STRUGGLE FOR BLUE RIBAND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 258, 28 July 1936, Page 9

STRUGGLE FOR BLUE RIBAND

Records in Past Fifty

Years

In ISB2 the Cunard liner Scotia, 3872 tons, made the crossing from Queenstown, Ireland, to New York in nine days, a record which stood for seven years until the Inman liner City of Brussels, 3081 tons, in 1869, cut it down by a day. In 1889 the City of Paris, 10,699 tons, made the passage in six days. Another half a day was clipped off this record in 1894 by the Cunard liner Lucania, 12,950 tons, which held the Blue Riband of the Atlantic for Britain until the advent in 1897 of the Norddeutscher-Lloyd liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, 14,349 tons, which crossed from Southampton to New York in under six days. The HamburgAmerica Line steamer Deutschland. 16,502 tons, wrested the honours from the N.D.L. Line in 1903, when she made the passage ft m Cherbourg to New York in just over five and a half days—a great performance for a ship driven by reciprocating engines. Triumph of the Steam Turbine.

The Blue Riband of the Atlantic was held by the Germans for the next four years, during which the NorddeutscherLloyd and the Hamburg-America Lines made strenuous efforts to secure the commercial supremacy in the North Atlantic and other trades. Their challenge to British prestige was taken up by the Cunard Line, with the support of the British Government. The marine steam turbine had been well tried out in the Carmania, and in order to secure the power necessary it was decided to build two great ships, each fitted with Parson’s turbines of 75,000 borse-power supplied with steam from 25 boilers. To accommodate this .unprecedented power plant, the tonnage of the ships went up to over 30,000 tons gross register. The Mauretania and Lusitania—for such these ships were named —regained for the British merchant marine the Blue Riband of the Atlantic, and the former held it for 22 years. The Mauretania was built on the Tyne by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., and the Lusitania on the Clyde by John Brown and Company, Ltd., the former being launched on September 20, 1906. The ships were identical in size, being 790 feet in length, 88 feet in breadth, and 60 feet in depth—the Mauretania measuring 30,70-1 tons gross register. The Lusitania loft Liverpool on September 7, 1007. on her maiden voyage to New York and established a world record by steaming 641 miles in 24 hours. She averaged 25} knots during her run of 5 days 20 hours to New York, and made the return passage in 5 days 19 hours. The Mauretania started her maiden eoynge from Liverpool on November 16, 1907, and made the westward run in bad w’eather in 6 days 3} hours, and the return passage in 5* days 16 hours. From then up to the outbreak of the Great War the two ships, familiarly known as “Lucy” and “Mary.” continued their record-breaking careers on the North Atlantic. There was little to choose between them in the matter of speed but the Mauretania in 1009 established the record run from Queenstown to New York of 4 days 10 hours 41 minutes. which still stands. The Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 1198 lives on May 7, 1910 Mauretania's Feats. After the war the Mauretania was fitted to burn oil-fuel. In 1928 she celebrated her twenty-first birthday , by crossing from Cherbourg to New York iu 4 days 23 hours 17 minutes, breaking her own record. The average speed for tlie passage was 25.63 knots and in one noon to noon run she covered 663 miles, an average of 27.6 knots. A few weeks later she made the round voyage in 12 days 6 hours including a stay in New York of 32 hours.

The "Old Lady of the Atlantic,” as the Mauretania had come to be known, made her supreme effort in August 1929. a wook or so after the German liner Bremen made her maiden passage from Cherbourg to New lurk at an average speed of 27.9 knots, beating all previous records by a good margin. The Mauretania left Southampton on

August 8 and averaged 26.40 knots to Cherbourg. On the run to New York she made a noon to noon run of 680 miles at an average speed of 27.20 knots. She beat all her previous re,cords by making the passage in 4 days 21 hours 44 minutes for 3162 miles, at an average speed of 26.90 knots. On the return passage from New York to Plymouth the “Old Lady” covered the distance of 3098 miles in 4 days 17 hours 50 minutes, at an average of 27.22 knots. From Plymouth to Cherbourg she finished up with a great burst of speed, averaging 20.76 knots across the Channel, a marvellous performance for a 22-year-old ship.

The Blue Riband of the Atlantic went back to Germany on July 22. 1929, when the Norddeutscher-Lloyd steamer Bremen arrived at New York on her maiden voyage, having made the passage from Cherbourg in 4 days 17 hours 24 minutes, an average speed of 27.53 knots, her best noon to noon run being 713 miles. On the return passage the Bremen made the run from New York to Plymouth, 3084 miles, in 4 days 14 hours 36 minutes, an average of 27.9 knots. On March 25, 1930, the Europa, sister ship, of the Bremen, made her maiden passage from Cherbourg to New York in heavy weather in 4 days 17 hours 6 minutes, an average of 27.99 knots. Her best day’s run was 704 miles from noon to noon, an average of 28.16 knots. Bremen and Rex. During the next two or three years the Bremen established several new steaming records. In November, 1932, she made the passage of 3090 miles from Cherbourg to New York in 4 days 16 hours 43 minutes, and a month later she beat this bv making the run in 4 days 15 hours .>6 minutes. On June 14, 1933, the Bremen completed the eastbound passage of <>l9o miles from New York to Cherbourg in 4 days 17 hours 43 minutes, an average speed of 28.14 knots. In October, 1933, she set another new record when she left Cherbourg o n the 16th and arrived back on the 27th. having made the round voyage to New York in 10 days • hour® 13 minutes, including a "turn-round” at New York of 12} hours. Although the Bremen remained unbeaten for two years in the Cherbourg-New York service, the fastest North Atlantic crossing was actually made by the Itajian liner Rex, which arrived at New York on August 16. 1933. after a record passage of 3188 miles from Gibraltar made in 4 days 13 hours 58 minutes at an average speed of 28.92 knots. The bestjioon to noon run was made on August 15. the ship covering 736 miles at an average of 29.61 knots. In the same month the Canadian-Pacific liner Empress of Britain steamed from Quebec to Cherbourg, a shorter run, in 4 days 7 hours 32 minutes. beating her own previous record by 26 minutes. , , All speed records for the Atlantic crossing were broken by the French linei Normandie on her maiden voyage at the end of May last year. Tn an official publicatio.. recently issued _ her _ mean speed on the passage to New York is .riven as 29.53 knots, and on the homeward run 30.34 knots. The best days run was 754 miles at a mean speed ot 31 4 knots This speed was attained with 9“ boilers working. 160.000 horse-power being generated, and the fuel consumption remaining below 0.300 k. per h.p. lor a. nnrnoscs. When she was withdrawn 9r the winter r’’<> Normandie had made ntn" consecutive round voyages 'o New Vor; covering 57.780 miles on an average consumption of 33251 b. per mile and an average speed of 25.2 knots outward ami 29.07 knots homeward.