Queen Mary
A luxuary passenger steam turbine liner built in 1936 by John Brown & Co., Ltd., Clydebank, Scotland, as Newbuilding No. 534, for the Cunard Steam Ship Co., Ltd., Liverpool.
Her dimensions are 297.25x36.14x11.89(d) meters [1019'6"×118'7"×39'4½"] and tonnage 81237 GRT and 33015 NRT.
The machinery consists of 16 steam turbines.
- 1930 December 27
-
- Keel laid at John Brown's Clydeside shipyard for
Cunard-White Star Line.
- 1934 September 26
-
- Launched.
- 1936 March 24
-
- Left Clydebank for the trial trip.
- 1936 May 27
-
- Left Southampton for her maiden voyage to New York
where she arrived on June 1.
- 1939 September 4
-
- Laid up at Pier 90 in New York after the
outbreak of the WW II.
- 1940 March 21
-
- After having been requestioned by the Ministry of
Shipping the Queen Mary sailed for Australia to serve as a troopship.
- 1942 October 2
-
- Sank the light cruiser HMS Curacoa in a collision off the Northern coast of Ireland.
- 1945 April 4
-
- Arrived in New York as a troop ship for the last time.
- 1946 September 29
-
- Arrived at Southampton for renovation to return to peacetime work by John Brown.
- 1947 August 1
-
- Sailed from Southampton for New York for first time since the war.
- 1967
-
- Sold to the City of Long Beach for £ 3 450 000.
Presently [1995] serving as a museum and a hotel at Long Beach, California.
Images
Select Bibliography
- The Cunard White Star Quadruple Screw Liner Queen Mary.
Bonanza Books, New York.
- Bailey, Chris Howard: Life Along the Burma Road.
Sea Breezes Vol. 64, Liverpool, 1990. pp 485-487.
The Oral History Team attached to Southampton City Council's
Local Studies Section is documenting through oral testimony
the working lives of crew members of the Queen Mary.
- Bowen, John: Miniature Merchantmen: RMS Queen Mary.
Model Shipwright Vol. 14, London, 1986. pp 56:30-38, ill.
- Fimister, Malcolm: Hail and Farewell to a Great Lady!
Ships Monthly Vol. 21, Burton-on-Trent, 1986. pp 5:24-27, ill.
After a 31 year career in war and peace the Queen Mary was
sold to the city of Long Beach, California. In this article
the author explains how this sale came about.
- Fletcher, John: Across the Atlantic in Style.
Sea Breezes Vol. 64, Liverpool, 1990. pp 487-489, ill.
The author travelled with the Queen Mary in 1964 from
Southampton to New York to join his new ship.
- Friberg, Gunnar: Med hjulångare i Storbrittanien.
Skärgårdsbåten årg. 9, Stockholm, 1978. pp 4:10-13, ill.
- Harding, Steve: Grey Ghost - the RMS Queen Mary at War.
Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Montana, 1982.
- Hutchings, David F.: RMS Queen Mary. 50 Years of Splendour.
Kingfisher Publications, Southampton, 1990/1986. 4to, 56 pp, ill.
- Lacey, Robert: The Queens.
Sedgwich & Jackson, 1973.
- MacLean, Donald: Queens Company.
Hutchinson, 1965.
- Miller, William & Hutchings, David: Transatlantic Liners at War — the Story of the Queens.
David & Charles, 1985.
- Potter, Neil & Frost, Jack: The Queen Mary.
Harrap, 1961.
- Safford, Jeffrey J.: Queen Mary v. Normandie:
An American Appraisal.
The Mariner's Mirror Vol. 70, London, 1984. pp 161-169.
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Updated 1995-06-07 by Lars Bruzelius
