American Patriot (I)

George Schneider (July 2026) writes: American Cruise Line is apparently doing a booming business, and is in the midst of a building program of building almost 2 dozen cruise ships of this size to various designs, all being built at their own shipyard, Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury MD. You'll note she doesn't have an IMO number. Being under 100 tons (as well as not on "International" travel) she's not required to have one. The IMO measures her tonnage as 3660, but her owners have opted for the U. S. system, which rates the same vessel at 98 tons. That means she doesn't have to meet IMO standards, nor even to have ABS certification, and can operate with a crew who might have qualified on a 65-foot boat.