The Blue Riband is an award held by the ship with the record for a transatlantic crossing. The first steam powered crossing of the Atlantic was in 1833. The Blue Riband was a creation of the transatlantic shipping companies in the 1860s, for the publicity opportunities of possessing the fastest ship. There were separate awards for the fastest eastbound and westbound crossings. It was represented by a blue penant in the top mast of the ship, until 1930 when Sir Harold Hales initiated a trophy. The Hales Trophy is awarded on the basis of average speed, since the distance of transatlantic routes varies. The last Superliner to hold the trophy was the SS United States, which set a time that was not beaten until 1990

Some of the ships that held the record for the fastest crossing, with the date first achieved:

Reference

• Arnd Stroeh, "From Superliners to Airliners", as of February 27, 2003; [1]
• The Blue Riband of the North Atlantic, westbound and eastbound holders, greatships.net; [2]
  • which cites:
  • North Atlantic Seaway, Vol. 5, N.R.P. Bonsor, 1980
• Danish ferry sets new Atlantic-crossing record!!, vulkanusa.com; [3]
• The Hales Trophy, seacontainers.com; [4]
• Kludas, Arnold. Record breakers of the North Atlantic - Blue Riband Liners 1838-1952, Chatham Publishing, London, 2000.

Blue Riband is also sometimes used to highlight major sporting events. For example, in athletics the Blue Riband short distance event is the 100 m sprint, while the middle distance version would be the mile or 1500 m. In cycling the Blue Riband feat would be to break the world hour record. The term is also frequently used in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries where the term blue ribbon is used in the United States.