SS Great Eastern
She also had six masts (said to be named after the days of a week – Monday being the fore mast and Saturday the spanker mast), providing space for of sails (7 gaff and max. 9 (usually 4) square sails), rigged similar to a topsail schooner with a main gaff sail (fore-and-aft sail) on each mast, one "jib" on the fore mast and three square sails on masts no. 2 and no. 3 (Tuesday & Wednesday); for a time mast no. 4 was also fitted with three yards. In later years, some of the yards were removed. According to some sources she would have carried . This amount of canvas is obviously too much for seven fore-and-aft sails and max. 9 square sails. This (larger) figure of sail area lies only a few square metres below that the famous Flying P-Liner "Preußen" carried – with her five full-rigged masts of 30 square sails and a lot of stay sails. Setting sails turned out to be unusable at the same time as the paddles and screw were under steam, because the hot exhaust from the five (later four) funnels would set them on fire. Her maximum speed was 24 km/h (13 knots).
SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
"Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" set out on her maiden voyage on 19 September 1897, travelling from Bremerhaven to Southampton and thence to New York. With a capacity of 800 third-class passengers, the NDL had ensured that they would profit greatly from the immigrants wishing to leave the continent for a better standard of living in the United States. From her maiden voyage, she was the only superliner to cross the Atlantic with such speed and such media attention. In March 1898, she successfully gained the Blue Riband with an average crossing speed of , thus establishing the new German competitiveness. The Blue Riband, an award given for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic, east and westbound, had previously been held by the Cunard liner . This turn of events was closely watched by the maritime world of the era, who were eager to see how the British would retaliate. However, the NDL soon lost the riband in 1900 to the new German superliner, of the Hamburg America Line. This change in events was acceptable to Germans, who were able to relax in the knowledge that they were still the owners of the fastest liner; however, NDL promptly ordered that "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" undergo a refit to ensure that they were the dominant German company. This refit included the installation of wireless communication, then new technology which allowed "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" to transmit telegraphic messages to a port, emphasising her image of security.
The NDL took the battle even further. 1901 saw the addition to their fleet of another four-funnel liner, named in honour of Crown Prince William, heir to the German throne, and they subsequently commissioned another two superliners, and of 1903 and 1907 respectively. From 1903 to 1907 the Blue Riband was held by SS "Kaiser Wilhelm II". The company stated that the four liners were of the renowned Kaiser class and decided to market them as the "Four Flyers", a reference to their speed and associations with the Blue Riband.