RMS Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary

Queen Mary at Long Beach, California, in 2010
History
Name	Queen Mary
Namesake	Mary, Queen of the United Kingdom
Owner	1936–49: Cunard-White Star Line 1949–67: Cunard Line 1967–present: City of Long Beach
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	Southampton, New York, via Cherbourg (normal transatlantic voyage East and West bound)
Ordered	3 April 1929
Builder	John Brown & Company Clydebank, Scotland
Yard number	534
Laid down	1 December 1930
Launched	26 September 1934
Sponsored by	Queen Mary
Christened	26 September 1934
Maiden voyage	27 May 1936
In service	1936–1967
Out of service	9 December 1967
Identification	IMO number: 5287938 Radio Callsign: GBTT
Fate	Ship hotel and museum
Status	Docked, Long Beach.
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	80,774 GRT (1936) 81,237 GRT (1947)
Displacement	77,400 long tons (78,642 metric tons)
Length	1,019.4 ft (310.7 m) LOA 1,004 ft (306.0 m) LWL 965 ft (294.1 m) LBP
Beam	118 ft (36.0 m)
Height	181 ft (55.2 m)
Draught	38 ft 9 in (11.8 m)
Decks	12
Installed power	24 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	4 × Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines 4 shafts, 200,000 shp (150,000 kW)[1]
Speed	28.5 kn (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph) (service) 32.84 kn (60.82 km/h; 37.79 mph) (achieved on speed trials)
Capacity	2,140 passengers: 776 first (cabin) class, 785 cabin (tourist) class, 579 tourist (third) class
Crew	1100
RMS Queen Mary
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Coordinates	33°45′11″N 118°11′23″W / 33.75306°N 118.18972°W / 33.75306; -118.18972
NRHP reference No.	92001714[2]
Added to NRHP	15 April 1993

RMS Queen Mary^[3] is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. Queen Mary, along with RMS Queen Elizabeth,^[4] was built as part of Cunard's planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York. 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 sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and won the Blue Riband that August;^[5] 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. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers during the conflict. On one voyage in 1943, she carried over 16,600 people, the still-standing record for the most people on a vessel.

Following 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. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s, Queen Mary was ageing and was operating at a loss.

After several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. 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. The City of Long Beach bought the ship to serve as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum and a hotel. The city contracted out management of the ship to various third-party firms over the years. It took back operational control in 2021.