#blue riband

[esqapevelocity]

[retrocgads]

UK 1985

[max-e-doodle]

Queen Mary II

[all-action-all-picture]

Hotspur No. 913, dated 16 April 1977. King Cobra cover by Ron Smith. The name of the liner here is Blue Riband. While undoubtedly best known for being the name of a chocolate biscuit the Blue Riband (sometimes called the Blue Ribbon) was an accolade given to the liner which had the record highest average speed in crossing the Atlantic Ocean. DC Thomson.

[joezworld]

So, when British merchant ships aren't busy saving lives, what less honorable thefts and kidnappings and assorted shenanigans might one expect them to get up to?

Point of order, these weren't British merchant ships - British merchant ships were in a similar position to the steam trains, and often had to be hijacked by other, smarter ships in order to not get cut up at the end of their life.

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Shenanigans depend on the point of view, but here's a few examples:

The Blue Riband

The Transatlantic speed prize has been awarded to the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic for many years. The long-standing record holder was the SS United States, who held the record more or less by default, as she was one of the last great ocean liners built, so nobody was built faster than her.

Then came the container ships.

There was an incredibly brief fad in the 1990s of building 'express container ships' - that is, incredibly fast ships that could do well over 30 knots in an effort to lower the overall transit time.

This was a brief fad because it was incredibly stupid - ocean cargo doesn't need to be quick - and the two lines who did this collapsed by 1997, leaving a combined 15 ships that were scattered to various cargo companies.

The ships had been built, though, and fuel was cheap, so they definitely tried for the Riband when they could.

A great disturbance was felt in the force when in 2002, MV CMA CGM Archer Lewis sailed from Ambrose light to Bishop Rock in 3 days and 9 hours, shaving a full 2.5 hours off of the previous record.

United States did not take this laying down, and set a blistering 3 day 8.3 hour journey a few weeks later.

That record stood for two hours before MV Maersk Tom Petersen, following in her wake, shaved another 40 minutes off the time.

That probably would have been the end of it, if Tom hadn't run his mouth, and said that it was 'time for the old tubs to clear out of the way.'

Now it was on - and it wasn’t just United States defending her title - now it was new vs old, cargo vs passenger, and steam turbine vs diesel engine.

The record was beaten 32 times in 6 months, sometimes by minutes, a few times by hours. Ships were running themselves ragged, and all parties involved were considering just stopping when, from out of nowhere, a high-speed catamaran ferry on his delivery run set a sub-3-day run. Going west. Against the gulf stream.

A word about Catamaran Ferries: They're called "Plastic Fantastics" by large ships, and it is not an affectionate term.

Now there was a common enemy - the ferry must be destroyed. No glory must go to those two hulled monstrosities.

A training regiment was conceived - two dozen ships from both the liners and the container ships elected to try and win the prize.

Resources were pooled. Motors were upgraded. Hulls were polished. Propellers replaced.

Nothing was left to chance but the weather.

The Riband would be theirs.

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It took them almost a year, but they did it - ships burned out motors, bashed their hulls on unseen waves, destroyed propellers, and stayed up for weeks on end waiting for their chance.

Eventually, SS France achieved the prize - two days, 23 hours, 54 minutes, exactly 3 minutes faster than the catamaran. She might have seized her main propshaft and done hideous damage to her turbines, but the catamarans were defeated.

The ships were jubilant, but the catamarans were unimpressed.

"You do know that he was just fucking with you guys, right?" Came the question.

The ships did not know that.

As it turned out, the Catamaran in question had faked his GPS tracking log to screw with the feuding liners, and did a rather subdued 4 days 10 hours.

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That Catamaran had gone to work for a Panamanian ferry company.

One day he went missing.

They found him two weeks later, half a mile inland on a road in Columbia.

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Pirates

Aye me hearties, there still be pirates out there on the big blue sea - although, considering today's economy and whatnot, they be doing much less of this:

And much more of this:

Aye, it sickens me too matey, but that's the economy for ye.

But, that all being said, there is some hope for those who wish to fly the Jolly Roger - counter pirates!

Ye see matey, now that we've all agreed that pirates are bad, (at least from an economic perspective) the world's militaries be doin' something about it! Now off the coast o' Somalia, they be fighting pirates the normal way - with overwhelming firepower and superior tactics.

But! There be other pirates, much sneakier ones, who try and make off with their ill-gotten goods in deep water. So the military uses a much different approach there:

They use their own fleet of pirate hunting scallywags to chase down the competition!

Isn't piracy fun?

[thats-the-way-it-was]

July 3 1952: The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.

The ship has been sold several times since the 1970s, with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually, the ship's fittings were sold at auction, and hazardous wastes, including asbestos panels throughout the ship, were removed, leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Pier 82 on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, where she remains today. (wikipedia)

Photo: SS United States photographed from Portsmouth on return maiden voyage to New York, summer 1952 (Public Domain)

[shipsofyore]

After visiting White Star’s Teutonic, the german emperor Wilhelm II expressed his desire for similar ships to be built for the german merchant navy. One of the biggest german shipping companies, the Norddeutscher Lloyd, then began to develope four ships which should set new standarts in speed and luxury. The first one to be finished was the Kaiser Wilhlem der Grosse in 1897. The twin screw steamer fulfilled the emperors dream as it was not only one of the most luxurious ocean liners afloat, but it also gained international recognition when it became the first german liner to win the Blue Riband, the prize for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a civilian ship (in 5 days and 20 hours). Together with her four sister ships (which would be known as the four ocean greyhounds due to their speed) the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse operated succesfully until WW1. In 1914 she was sank whilest operating as a merchant cruiser in front of Spanish-Sahara.

[retrocgads]

UK 1985