One condition of the loan was that Cunard merge with the White Star Line, another struggling British shipping company, which was Cunard's chief British rival at the time and which had already been forced by the depression to cancel construction of its Oceanic. The loan was granted, with enough money to complete the unfinished ship, and also to build a running mate, with the intention to provide a two ship weekly service to New York.

Work was halted in December 1931 due to the Great Depression and Cunard applied to the British Government for a loan to complete 534. Overhead view of Queen Mary docked at Long Beach in 2008Ĭonstruction on the ship, then known only as 'Hull Number 534', began in December 1930 on the River Clyde by the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank in Scotland. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accepted Queen Mary as part of the Historic Hotels of America. The ship is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It took back operational control in 2021 when the operator filed for bankruptcy and it was found that extensive repairs were needed to keep the ship from sinking. The city contracted out management of the ship to various third-party firms over the years. The City of Long Beach bought the ship to serve as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum and a hotel. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she was permanently moored. By the mid-1960s, Queen Mary was ageing and was operating at a loss.Īfter several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers during the conflict.įollowing the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on and won the Blue Riband that August she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952, when it was taken by the new SS United States. The two ships were a British response to the express superliners built by German, Italian and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Queen Mary, along with RMS Queen Elizabeth, were built as part of Cunard's planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York. RMS Queen Mary is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard-White Star Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland.

4 × Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines.Preserved as a hotel/museum/tourist attraction

Southampton, New York, via Cherbourg (normal transatlantic voyage East and West bound)

Ts ashley stacks