Blue Riband

The Blue Riband /ˌbluː ˈrɪbənd/ is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. Under the unwritten rules, the record is based on average speed rather than passage time because ships follow different routes. Traditionally, a ship is considered a “record breaker” if it wins the eastbound speed record, but is not credited with the Blue Riband unless it wins the more difficult westbound record against the Gulf Stream.

Of the 35 Atlantic liners to hold the Blue Riband, 25 were British, followed by five German, three American, as well as one each from Italy and France. 13 were Cunarders (plus Queen Mary of Cunard White Star), 5 by White Star, with 4 owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd, 2 by Collins, 2 by Inman and 2 by Guion, and one each by British American, Great Western, Hamburg-America, the Italian Line, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and finally the United States Lines. Many of these ships were built with substantial government subsidies and were designed with military considerations in mind. Winston Churchill estimated that the two Cunard Queens helped shorten the Second World War by a year. The last Atlantic liner to hold the Blue Riband, the United States was designed for her potential use as a troopship as well as her service as a commercial passenger liner.

There was no formal award until 1935 when Harold K. Hales (1868–1942), a British politician and owner of Hales Brothers shipping company, donated the trophy. The rules for the Hales Trophy are different from the traditional rules for the Blue Riband. The Hales Trophy can be won by any type of surface commercial passenger vessel for a crossing in either direction. The first vessel other than a regular liner to receive the trophy was the passenger/car ferry Hoverspeed Great Britain when she established a new speed record for a commercial vessel on her eastbound delivery voyage without passengers in 1990. However, the United States remains as the holder of the Blue Riband because all subsequent record breakers were not in Atlantic passenger service and their voyages were eastbound.