star's plans to build two larger and faster editions of the Oceanic, Inman's fleet on the competing weekly Liverpool–New York service consisted of four liners with service speeds of 13.5 knots and the recently completed City of Montreal, which while large, had a service speed of only 12 knots. Inman decided to replace City of Montreal in the express service with a new liner specifically designed to better White Star's new Britannic Class liners. The completion of the City of Berlin in 1875 finally gave the Inman Line the five fast express liners needed for a balanced year-round weekly service.