RMS Queen Mary Home

Ship Statistics:
Built By:	John Brown & Company
Yard Number:	534
Length Overall:	1,019 feet 6 inches
Length Between Perpendiculars (b.p.):	965 feet
Width:	118 feet, 7 inches
Moulded Depth (to C Deck)	55 feet 3 inches
Draught:	38.8 feet
Gross Tonnage:	1936: 80,774 1937: 81,235 1947: 81,237
Displacement:	77,482 (1936) 80,677 registered
Carrying Capacity, Maiden Voyage	– First (Cabin) Class: 776 – Tourist Classs: 784 – Third Class: 579 – Crew: 1,035 – Total: 3,174
Career:	May 27, 1936 – December 11, 1967 – Retired and currently serving as a hotel in Long Beach, California.

The History of the RMS Queen Mary – A Brief Look:

The Cunard-White Star liner Queen Mary was a legend right from the start. When she was laid out at the John Brown shipyards on the River Clyde, it was already clear that she would be something special, and she was the pride of the British maritime community. This was true even though she, at that point, did not even have a name. She was simply referred to by her shipyard designation of “Hull No. 534”. Due to the Depression, however, Cunard ran out of money to finish her construction.

At this stage, the White Star Line was also building a 1,000-foot, 30-knot vessel at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyards, which was to be named Oceanic (III). Suffering from shockingly poor management during the twenties, White Star was already in a financial bind before the Depression hit; it quickly became clear that they, like Cunard, would be unable to complete their ship without financial aid.

Cunard approached the British Government; they had successfully attained loans and subsidies from Parliament in 1902 to build the Lusitania and Mauretania, and the collaboration had worked very well. Parliament agreed to subsidize construction only if Cunard and White Star merged. It was clear to them that in those lean times, two giant British rivals would not be able to survive independently.

Cunard and White Star entered into negotiations. The final deal put White Star as the significantly junior member, and the name of the new company hence became Cunard-White Star. Later, the “-White Star” suffix was dropped and the company reverted to its old name, “Cunard”. This merger saw the end of the Titanic‘s old legacy; her sister Olympic was soon scrapped, and most of the other White Star ships went the same way in short order. The Majestic, White Star’s old flagship – the former German liner Bismarck – went before Cunard’s Berengaria. But old Cunarders, too, went fast. The Mauretania went even before the Olympic, and the Berengaria – by that time a tinderbox that was regularly catching fire – went not long after.

When she first entered service, the Queen Mary was facing some stiff new competition. The Germans and Italians had built a succession of super-fast and ultra-modern liners during the late 1920’s, whose ranks included the Bremen and Europa, the Rex and the Conte de Savoia. The French Line was also building a colossal new ship: the Normandie, which made it into service first and was – albeit debatably – the larger of the two vessels.

The Queen Mary‘s maiden voyage came in the spring of 1936. The political climate was growing ever more tense in Europe. In Germany, the Fascist Nazi party was flexing its newfound muscle, moving forward in its quixotic desire for territorial expansion and in its disgusting ideals of creating an Aryan master race by exterminating ‘weaker’ races. By the time the Mary had been in service for only three and a half years, Hitler had pushed too far. World War II broke out on September 1, 1939 as Germany invaded Poland.

The beautiful Queen Mary, fastest ship in the world, now found herself in the middle of the most dangerous circumstances that would ever confront her; her Government service for the Allies over the next six years, when combined with the efforts of her younger, larger sister Queen Elizabeth, would quite literally change the outcome of the worst war that the world had ever seen.

After the war, the Queen Mary was returned to civilian service with the Cunard Line, making her first post-war crossing in August of 1947. Paired up once more with her sister Queen Elizabeth, the two sisters pressed forward into a new era almost as if the war was no more than a terrible nightmare. In 1958, the Mary had special stabilizers installed to aid her notorious stability problems.

Cunard continued to modernize and upgrade the ship in order to keep her competitive with commercial jet aircraft. Their advertisements tried to sell the idea that ‘getting there was half the fun,’ and that it was something to be savored rather than sped through as aboard a jet. However, the handwriting was certainly on the wall for both sisters. Eventually, revenues continued to decline to the point where the Mary and the Elizabeth were simply no longer viable. In 1967, the Queen Mary was sold to the city of Long Beach, California. She became, and remains now, a hotel and tourist attraction.

She frequently serves as a shooting location for various films and documentaries depicting other liners, such as the legendary Titanic. Films such as The Poseidon Adventure and S.O.S. Titanic are included among these.

Queen Mary‘s Current Condition

In recent years, concern has been expressed over the level of care, upkeep, and maintenance which the Queen Mary has received. Faced with another round of economic ‘lean times’ in the wake of the 2008 world financial crisis, the ship was taken over by new owners. Hopes ran high that her owners, working in conjunction with the City of Long Beach, could maintain the ship and continue to make her an enjoyable, historically sensitive, and financially viable tourist attraction.

However, a recent survey indicates that the liner’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Please read the complete article, “Queen Mary: Mayday for a Scottish monument” from The Scotstman:

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Captains of the Queen Mary
Captain:	Date Took Command:
Commodore Sir Edgar T. Britten	December 1,1935
Captain George Gibbons	January 29, 1936
Commodore Reginald V. Peel	August 4, 1936
Commodore Robert B. Irving	November 11, 1936
Captain John C. Townley	March 30, 1937
Captain Peter A. Murchie	April 19, 1938
Captain Ernest M. Fall	April 9, 1941
Commodore Sir James Bisset	February 23, 1942
Commodore Sir Cyril G. Illingworth	August 10, 1942
Captain Roland Spencer	July 29, 1944
Commodore Charles M. Ford	March 11, 1946
Commodore George E. Cove	December 6, 1946
Commodore Sir C. Ivan Thompson	February 15, 1947
Captain John A. MacDonald	March 6, 1947
Captain John D. Snow	July 4, 1947
Commodore Harry Grattidge	December 31, 1948
Captain Harry Dixon	July 20, 1950
Captain Robert G. Thelwell	August 13, 1951
Captain Donald W. Sorrell	August 19, 1952
Commodore George G. Morris	June 27, 1956
Commodore Charles S. Williams	June 25, 1957
Captain Alexander B. Fasting	September 11, 1957
Captain Andrew MacKellar	August 26, 1958
Commodore John W. Caunce	October 22, 1958
Commodore Donald M. MacLean	June 24, 1959
Captain James Crosbie Dawson	March 30, 1960
Captain Sidney A. Jones	May 25, 1960
Commodore Frederick G. Watts	August 9, 1960
Captain Eric A. Divers	June 19, 1962
Commodore Geoffrey T. Marr	May 7, 1964
Captain John Treasure Jones	September 8, 1965
Captain William E. Warwick	September 15, 1965 Appointed as Relief Captain to Captain Jones.
Captain William J. Law	May 3, 1967 Appointed as Relief Captain to Captain Jones.
Captain John Treasure Jones	In command for final round trip voyage, 9/16/1967 – 9/27/67, and for the final voyage ’round the horn to Long Beach, CA, 10/31/1967 – 12/9/1967. Captain Jones Officially handed the Queen Mary over to Long Beach on 12/11/1967, and her registry was cancelled.

 

Updates to this page’s content are in progress – please be patient. For corrections, please contact me.

Please also remember: if you have photographic or technical data, or personal accounts of crossings on any of these ships or on the other liners contained on this site, and would like to see these items included on this site or in the upcoming volume, please use the contact page of this site to let me know.