The Blue Riband of the Atlantic Multiple Choice Quiz | World

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Blue Riband of the Atlantic requires the fastest westbound passage, though the winners were fast in both directions. Why westbound?

Answer: It's against the Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream sets eastbound, adding a bit to a ship's speed. The Blue Riband (and the eastbound record) were measured by average speed, because ships followed different routes and sometimes used different ports.

2. One of the earliest record-setters on the Atlantic run was the SS Great Western. Who was one of her principal designers?

Answer: Isambard Brunel

SS Great Western was one of the first steamships designed expressly for the Atlantic crossing. Her best speed was about 10 knots. For this seagoing venture, Brunel partnered with his friend and fellow engineer, Thomas Guppy - who didn't ask that the ship be named for him! She was named for Britain's Great Western Railway, another of Brunel's engineering feats.

3. From 1838 to 1898, British liners held the Blue Riband - except for a few years in the early 1850s. What American shipping line briefly captured the speed record?

Answer: The Collins Line

Edward Collins challenged Cunard's dominance of the Atlantic passenger trade with large, fast, luxurious (for the time) and expensive paddle-wheelers. The ships were never profitable, and were kept afloat by government subsidies. By 1858, the subsidies were withdrawn, two of the ships had been lost at sea, and the Collins Line went bankrupt.

It would take a century for another American ship to reclaim the Blue Riband.

4. In 1872, the White Star liner Adriatic captured the Blue Riband from Cunard, becoming the first record-holder to use a new propulsion technology. What was it?

Answer: A propeller

Marine screw propellers were under development since the 1830s, and were used on passenger ships beginning in the 1840s. Nevertheless, sidewheelers held the Blue Riband until 1872. White Star's Adriatic offered greater comfort as well as higher speed. She featured gaslights, supplied by an on-board gas generator.

5. The Inman liner City of Paris was the first Blue Riband holder to average over 20 knots westbound - just barely, at 20.01 knots. When did she break the 20-knot barrier?

Answer: 1889

The City of Paris and her sister City of New York were re-registered as American-flag vessels in 1893, when the Inman Line went bankrupt and ownership passed to the line's American creditors. This required a special Act of Congress, because only ships built in American shipyards could be registered in the United States. Re-named "Paris" and "New York," they were scrapped in 1923.

6. Decades of British dominance of the Blue Riband were ended in 1898 by a German liner. What was her - or his - name?

Answer: Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse inaugurated the "German Decade" on the Atlantic, when German liners were the largest ships in the world and also held the speed record. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was also the first of the Blue Riband winners to sport four funnels.

7. Which liner won the Blue Riband in 1909 and held it for nearly 20 years?

Answer: Mauretania

In 1909, RMS Mauretania was the first liner to average over 26 knots on a westbound crossing. She snatched the Blue Riband from her slightly older sister, the ill-fated Lusitania. In 1924, when she was 17 years old, Mauretania set an eastbound record of well over 26 knots.

8. Which German liner won the Blue Riband in 1930, but spent most of her career under the French flag?

Answer: Europa

Europa and her sister Bremen began a new era in Atlantic liners with their low, graceful profiles and streamlined appearance. Designed for 27 knots, they enabled Norddeutscher Lloyd to maintain regular transatlantic service with only two "prestige" ships instead of three.

After World War II and a major refit, Europa was recommissioned as the French liner SS Libert�, sailing under the tricolor from 1950 to 1962.

9. Only one Italian ship has ever won the Blue Riband. What was the name of this Italian greyhound?

Answer: Rex

The Rex and her slower but equally elegant running mate Conte di Savoia operated Italy's prestige transatlantic service during the mid-1930s. In 1933, Rex crossed westbound at an average speed of nearly 29 knots. Severely damaged during World War II, she was scrapped in 1947.

10. The fabled Normandie was one of the two fastest liners of the late 1930s. What type of powerplant did she have?

Answer: Turbo-electric drive

Normandie's steam turbines generated electricity, which powered electric motors that turned her four massive propellers. A similar system is used on some modern passenger ships, including Queen Mary 2. Normandie's British rival Queen Mary (the first Queen Mary) had conventional geared turbines connected to her propeller shafts.

11. Normandie and Queen Mary traded the Blue Riband back and forth in the late 1930s. Normandie finally won, in 1938.

Answer: False

In an August 1938 westbound crossing, Queen Mary posted an average speed of almost 31 knots, about a half-knot faster than Normandie. Allegedly in response, the French Line added a deckhouse to Normandie, reclaiming the title of world's largest ship from Queen Mary.

12. Arguably, the history of the Blue Riband ended with the SS United States' westbound crossing of 1952. What was her average speed on that voyage (to the nearest half-knot)?

Answer: 34.5 knots

The SS United States set both the westbound (Riband) and eastbound records back-to-back on her maiden voyage. Aided by the Gulf Stream, her eastbound speed was about 35.6 knots. On her secret speed trials, she reportedly exceeded 38 knots, but she never used full power in service.

13. Through to 1909, this was the last port of call in Europe for most Blue Riband voyages. After 1909, none of the record voyages began here.

Answer: Queenstown (Cobh)

Queenstown (now Cobh) is a lovely town on an island in Cork Harbor on the south coast of Ireland. British liners (and other ships) embarked countless Irish immigrants before heading westward. By the early 1920s, the great tide of westbound emigration ebbed, and the big liners no longer called there. Today, Cobh is a favorite port for modern (but slower) cruise ships.

14. Though not a Blue Riband winner, Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 was a true Atlantic liner. What was her top speed, after she was re-engined with a diesel electric powerplant in the 1980s?

Answer: 34 knots

She will likely remain the second-fastest liner in transatlantic history. With her new engines fitted in 1987, "QE2" might just have challenged SS United States' speed record, but she was never put to the test.

15. The Hales Trophy was originally awarded for the fastest Atlantic crossing (either east or west) by a passenger ship. In 1936, the record was set by RMS Queen Mary - but she never received the Trophy. Why not?

Answer: Her captain refused it

British shipping magnate Harold Hales commissioned the Trophy in the mid-1930s. Hale's "rules" were not the same as the Blue Riband, because the Trophy can be awarded to any passenger-carrying ship and for a crossing in either direction. According to a newspaper report of 1936, Queen Mary's captain said, "We don't believe in racing on the Atlantic, or in blue ribands, or trophies and the like." Hales was so angry he added a "rule" that the Trophy could only be awarded to a non-British ship.

Source: Author ignotus999

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
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The Blue Riband of the Atlantic Quiz

The fastest passenger ships on the Atlantic run - technically westbound ... and average speed ...

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