A Brief History of the RMS Queen Mary
The Queen Mary was constructed by the John Brown & Company, LTD and was commissioned by the Cunard Steamship Co., LTD in the early 1930's. She was structured along the River Clyde in Clydebank, Scotland, and involved 300, 000 workers and contractors. She set new standards as the world's largest and fastest passenger liner. No expense or technical innovation was spared, as the Queen Mary was built state of the art for the time. The Queen was powered by four 40, 000 hp steam turbo engines, had four propellers weighing 35 tons each. Here are the statistics: more than 2000 portholes and 10 million rivets; Gross tonnage 81,237; 1019 feet ,6 inches in length; 12 decks; 1957 passengers, 1174 officers and crew., cruising speed of 28.5 knots; 24 lifeboats, enough for everybody.
The Queen was launched on September 26, 1934 by her majesty, Queen Mary herself. Work was completed at Southampton, England and the maiden voyage to New York was on May 27, 1936. During her 31 year ocean-going career, the ship won admirers worldwide and broke numerous records for speed. A trip on her was like paradise, as she became a self-contained floating city, replete with a hospital staff, state rooms, shops, kennels, spa, two pools, barber and beauty shops, library, lounges, and dining halls. To this day, the Queen is famous for her gourmet cuisine, which could rival any restaurant or hotel in the world. Her passenger list became a who's who of the famous, ranging from the Hollywood/Entertainment crowd like Fred Astaire and Robert Taylor, to captains of industry, and to heads of state. Anyone who was anyone sailed on the Queen Mary!
During 1940-1946, the Queen was requisitioned as a troop transport by the British government. She was painted Gray and nicknamed "the Grey ghost," for her elusive speed to outrun U-boats. The Queen's distinguished war service was unprecedented and her accomplishments mind boggling. In six years, she carried nearly one million men without a single loss of life or without ever coming under fire as she transported troops all over the world. Such a target as she, Hitler put a bounty out for the Queen- he promised the Iron Cross and a promotion to any Undersea boat that could sink her. Her speed eluded all boats! in one crossing, the Queen carried a record 16, 683 persons.
Entertainers such as Bing Crosby, Katherine Cornell and bob Hope crossed regularly on the Queen going to or returning from entertaining allied troops abroad. Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill crossed several times under the code name of 'Colonel Warden" as a means of protecting the liner. Blocks of suites were set aside for Churchill and his staff and sitting rooms transformed into war rooms, map rooms, and ministry offices. Churchill signed the authorization for the D-Day Invasion aboard the Queen. Churchill said that the contributions of the Mary and the Queen Elizabeth shortened the war by at least a year.
At the war's conclusion, the Queen was used for thirteen crossings from February to September of 1946 for transporting war brides and babies to Canada and the United States.
The ship was refurbished as a luxury liner, but with numerous changes for the next twenty years.
In 1967, Cunard decided to discontinue liner crossings due to the popularity of air travel, and put the Queen up for sale. 17 bids were offered, mostly by junk dealers. The City Council of Long Beach, CA won, and the Queen Mary made its final voyage in November of 1967, lasting 37 days. The Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach at 10:00 am, December 9, 1967.
In 1971, the Queen opened as a tourist attraction and floating museum, the last survivor of its kind and a beautiful reminder of a bygone era of grace and elegance.
For further history, link into http://www.queenmary.com and consider joining the RMS Queen Mary Foundation, which supports preservation and restoration projects.
Home Welcome FAQS Rules of the Game QM History Links Schedule VIPS Registration Festival Crew