The ships were built between 1881 and 1890, the first nine in Glasgow by John Elder & Co. or the renamed Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, the last two in Stettin by Vulcan.

In 1878, the British Guion Line introduced the first express liner on the Atlantic run, the SS Arizona.

Johann Georg Lohmann, who had at the time been director of Norddeutscher Lloyd for one year, in 1880 contracted with the Arizona's builder, John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, to build NDL's own first express liner, in accordance with the company's stated objective of always having the best ships.

[7] The speed of the new ships caused the United States postal service to choose NDL far more often than other carriers.

Until the Elbe, liners had almost universally had four decks, the two lowest devoted to cargo, the third to steerage passengers, and the top deck housing cabins; second-class accommodations were forward, first-class aft, each consisting of cabins to port and starboard of a small longitudinal saloon.

[12] In 1892, a voyage on SS Havel, the last ship of the Rivers class, prompted Mark Twain to call it "the delightfulest ship I ever saw" and publish an essay contrasting modern German steamships with their "dull, plain, graceless, gloomy and horribly depressing" predecessors as embodied by Cunard's SS Batavia.

[18][21] On 30 June 1900 the Saale burnt out in the fire at the NDL piers in Hoboken, New Jersey,[22] with the loss of 109 people including the captain.

[18] The Lahn was sold to the Russian Volunteer Fleet in 1904 and renamed Russ;[24][25] she later returned to passenger service as the Dniester.

[27] In 1897, she was converted to twin screws, lengthened, given a third funnel, and renamed Kaiserin Maria Theresia, attaining the target speed of 20 knots with ease.

[25] On 18 February 1892, the Havel collided with and sank the Italian barque Mascotta off Long Island while under mandatory pilotage.