The completion of the Guion Line's Arizona in 1879 forced all major trans-Atlantic companies to consider building new high-speed passenger liners.

[2] The contract specified a steel hull, but Barrows convinced Inman to accept iron due to the difficulties in securing sufficient supplies of the then relatively new metal.

Barrows modified her machinery and reduced her weight, and City of Rome was able to reach an impressive 18.25 knots (33.80 km/h) on new trials.

Anchor made attempts to overcome this, including pairing her with the National Line's America in 1886, but none of them proved satisfactory.

[2] In 1891 City of Rome was withdrawn from Liverpool and placed on the Glasgow – New York route, paired with vessels only half her size.

Later that year, she was sold to a German scrap firm,[2] but instead returned to transatlantic duty for a short time on the Glasgow – Moville – New York route.

[4] In March 2010, an automaton from City of Rome made the news when it was auctioned in New Zealand, where it been in a private collection of automata.

The automaton features a ship sailing before a revolving pulley-driven backdrop, with waves visible below it, and a hot air balloon floating overhead.