She was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee and served as a floating hotel until purchased by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Company.

During World War II, they were requisitioned by the United States Navy for duty in San Francisco Bay as USS Delta Queen (YHB-7/YFB-56).

[7] During the war, the vessels were painted battleship gray and used in transporting wounded from ocean-going ships in San Francisco Bay to area hospitals.

[8] Three different United States Presidents have sailed on Delta Queen: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, and Jimmy Carter.

In 1948 she entered regular passenger service, plying the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers between Cincinnati, New Orleans, St. Paul, Chattanooga, Nashville, and ports in between.

After consulting with attorney William Kohler, Richard Simonton, Bill Muster, and Edwin "Jay" Quinby traveled to Washington, DC, to save their boat.

The company also owned riverboats that have seen service on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Oregon and Washington, and the Alaska Inside Passage.

They also raced during the Tall Stacks festivals celebrating steamboats, held every three or four years in Cincinnati (Delta Queen's former home port).

On August 1, 2007, Majestic America Line announced that Delta Queen would cease operations permanently at the end of the 2008 season.

[18] In the United States, devotees of the boat created a renewed "Save the Delta Queen" campaign similar to the one undertaken in the 1970s.

On February 11, 2009, Delta Queen arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to become a floating boutique hotel, as it was feared the vessel could be vandalized if she remained in New Orleans.

The Delta Queen Hotel officially opened for overnight guests on June 5, 2009, offering dining, a lounge, live period music, and theatrical performances, closing to the public in December 2014.

On May 14, 2013, the bill To amend title 46, United States Code, to extend the exemption from the fire-retardant materials construction requirement for vessels operating within the Boundary Line (H.R.

The law intended to prohibit ocean-bound vessels from carrying overnight passengers unless completely made of non-combustible materials included the Delta Queen, even though she was never more than several hundred yards (metres) from shore.

On November 27, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reinstate an exemption to allow the Delta Queen Steamboat to return to service after a decade-long retirement.