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The keel plates were laid for
Cunard’s Queen Mary December
27th 1930. With the economic depression
continuing into the 1930s, Cunard was
forced to suspend all work on their ship
in 1931. These hard times for the
shipping industry led to the British
Government trying to persuade the Cunard
and White Star lines to merge rather than
compete against each other. With the two
companies nearing bankruptcy and the
government offering subsidies if they
merged, the Cunard and White Star lines
reached an agreement to join their
services in December 1933, this leading
to work on Queen Mary resuming
April 3rd 1934.
Queen Mary was the largest ship
in the world at that time with the
capacity to carry 776 1st, 784 2nd and
579 3rd class passengers. Her maiden
voyage from Southampton - Cherbourg and
New York May 27th 1936 began the fiercest
rivalry ever seen between two liners.
Queen Mary’s single gear
turbines were capable of 200,000 hp
compared to her rival
Normandie’s turbo electric
machinery developing 160,000 hp. As
Normandie had a sleek new hull
design, the two ships had a similar top
speed.
Before the British ship entered
service, the French Line was informed she
exceeded 80,000 tons. At that time,
Normandie’s upper decks were
extended to allow her to regain the title
of the world’s largest ship. The
redesign increased
Normandie’s volume from
79,280 - 83,000 tons. Queen Mary
took the Blue Riband on the westbound
route from Normandie in August
1936 by increasing the average speed from
29.98 to 30.14 knots. On her return
crossing, she broke
Normandie’s record of 30.31
knots by averaging 30.63 knots.
Normandie increased the records
three times in 1937 with her best average
of 31.2 knots being set on an eastbound
crossing August 8th. Queen
Mary regained the westbound record
August 8th 1938 with an average speed of
30.99 knots. Six days later, she took the
eastbound record with a crossing of 3
days, 20 hours and 42 minutes, averaging
31.69 knots. Normandie’s
destruction during World War Two allowed
Queen Mary’s records
to go unchallenged until the arrival of
the liner United States 14
years later.
At the outbreak of World War Two,
Queen Mary was painted gray in New
York before setting out for
Sydney/Australia to be converted to a
troopship. After transporting Australian
troops to the war in Africa, she was used
to carry American troops to Britain. On
one voyage alone, she carried around
16,000 servicemen from New York -
Gourock/Scotland. Her only incident
during the war was when she rammed and
sunk her escort, the British cruiser
Curacoa. There were only 26
survivors from the warships crew of over
300.
Queen Mary’s return to
Cunard in 1947 saw her operated between
the Atlantic run and cruising over the
following 20 years. She was retired
September 19th 1967 after completing
1,001 Atlantic crossings. Queen
Mary set out on her final voyage
from Southampton - California October
31st 1967. With her being too large to
pass through the Panama Canal, she had to
travel around the Cape of Good Hope.
Queen Mary’s arrival
at California December 9th allowed her
ownership to be officially transferred to
the City of Long Beach. She has since
served as a museum and hotel.
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