The four ships were designed to have a tonnage in excess of 20,000 tons and rather than being built for speed and to compete for the Blue Riband, were designed to be more luxurious than their rivals.
Tyto lodě byly navrženy tak, aby měly tonáž nad 20000 BRT a spíše, než na rychlost a získání modré stuhy se soustředilo na to, aby byly luxusnější, než konkurenční lodě.