The Lusitania reached Sandy Hook Bar at 9:05 A.M. on Friday, September 13, 1907. Though she had failed to beat the record time for an Atlantic crossing, she was given a tremendous welcome in New York, comparable to the scenes in Liverpool at her departure.
In Germany, there was great jubilation that the Lusitania had not captured the Blue Riband on its maiden voyage, which had been carefully monitored by their press and by their maritime companies. Albert Ballin, chairman of the Hamburg Amerika Line, used the occasion to make some disparaging remarks about the help that the British government had given to their rivals, the Cunard Line.
On her second voyage from Liverpool, the Lusitania did take the Blue Riband from German hands. She left the Mersey at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday, October 5, 1907. Leaving Queenstown at 10:25 A.M. on the following day, she maintained good speed and reached Sandy Hook on Friday, October 11, in a record time of four days, nineteen hours, and fifty-two minutes.
On Friday, May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was making her 202nd Atlantic crossing when she was sunk by a German torpedo with the loss of 1,195 civilian lives, including those of over a hundred American passengers. The tragedy represented a turning point in the First World War as it mobilized opinion against Germany and led indirectly to the involvement of the United States in the war.