137-617: (Redirected from Aurania ) RMS Aurania can refer to any of three ships originally owned and operated by the Cunard Line : RMS Aurania (1882) , built in 1882, scrapped in 1905 RMS Aurania (1916) , built in 1916, converted for use as a troopship and torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1918 RMS Aurania (1924) , built in 1924, converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, finally scrapped in 1961 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with
274-452: A Los Angeles-based company that focused on theme-based restaurants, took over as master lessee the following year. This second plan was based on converting most of her first- and second-class cabins on A and B decks into hotel rooms, and converting the main lounges and dining rooms into banquet spaces. On Promenade Deck, the starboard promenade was enclosed to feature an upscale restaurant and café named Lord Nelson's and Lady Hamilton's ; it
411-562: A brief foray into air travel via the "Cunard Eagle" and "BOAC Cunard" airlines, but withdrew from the airline market in 1966. Cunard withdrew from its year-round service in 1968 to concentrate on cruising and summer transatlantic voyages for holiday makers. The Queens were replaced by Queen Elizabeth 2 ( QE2 ), which was designed for the dual role. In 1998, Cunard was acquired by the Carnival Corporation , and accounted for 8.7% of that company's revenue in 2012. In 2004, QE2
548-464: A gale, she was suddenly broadsided on her starboard side by a rogue wave that might have reached a height of 28 metres (92 ft). An account of this crossing can be found in Carter's book. As quoted in the book, Carter's father, Dr. Norval Carter, part of the 110th Station Hospital on board at the time, wrote in a letter that at one point Queen Mary "damned near capsized... One moment the top deck
685-607: A local millionaire, had fallen in love with the ship because he and his wife, Bonita Granville , had fond memories of sailing on it numerous times. Wrather signed a 66-year lease with the city of Long Beach to operate the entire property. He oversaw the display of the H-4 Hercules , nicknamed the Spruce Goose , on long-term loan. The immense plane, which had been sitting in a hangar in Long Beach for decades unseen by
822-563: A major generator of US currency for Great Britain. Cunard's slogan, "Getting there is half the fun", was specifically aimed at the tourist trade. Beginning in 1954, Cunard took delivery of four new 22,000-GRT intermediate liners for the Canadian route and the Liverpool–New York route. The last White Star motor ship, Britannic of 1930, remained in service until 1960. The introduction of jet airliners in 1958 heralded major change for
959-420: A maximum of 212,000 shp (158,000 kW) to four propellers, each turning at 200 RPM. Workers completed most of Queen Mary's work by March 1936 and she left Clydebank for her sea trials. During those trials, she achieved a speed of 32.84 knots. She then prepared for her maiden voyage. The 1,019.4 ft (310.7 m) LOA Queen Mary measured 80,774 gross register tons (GRT), making her
1096-535: A new rival when the White Star Line commissioned the Oceanic and her five sisters. The new White Star record-breakers were especially economical because of their use of compound engines. White Star also set new standards for comfort by placing the dining saloon midships and doubling the size of cabins. Inman rebuilt its express fleet to the new standard, but Cunard lagged behind both of its rivals. Throughout
1233-571: A new £30 million joint venture with Cunard. BOAC contributed 70% of the new company's capital and eight Boeing 707s. Cunard Eagle's long-haul scheduled operation – including the two new 707s – was absorbed into BOAC-Cunard before delivery of the second 707, in June 1962. BOAC-Cunard leased any spare aircraft capacity to BOAC to augment the BOAC mainline fleet at peak times. As part of this deal, BOAC-Cunard also bought flying hours from BOAC for using
1370-463: A policy to show that British shipping lines avoided the antisemitism evident in Nazi Germany . The cabin class main dining room featured a large map of the transatlantic crossing, with twin tracks symbolising the winter/spring route (further south to avoid icebergs) and the summer/autumn route. During each crossing, a small motorised model of Queen Mary would travel along the mural to indicate
1507-572: A reduction of speed on the final day of the crossing, arriving in New York Harbor on 1 June 1936. Queen Mary 's design received criticism for being too traditional, especially when Normandie 's hull was revolutionary with a clipper-shaped, streamlined bow . Except for her cruiser stern , she seemed to be an enlarged version of her Cunard predecessors from the pre- First World War era. Her interior design, while mostly Art Deco , seemed restrained and conservative when compared to
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#17327936482921644-448: A second ship, if Cunard merged with White Star. The merger took place on 10 May 1934, creating Cunard-White Star Limited . The merger was accomplished with Cunard owning about two-thirds of the capital. Due to the surplus tonnage of the new combined Cunard White Star fleet many of the older liners were sent to the scrapyard; these included the ex-Cunard liner Mauretania and the ex-White Star liners Olympic and Homeric . In 1936
1781-534: A significant share of the 1 million people that crossed the Atlantic by air in 1960. This was the first time more passengers chose to make their transatlantic crossing by air than sea. In June 1961, Cunard Eagle became the first independent airline in the UK to be awarded a licence by the newly constituted Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) to operate a scheduled service on the prime Heathrow – New York JFK route, but
1918-415: A slightly higher level than during her service years. During the conversion, the funnels were removed, as this area was needed to lift out the scrap materials from the engine and boiler rooms. Workers found that the funnels were significantly degraded, and they were replaced with replicas. With all of the lower decks nearly gutted from R deck and down, Diners Club , the initial lessee of the ship, converted
2055-582: A subsidy to build two superliners needed to retain Britain's competitive position. Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929. Her sister ship, Lusitania , was torpedoed in 1915 during the First World War . In 1919, Cunard relocated its British homeport from Liverpool to Southampton, better to cater for travellers from London. In the late 1920s, Cunard faced new competition when
2192-507: A supplementary service to Montreal. The annual subsidy was later raised £81,000 to add a fourth ship and departures from Liverpool were to be monthly during the winter and fortnightly for the rest of the year. Parliament investigated Great Western's complaints, and upheld the Admiralty's decision. Napier and Cunard recruited other investors including businessmen James Donaldson, Sir George Burns , and David MacIver. In May 1840, just before
2329-536: A westbound voyage the same year, and the French Normandie crossed the Atlantic in just under four days at 30.58 knots (56.63 km/h) in 1937. In 1930 Cunard ordered an 80,000-ton liner that was to be the first of two record-breakers fast enough to fit into a two-ship weekly Southampton–New York service. Work on "Hull Number 534" was halted in 1931 because of the economic conditions. In 1934, both
2466-517: Is contradicted by the liner's then Staff Captain Harry Grattidge, who recorded that Queen Mary 's Captain, Gordon Illingsworth, immediately ordered the accompanying destroyers to look for survivors within moments of Curacoa 's sinking. Later that year, from 8–14 December 1942, Queen Mary carried 10,389 soldiers and 950 crew (total 11,339). During this trip, on 11 December, while 700 miles (1,100 km) from Scotland during
2603-470: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( / ˈ k j uː n ɑː r d / ) is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton , England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc . Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda . In 1839, Samuel Cunard
2740-827: Is nothing, follow your own road, deliver her safe, bring her back safe – safety is all that is required." In particular, Charles MacIver's constant inspections were responsible for the firm's safety discipline. In 1850 the American Collins Line and the British Inman Line started new Atlantic steamship services. The American Government supplied Collins with a large annual subsidy to operate four wooden paddlers that were superior to Cunard's best, as they demonstrated with three Blue Riband -winning voyages between 1850 and 1854. Meanwhile, Inman showed that iron-hulled, screw propelled steamers of modest speed could be profitable without subsidy. Inman also became
2877-872: The Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line . To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganised as the Cunard Steamship Company Ltd , to raise capital. In 1902, White Star joined the American-owned International Mercantile Marine Co. In response, the British Government provided Cunard with substantial loans and
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#17327936482923014-541: The British Empire were used in her public rooms and staterooms. Accommodation ranged from fully equipped, luxurious cabin (first) class staterooms to modest and cramped third-class cabins. Artists commissioned by Cunard in 1933 for works of art in the interior include Edward Wadsworth and A. Duncan Carse , as well as Algernon Newton RA whose painting Evening on the Avon hung opposite Bertram Nicholls' Sussex in
3151-754: The Celtic -class liners on the secondary Liverpool–New York route. In 1911 Cunard entered the St Lawrence trade by purchasing the Thompson line, and absorbed the Royal line five years later. Not to be outdone, both White Star and Hamburg–America each ordered a trio of superliners. The White Star Olympic -class liners at 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h) and the Hapag Imperator -class liners at 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h) were larger and more luxurious than
3288-587: The Crimean War Cunard supplied 11 ships for war service. Every British North Atlantic route was suspended until 1856 except Cunard's Liverpool–Halifax–Boston service. While Collins' fortunes improved because of the lack of competition during the war, it collapsed in 1858 after its subsidy for carrying mail across the Atlantic was reduced by the US Congress. Cunard emerged as the leading carrier of saloon passengers and in 1862 commissioned Scotia ,
3425-543: The Great Depression and Cunard applied to the British Government for a loan to complete 534. The Government granted the loan, providing enough money to complete the unfinished ship, and also to build a running mate to provide a two ship weekly service to New York. One condition of the loan was that Cunard merge its operations with the White Star Line, which was also struggling due to the depression and had canceled construction of its Oceanic . Both lines agreed to
3562-702: The Guion Line when that firm defaulted on payments to the shipyard. That year, Cunard also commissioned the record-breakers Umbria and Etruria capable of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h). Starting in 1887, Cunard's newly won leadership on the North Atlantic was threatened when Inman and then White Star responded with twin screw record-breakers. In 1893 Cunard countered with two even faster Blue Riband winners, Campania and Lucania , capable of 21.8 knots (40.4 km/h). No sooner had Cunard re-established its supremacy than new rivals emerged. Beginning in
3699-768: The Nomadic every 15 April in memory of the Titanic disaster. RMS Queen Mary RMS Queen Mary is a retired British ocean liner that operated primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line . Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank , Scotland, she was subsequently joined by RMS Queen Elizabeth in Cunard's two-ship weekly express service between Southampton , Cherbourg and New York . These "Queens" were
3836-450: The Port of Long Beach turned over control over the vessel to the city in 1993. On 5 February 1993, RMS Foundation, Inc signed a five-year lease with the city of Long Beach to act as the operators of the property. The foundation was run by President and C.E.O. Joseph F. Prevratil, who had managed the attraction for Wrather. On 26 February 1993 the tourist attraction reopened completely, while
3973-479: The Queen Mary's interior spaces. The Bromsgrove Guild constructed much of the ship's interior, while H.H. Martyn & Co. built the staircases, foyers, and entrances . Among the facilities available on board Queen Mary , the liner featured two indoor swimming pools, beauty salons, libraries and children's nurseries for all three classes, a music studio, a lecture hall, telephone connectivity to anywhere in
4110-433: The first commercial transatlantic flights by jet began a completely new era of competition for passenger liners. With a London–New York travel time reduced to just 7–8 hours, demand for multi-day ocean crossing dropped precipitously. On some voyages, winters especially, Queen Mary sailed into harbour with more crew than passengers, though both she and Queen Elizabeth still averaged over 1,000 passengers per crossing into
4247-405: The ocean liner industry. In 1960 a government-appointed committee recommended the construction of project Q3, a conventional 75,000 GRT liner to replace Queen Mary . Under the plan, the government would lend Cunard the majority of the liner's cost. However, some Cunard stockholders questioned the plan at the June 1961 board meeting because transatlantic flights were gaining in popularity. By 1963
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4384-652: The 1870s Cunard passage times were longer than either White Star or Inman. In 1867 responsibility for mail contracts was transferred back to the Post Office and opened for bid. Cunard, Inman and the German Norddeutscher Lloyd were each awarded one of the three weekly New York mail services. The fortnightly route to Halifax formerly held by Cunard went to Inman. Cunard continued to receive an £80,000 subsidy (equivalent to £8,947,514 in 2023), while NDL and Inman were paid sea postage. Two years later
4521-586: The Allied powers as war reparations. In 1916 Cunard Line completed its European headquarters in Liverpool , moving in on 12 June of that year. The grand neo-Classical Cunard Building was the third of Liverpool's Three Graces . The headquarters were used by Cunard until the 1960s. In 1917, Cunard's facilities were co-opted by the War Office to build aircraft for the expanding Royal Flying Corps , later
4658-666: The Atlantic, Britannia reached Halifax in 12 days and 10 hours, averaging 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h), before proceeding to Boston. Such relatively brisk crossings quickly became the norm for the Cunard Line: during 1840–41, mean Liverpool–Halifax times for the quartet were 13 days 6 hours to Halifax and 11 days 4 hours homeward. Two larger ships were quickly ordered, one to replace the Columbia , which sank at Seal Island, Nova Scotia , in 1843 without loss of life. By 1845, steamship lines led by Cunard carried more saloon passengers than
4795-490: The Blue Riband. However, in 1938, under the command of Robert B. Irving , Queen Mary took back the Blue Riband in both directions, with average speeds of 30.99 knots (57.39 km/h; 35.66 mph) westbound and 31.69 knots (58.69 km/h; 36.47 mph) eastbound, records which stood until lost to United States in 1952. Arthur Joseph Davis of Messrs, Mewes and Davis, and Benjamin Wistar Morris designed
4932-478: The 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; she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952, when the new SS United States claimed it. With the outbreak of World War II , she
5069-535: The COVID-19 pandemic. The ship has since been named Queen Anne . The British Government started operating monthly mail brigs from Falmouth, Cornwall , to New York in 1756. These ships carried few non-governmental passengers and no cargo. In 1818, the Black Ball Line opened a regularly scheduled New York–Liverpool service with clipper ships , beginning an era when American sailing packets dominated
5206-560: The Cunard Line and the White Star Line were experiencing financial difficulties. David Kirkwood , MP for Clydebank where the unfinished Hull Number 534 had been sitting idle for two and a half years, made a passionate plea in the House of Commons for funding to finish the ship and restart the dormant British economy. The government offered Cunard a loan of £3 million to complete Hull Number 534 and an additional £5 million to build
5343-468: The Cunard brand and the company began Project Queen Mary to build a new ocean liner/cruise ship for the transatlantic route. Following the Carnival acquisition, Cunard Line introduced White Star Service to Queen Elizabeth 2 and Caronia , as a reference to the high standards of customer service expected of the company. The term is still today onboard its newer vessels. The company has also created
5480-534: The Cunarders, but not as fast. Cunard also ordered a new ship, Aquitania , capable of 24.0 knots (44.4 km/h), to complete the Liverpool mail fleet. Events prevented the expected competition between the three sets of superliners. White Star's Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, both White Star's Britannic and Cunard's Lusitania were war losses, and the three Hapag super-liners were handed over to
5617-545: The Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners. Cunard was forced to suspend construction on its own new superliner because of the Great Depression. In 1934, the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish Queen Mary and to build a second ship, Queen Elizabeth , on the condition that Cunard merged with the then-ailing White Star Line to form Cunard-White Star Line . Cunard owned two-thirds of
RMS Aurania - Misplaced Pages Continue
5754-806: The Hotel Queen Mary closed on 30 September 1992. The owners of the Spruce Goose , the Aero Club of Southern California, sold the plane to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in Oregon . The plane departed on barges on 2 October 1992. The Queen Mary remained open until 31 December 1992 when it closed. During this period, the ship was nominated and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Also
5891-720: The Long Gallery. In late August 1939, Queen Mary was on a return run from New York to Southampton. The international situation led to her being escorted by the battlecruiser HMS Hood . She arrived safely and set out again for New York on 1 September. By the time she arrived, war had been declared and she was ordered to remain in port alongside Normandie until further notice. In March 1940, Queen Mary and Normandie were joined in New York by Queen Mary 's new running mate Queen Elizabeth , fresh from her secret voyage from Clydebank. The three largest liners in
6028-630: The Mersey into Liverpool to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Cunard. The ships performed manoeuvres, including 180-degree turns, as the Red Arrows performed a fly-past. Just over a year later Queen Elizabeth returned to Liverpool under Captain Olsen to take part in the celebrations of the centenary of the Cunard Building on 2 June 2016. In September 2017, Cunard announced a fourth ship
6165-789: The North Atlantic saloon-passenger trade that lasted until the introduction of steamships . A Committee of Parliament decided in 1836 that to become more competitive, the mail packets operated by the Post Office should be replaced by private shipping companies. The Admiralty assumed responsibility for managing the contracts. The famed Arctic explorer Admiral Sir William Edward Parry was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837. Nova Scotians led by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe , lobbied for steam service to Halifax . On his arrival in London in May 1838, Howe discussed
6302-504: The North Atlantic, having carried 2,112,000 passengers over 3,792,227 miles (6,102,998 km). Under the command of Captain John Treasure Jones , who had been her captain since 1965, she sailed from Southampton for the last time on 31 October with 1,093 passengers and 806 crew. After a voyage around Cape Horn , she arrived in Long Beach on 9 December. Queen Elizabeth was withdrawn in 1968 and Queen Elizabeth 2 took over
6439-482: The Queen Mary Hyatt Hotel. By 1980, it had become apparent that the existing system was not working. The ship was losing millions each year for the city because the hotel, restaurants and museum were run by three separate concessionaires, while the city owned the vessel and operated guided tours. It was decided that a single operator with more experience in attractions was needed. Jack Wrather ,
6576-672: The Queens was in drydock. The ex-Cunard liner Berengaria was sold for scrap in 1938 after a series of fires. During the Second World War the Queens carried over two million servicemen and were credited by Churchill as helping to shorten the war by a year. All four of the large Cunard-White Star express liners, the two Queens, Aquitania and Mauretania survived, but many of the secondary ships were lost. Both Lancastria and Laconia were sunk with heavy loss of life. In 1947 Cunard purchased White Star's interest, and by 1949
6713-449: The RAF. Due to First World War losses, Cunard began a post-war rebuilding programme including eleven intermediate liners. It acquired the former Hapag Imperator (renamed Berengaria ) to replace the lost Lusitania as the running mate for Mauretania and Aquitania , and Southampton replaced Liverpool as the British destination for the three-ship express service. By 1926 Cunard's fleet
6850-595: The Sea opened, with a quarter of the planned exhibits completed. Within the decade, Cousteau's museum closed due to low ticket sales and the deaths of many of the fish that were housed in the museum. On 2 November 1972, the PSA Hotel Queen Mary opened its initial 150 guest rooms. Two years later, with all 400 rooms finished, PSA brought in Hyatt Hotels to manage the hotel, which operated from 1974 to 1980 as
6987-461: The Sun Deck in separate spaces previously used for first-class cabins and engineers' quarters. A post-war feature of the ship, the first-class cinema, was removed for kitchen space for the new Promenade Deck dining venues. The first-class lounge and smoking room were reconfigured and converted into banquet space. The second-class smoking room was subdivided into a wedding chapel and office space. On
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#17327936482927124-474: The Sun Deck, the elegant Verandah Grill was gutted and converted into a fast-food eatery, while a new upscale dining venue was created directly above it on Sports Deck, in space once used for crew quarters. The second-class lounges were expanded to the sides of the ship and used for banqueting. On R deck, the first-class dining room was reconfigured and subdivided into two banquet venues, the Royal Salon and
7261-541: The United States, to Carnival UK , the primary operating company of Carnival plc. As the UK-listed holding company of the group, Carnival plc had executive control of all Carnival Group activities in the UK, with the headquarters of all UK-based brands, including Cunard, in offices at Carnival House. In 2004, the 36-year-old QE2 was replaced on the North Atlantic by the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2 . Caronia
7398-514: The White Star Academy, an in-house programme for preparing new crew members for the service standards expected on Cunard ships. By 2001, Carnival was the largest cruise company, followed by Royal Caribbean and P&O Princess Cruises , which had recently separated from its parent, P&O. When Royal Caribbean and P&O Princess agreed to merge, Carnival countered with a hostile takeover bid for P&O Princess. Carnival rejected
7535-474: The Windsor Room. The second-class dining room was subdivided into kitchen storage and a crew mess hall, while the third-class dining room was initially used as storage and crew space. Also on R deck, the first-class Victorian Turkish bath complex, the 1930s equivalent to a spa, was removed. The second-class pool was removed and its space initially used for office space, while the first-class swimming pool
7672-524: The basis of weight, at a rate substantially higher than paid by the United States Post Office . Cunard's weekly New York mail sailings were reduced to one and White Star was awarded the third mail sailing. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday a liner from one of the three firms departed Liverpool with the mail for New York. To raise additional capital, in 1879 the privately held British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
7809-488: The battle of the Atlantic. Without their aid, the day of final victory must unquestionably have been postponed.” By the war's end, Queen Mary had carried over 800,000 troops and traveled over 600,000 miles across the world's oceans. After delivering war brides to Canada, Queen Mary made her fastest ever crossing, returning in early 1946 to Southampton in only three days, 22 hours and 42 minutes at an average speed of 31.9 knots. From September 1946 to July 1947, Queen Mary
7946-551: The bid of $ 3.45m/£1.2m from Long Beach, California surpassed the Japanese scrap merchants. Queen Mary was featured in the film Assault on a Queen (1966) starring Frank Sinatra . That August, Queen Mary made her fastest eastbound passage since August 1938, crossing in 4 days, 10 hours and 6 minutes at an average speed of 29.46 knots (54.56 km/h). Queen Mary was retired from service in 1967. On 27 September, 1967, Queen Mary completed her 1,001st and last crossing of
8083-441: The cargo business and focus solely on cruise ships. Cunard's cargo fleet was sold off between 1989 and 1991, with a single container ship, the second Atlantic Conveyor , remaining under Cunard ownership until 1996. In 1993, Cunard entered into a 10-year agreement to handle marketing, sales and reservations for the Crown Cruise Line , and its three vessels joined the Cunard fleet under the Cunard Crown banner. In 1994 Cunard purchased
8220-404: The company US$ 13 million. After Cunard reported a US$ 25 million loss in 1995, Trafalgar assigned a new CEO to the line, who concluded that the company had management issues. In 1996 the Norwegian conglomerate Kværner acquired Trafalgar House, and attempted to sell Cunard. When there were no takers, Kværner made substantial investments to turn around the company's tarnished reputation. In 1998,
8357-402: The company had dropped the White Star name and was renamed "Cunard Line". Also in 1947 the company commissioned five freighters and two cargo liners . Caronia , was completed in 1949 as a permanent cruise liner and Aquitania was retired the next year. Cunard was in an especially good position to take advantage of the increase in North Atlantic travel during the 1950s and the Queens were
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#17327936482928494-458: The cruise line conglomerate Carnival Corporation acquired 62% of Cunard for US$ 425 million. Coincidently, it was the same percentage that Cunard owned in Cunard-White Star Line and the company historian later stated the acquisition was in-part due to the success of James Cameron ’s blockbuster 1997 film, Titanic . The next year Carnival acquired the remaining 38% and stock for US$ 205 million. Ultimately, Carnival sued Kværner claiming that
8631-549: The delegation had no other choice but to report that 534 would be called Queen Mary . The name had already been given to the Clyde turbine steamer TS Queen Mary , so Cunard made an arrangement with its owners and this older ship was renamed Queen Mary II . Following her launch, workers began fitting out the Queen Mary. She received 24 Yarrow boilers in four boiler rooms and four Parsons turbines in two engine rooms. The boilers delivered 400 pounds per square inch (28 bar) steam at 700 °F (371 °C), which provided
8768-477: The duration of the war. The woodwork in the staterooms, the cabin-class dining room, and other public areas were covered with leather. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were the largest and fastest troopships involved in the war, often carrying as many as 15,000 men in a single voyage, and often travelling out of convoy and without escort. The Queens high speed and zigzag courses made it virtually impossible for U-boats to catch them, although one attempted to attack
8905-422: The enterprise with his fellow Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard (1787–1865), a shipowner who was also visiting London on business. Cunard and Howe were associates and Howe also owed Cunard £300 (equivalent to £34,119 in 2023). Cunard returned to Halifax to raise capital, and Howe continued to lobby the British government. The Rebellions of 1837–1838 were ongoing and London realised that the proposed Halifax service
9042-447: The equally conservative Charles MacIver assumed Cunard's role. The firm retained its reluctance about change and was overtaken by competitors that more quickly adopted new technology. In 1866 Inman started to build screw propelled express liners that matched Cunard's premier unit, Scotia . Cunard responded with its first high speed screw propellered steamer, Russia which was followed by two larger editions. In 1871 both companies faced
9179-404: The ex-White Star Majestic was sold when Hull Number 534, now named Queen Mary , replaced her in the express mail service. Queen Mary reached 30.99 knots (57.39 km/h) on her 1938 Blue Riband voyage. Cunard-White Star started construction on Queen Elizabeth , and a smaller ship, the second Mauretania , joined the fleet and could also be used on the Atlantic run when one of
9316-451: The first British independent airline to operate pure jet airliners , as a result of a £6 million order for two new Boeing 707–420 passenger aircraft. The order had been placed (including an option on a third aircraft) in expectation of being granted traffic rights for transatlantic scheduled services. The airline took delivery of its first Bristol Britannia aircraft on 5 April 1960 (on lease from Cubana ). Cunard hoped to capture
9453-456: The first ship was ready, they formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company with initial capital of £270,000, later increased to £300,000 (£34,214,789 in 2023). Cunard supplied £55,000. Burns supervised ship construction, MacIver was responsible for day-to-day operations, and Cunard was the "first among equals" in the management structure. When MacIver died in 1845, his younger brother Charles assumed his responsibilities for
9590-419: The first steamship line to carry steerage passengers. Both of the newcomers suffered major disasters in 1854. The next year, Cunard put pressure on Collins by commissioning its first iron-hulled paddler, Persia . That pressure may well have been a factor in a second major disaster suffered by the Collins Line, the loss of its steamer Pacific . Pacific sailed out of Liverpool just a few days before Persia
9727-445: The four ocean-going steamers of the Britannia Class , departed Liverpool. By coincidence, the steamer's departure had patriotic significance on both sides of the Atlantic: she was named Britannia , and sailed on 4 July. Even on her maiden voyage, however, her performance indicated that the new era she heralded would be much more beneficial for Britain than the US. At a time when the typical packet ship might take several weeks to cross
9864-412: The hotel for 30 years. When they finally succeeded, they also acquired Queen Mary. This was never marketed as a Disney property. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, Queen Mary struggled financially. Disney pinned their hopes for turning the attraction around on Port Disney , a huge planned resort on the adjacent docks. It was to include an attraction known as DisneySea , a theme park celebrating
10001-411: The hotel reopened partially on 5 March with 125 rooms and the banquet facilities, with the remainder of the rooms coming online on 30 April. In 1995, RMS Foundation's lease was extended to twenty years, while the scope of the lease was reduced to operation of the ship. A new company, Queen's Seaport Development, Inc. (QSDI), was established in 1995 to control the real estate adjacent to the vessel. The dome
10138-623: The idea of selling Cunard to resolve antitrust issues with the acquisition. European and US regulators approved the merger without requiring Cunard's sale. After the merger was completed, Carnival moved Cunard's headquarters to the offices of Princess Cruises in Santa Clarita, California , so that administrative, financial and technology services could be combined. Carnival House opened in Southampton in 2009, and executive control of Cunard Line transferred from Carnival Corporation in
10275-400: The introduction of jet airliners in 1958, most of the conventional Atlantic liners were gone. Mauretania was retired in 1965, Queen Mary and Caronia in 1967, and Queen Elizabeth in 1968. Two of the new intermediate liners were sold by 1970 and the other two were converted to cruise ships . All Cunard ships flew both the Cunard and White Star Line house flags until 4 November 1968, when
10412-485: The last White Star ship, Nomadic was withdrawn from service. After this, the White Star flag was no longer flown and all remnants of both White Star Line and Cunard-White Star Line were retired. In 1971, when the line was purchased by the conglomerate Trafalgar House , Cunard operated cargo and passenger ships, hotels and resorts. Its cargo fleet consisted of 42 ships in service, with 20 on order. The flagship of
10549-470: The last paddle steamer to win the Blue Riband. Inman carried more passengers because of its success in the immigrant trade. To compete, in May 1863 Cunard started a secondary Liverpool–New York service with iron-hulled screw steamers that catered for steerage passengers. Beginning with China , the line also replaced the last three wooden paddlers on the New York mail service with iron screw steamers that only carried saloon passengers. When Cunard died in 1865,
10686-559: The late 1860s several German firms commissioned liners that were almost as fast as the British mail steamers from Liverpool. In 1897 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of Norddeutscher Lloyd raised the Blue Riband to 22.3 knots (41.3 km/h), and was followed by a succession of German record-breakers. Rather than match the new German speedsters, White Star – a rival which Cunard line would merge with – commissioned four very profitable Big Four ocean liners of more moderate speed for its secondary Liverpool–New York service. In 1902 White Star joined
10823-472: The latter half of the 1940s and well into the 1950s. They proved highly profitable for Cunard (as the company was renamed on 31 December 1949). On 1 January 1949, Queen Mary ran aground off Cherbourg , France. She was refloated the next day and returned to service. In 1952, Queen Mary lost the Blue Riband she held for 14 years to the SS United States during her maiden voyage. In 1958,
10960-449: The latter's aircraft in the event of capacity shortfalls. This maximised combined fleet use. The joint fleet use agreement did not cover Cunard Eagle's European scheduled, trooping and charter operations. However, the joint venture was not successful for Cunard and lasted only until 1966, when BOAC bought out Cunard's share. Cunard also sold a majority holding in the remainder of Cunard Eagle back to its founder in 1963. Within ten years of
11097-669: The licence was revoked in November 1961 after main competitor, state-owned BOAC , appealed to Aviation Minister Peter Thorneycroft . On 5 May 1962, the airline's first 707 inaugurated scheduled jet services from London Heathrow to Bermuda and Nassau. The new jet service – marketed as the Cunarder Jet in the UK and as the Londoner in the western hemisphere – replaced the earlier Britannia operation on this route. Cunard Eagle succeeded in extending this service to Miami despite
11234-735: The light cruiser HMS Curacoa off the Irish coast with a loss of 338 lives. Queen Mary was carrying thousands of Americans of the 29th Infantry Division to join the Allied forces in Europe. Due to the risk of U-boat attacks, Queen Mary was under orders not to stop under any circumstances and steamed onward with a fractured stem . Some sources claim that hours later, the convoy's lead escort, consisting of Bramham and one other ship, returned to rescue 99 survivors of Curacoa 's crew of 437, including her captain John W. Boutwood. This claim
11371-507: The loss of its original transatlantic scheduled licence and BOAC's claim that there was insufficient traffic to warrant a direct service from the UK. A load factor of 56% was achieved at the outset. Inauguration of the first British through-plane service between London and Miami also helped Cunard Eagle increase utilisation of its 707s. BOAC countered Eagle's move to establish itself as a full-fledged scheduled transatlantic competitor on its Heathrow–JFK flagship route by forming BOAC-Cunard as
11508-540: The merger, and, on 10 May 1934, the companies created a third company, Cunard-White Star Line , to manage their newly combined fleet. Work on 534 resumed immediately with a launch scheduled for 1934. Prior to the ship's launch, the River Clyde had to be specifically deepened and widened to cope with her size, undertaken by the engineer D. Alan Stevenson . On 26 September 1934, Her Majesty Queen Mary launched Hull 534 as RMS Queen Mary . Eighteen drag chains slowed
11645-501: The middle 1960s. By 1965, the entire Cunard fleet was operating at a loss. Hoping to continue financing Queen Elizabeth 2 , which was under construction at Brown's shipyard , Cunard mortgaged the majority of the fleet. Due to a combination of age, lack of public interest, inefficiency in a new market, and the damaging after-effects of the national seamen's strike, Cunard announced that both Queens would be retired from service and sold off. Many offers for Queen Mary were submitted, and
11782-496: The new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947; the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950. Upon the end of the Second World War, Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line. By the mid-1950s, it operated 12 ships to the United States and Canada. After 1958, transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable because of the introduction of jet airliners . Cunard undertook
11919-399: The next 35 years. (For more detail of the first investors in the Cunard Line and also the early life of Charles MacIver, see Liverpool Nautical Research Society's Second Merseyside Maritime History , pp. 33–37 1991.) In May 1840 the coastal paddle steamer Unicorn made the company's first voyage to Halifax to begin the supplementary service to Montreal. Two months later the first of
12056-541: The other pioneer transatlantic steamship company, did not submit a tender, the St George Steam Packet Company , owner of Sirius , bid £45,000 for a monthly Cork–Halifax service and £65,000 for a monthly Cork–Halifax–New York service. The Admiralty rejected both tenders because neither bid offered to begin services early enough. Cunard, who was back in Halifax, unfortunately did not know of
12193-502: The passenger fleet was the two-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2 . The fleet also included the remaining two intermediate liners from the 1950s, plus two purpose-built cruise ships on order. Trafalgar acquired two additional cruise ships and disposed of the intermediate liners and most of the cargo fleet. During the Falklands War , QE2 and Cunard Countess were chartered as troopships while Cunard's container ship Atlantic Conveyor
12330-665: The plan had been changed to a dual-purpose 55,000 GRT ship designed to cruise in the off-season. The new vessel design was known as Q4. Ultimately, this ship came into service in 1969 as the 70,300 GRT Queen Elizabeth 2 . Cunard attempted to address the challenge presented by jet airliners by diversifying its business into air travel. In March 1960, Cunard bought a 60% shareholding in British Eagle , an independent (non-government owned) airline, for £30 million, and changed its name to Cunard Eagle Airways . The support from this new shareholder enabled Cunard Eagle to become
12467-559: The public, was installed in a huge geodesic dome adjacent to the liner in 1983, attracting increased attendance. Wrather Port Properties operated the entire attraction after his death in 1984 until 1988, when his holdings were bought by the Walt Disney Company . Wrather had built the Disneyland Hotel in 1955, when Walt Disney had insufficient funds to construct the hotel himself. Disney had been trying to buy
12604-406: The remainder of the vessel into a hotel. In 1969, it was reported that the hotel would be operated by Sky Chefs, the catering and hospitality division of American Airlines . Diners Club Queen Mary dissolved and vacated the ship in 1970 after their parent company, Diners Club International, was sold, and a change in corporate direction was mandated during the conversion process. Specialty Restaurants,
12741-413: The removal of all the boiler rooms, the forward engine room, both turbo generator rooms, the ship stabilisers and the water softening plant. The ship's empty fuel tanks were filled with local mud to keep the ship's centre of gravity and draft at the correct levels, as these critical factors had been affected by the removal of the various components and structure. Only the aft engine room and "shaft alley", at
12878-478: The rights to the name of the Royal Viking Line and its Royal Viking Sun . The rest of Royal Viking Line's fleet stayed with the line's owner, Norwegian Cruise Line . By the mid-1990s Cunard was ailing. The company was embarrassed in late 1994 when Queen Elizabeth 2 experienced numerous defects during the first voyage of the season because of unfinished renovation work. Claims from passengers cost
13015-558: The sailing packets. Three years later, the British Government increased the annual subsidy to £156,000 so that Cunard could double its frequency. Four additional wooden paddlers were ordered and alternate sailings were direct to New York instead of the Halifax–Boston route. The sailing packet lines were now reduced to the immigrant trade. From the beginning Cunard's ships used the line's distinctive red funnel with two or three narrow black bands and black top. It appears that Robert Napier
13152-500: The same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RMS_Aurania&oldid=1062294231 " Categories : Set index articles on ships Ship names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
13289-481: The service was rebid and Cunard was awarded a seven-year contract for two weekly New York mail services at £70,000 per annum. Inman was awarded a seven-year contract for the third weekly New York service at £35,000 per year. The Panic of 1873 started a five-year shipping depression that strained the finances of all of the Atlantic competitors. In 1876 the mail contracts expired and the Post Office ended both Cunard's and Inman's subsidies. The new contracts were paid on
13426-551: The ship down the slipway , which checked the liner's progress into the River Clyde. The ship was named after Mary of Teck . Until her launch, the name was a closely guarded secret. Cunard intended to name the ship Victoria , in keeping with company tradition of giving its ships names ending in "ia", but when company representatives asked King George V 's permission to name the ocean liner after Britain's "greatest queen", he said his wife, Mary, would be delighted. Accordingly,
13563-399: The ship today. On 8 May 1971, Queen Mary opened her doors to tourists. Initially, only portions of the ship were open to the public as Specialty Restaurants had yet to open its dining venues and PSA had not completed work converting the ship's original First Class staterooms into the hotel. As a result, the ship was open only on weekends. On 11 December 1971, Jacques Cousteau 's Museum of
13700-607: The ship's hull, superstructure, and funnels were painted navy grey. As a result of her new colour, and in combination with her great speed, she became known as the "Grey Ghost". To protect against magnetic mines , a degaussing coil was fitted around the outside of the hull. Inside, stateroom furniture and decoration were removed and replaced with triple-tiered (fixed) wooden bunks, which were later replaced by "standee" (fold-up) bunks. A total of 6 miles (10 km) of carpet, 220 cases of china, crystal and silver services, tapestries, and paintings were removed and stored in warehouses for
13837-557: The ship. On 25 May 1944, U-853 spotted Queen Mary and submerged to attack, but the ship outran the U-boat before it could do so. Because of their importance to the war effort, Adolf Hitler offered a bounty of 1 million Reichsmarks and Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross , Germany's highest military honor, to any U-boat captain that sank either ship. On 2 October 1942, Queen Mary accidentally sank one of her escort ships, slicing through
13974-652: The shipbuilding race. White Star Line , Cunard's chief British rival, began construction on the 80,000-ton Oceanic in 1928, while Cunard planned a 75,000-ton unnamed ship. Cunard's Chief Naval Architect, George Mcleod Paterson, was the principal designer. Construction 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. Work halted in December 1931 due to
14111-491: The ships were in worse condition than represented and Kværner agreed to refund US$ 50 million to Carnival. Each of Carnival's cruise lines is designed to appeal to a different market, and Carnival was interested in rebuilding Cunard as a luxury brand trading on its British traditions. Under the slogan "Advancing Civilization Since 1840", Cunard's advertising campaign sought to emphasise the elegance and mystique of ocean travel. Only Queen Elizabeth 2 and Caronia continued under
14248-435: The stern of the ship, was spared. The remaining space was used for storage or office space. One problem that arose during the conversion was a dispute between land-based and maritime unions over conversion jobs. The United States Coast Guard had the final say. Queen Mary was deemed a building, since most of her propellers had been removed and her machinery gutted. The ship was also repainted with its red water level paint at
14385-513: The tender until after the deadline. He returned to London and started negotiations with Admiral Parry, who was Cunard's good friend from when Parry was a young officer stationed in Halifax 20 years earlier. Cunard offered Parry a fortnightly service beginning in May 1840. While Cunard did not then own a steamship, he had been an investor in an earlier steamship venture, Royal William , and owned coal mines in Nova Scotia. Cunard's major backer
14522-399: 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 operating at a loss. After several years of decreased profits, Cunard officially retired the Queen Mary from service in 1967. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to Long Beach, California , United States, where she
14659-573: The transatlantic route in 1969. Queen Mary is permanently moored in Long Beach as a tourist attraction , hotel, museum and event facility. Queen Mary , bought by Long Beach in 1967, was converted from a seafaring vessel to a floating hotel. The plan included clearing almost every area of the ship below "C" deck (called "R" deck after 1950, to lessen passenger confusion, as the restaurants were located on "R" deck) to make way for Jacques Cousteau 's new Living Sea Museum. This increased museum space to 400,000 square feet (37,000 m ). It required
14796-425: The ultramodern French liner. Nonetheless Queen Mary proved to be the more popular vessel than her rival, in terms of passengers carried. In August 1936, Queen Mary captured the Blue Riband from Normandie , with average speeds of 30.14 knots (55.82 km/h; 34.68 mph) westbound and 30.63 knots (56.73 km/h; 35.25 mph) eastbound. In 1937, Normandie received a new set of propellers and reclaimed
14933-580: The vessel registry of all three of its ships in service to Hamilton, Bermuda , the first time in the 171-year history of the company that it had no ships registered in the United Kingdom. The captains of ships registered in Bermuda can marry couples at sea, whereas those of UK-registered ships cannot, and weddings at sea are a lucrative market. On 25 May 2015, the three Cunard ships – Queen Mary 2 , Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria – sailed up
15070-592: The vessel's progress en route. As an alternative to the main dining room, Queen Mary featured a separate cabin class Verandah Grill on the Sun Deck at the upper aft of the ship. The Verandah Grill was an exclusive à la carte restaurant with a capacity of approximately eighty passengers and converted to the Starlight Club at night. Also on board was the Observation Bar, an Art Deco-styled lounge with wide ocean views. Woods from different regions of
15207-555: The war, Queen Mary carried British Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic three times for meetings with fellow Allied forces officials. He was listed on the passenger manifests as "Colonel Warden". On one crossing in 1943, Churchill and his staff planned the Normandy Invasion and he signed the D-Day Declaration aboard. Churchill later stated that the Queens, "challenged the fury of Hitlerism in
15344-605: The well-capitalized American combine, the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM), which owned the American Line , including the old Inman Line, and other lines. IMM also had trade agreements with Hamburg America and Norddeutscher Lloyd. Negotiators approached Cunard's management in late 1901 and early 1902, but did not succeed in drawing the Cunard Line into IMM, then being formed with support of financier J. P. Morgan. British prestige
15481-459: The world sat idle for some time until the Allied commanders decided that all three ships could be used as troopships. Normandie was destroyed by fire during her conversion. Queen Mary left New York for Sydney , Australia, in March 1940, where she, along with several other liners, was converted into a troopship to carry Australian and New Zealand soldiers to the United Kingdom. In the conversion,
15618-711: The world's largest passenger ship. Her rival Normandie , was 1,029 ft (313.6 m) LOA, but only measured 79,280 GRT. However, CGT later modified the Normandie to increase her size to 83,243 GRT, reclaiming the title of world's largest passenger ship. Completion of Queen Mary ultimately took 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 years and cost 3.5 million pounds sterling , then equal to $ 17.5 million (equivalent to $ 310 million in 2023). Commanded by Sir Edgar Britten , Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton on 27 May 1936. She sailed at high speed for most of her maiden voyage to New York until heavy fog forced
15755-588: The world's oceans. The plans eventually fell through; in 1992 Disney gave up the lease on the ship to focus on building what would become Disney California Adventure Park . The DisneySea concept was recycled a decade later in Japan as Tokyo DisneySea , with a recreated ocean liner resembling Queen Mary named the SS Columbia as the centrepiece of the American Waterfront area. With Disney gone,
15892-433: The world, outdoor paddle tennis courts, and dog kennels. The largest room on board was the cabin class main dining room (grand salon), spanning three stories in height and anchored by wide columns. The ship had many air-conditioned public rooms on board. The cabin-class swimming pool facility spanned over two decks in height. This was the first ocean liner to be equipped with her own Jewish prayer room – part of
16029-556: Was Robert Napier whose Robert Napier and Sons was the Royal Navy's supplier of steam engines. He also had the strong backing of Nova Scotian political leaders at the time when London needed to rebuild support in British North America after the rebellion. Over Great Western's protests, in May 1839 Parry accepted Cunard's tender of £55,000 for a three-ship Liverpool–Halifax service with an extension to Boston and
16166-504: 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, until it took back operational control in 2021. With Weimar Germany launching Bremen and Europa into service, the United Kingdom and its shipping companies did not want to be left behind in
16303-426: Was also important for the military. That November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic monthly mail service to Halifax beginning in April 1839 using steamships with 300 horsepower. The Great Western Steamship Company , which had opened its pioneer Bristol–New York service earlier that year, bid £45,000 for a monthly Bristol–Halifax–New York service using three ships of 450 horsepower. While British American ,
16440-450: Was at its usual height and then, swoom! Down, over, and forward she would pitch." It was calculated later that the ship rolled 52 degrees, and would have capsized had she rolled another three degrees. From 25 to 30 July 1943, Queen Mary carried 15,740 soldiers and 943 crew (total 16,683), a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel. This was only possible in summer as passengers had to sleep on deck. During
16577-495: Was at stake. The British Government provided Cunard with an annual subsidy of £150,000 plus a low interest loan of £2.5 million (equivalent to £340 million in 2023), to pay for the construction of the two superliners, the Blue Riband winners Lusitania and Mauretania , capable of 26.0 knots (48.2 km/h). In 1903 the firm started a Fiume –New York service with calls at Italian ports and Gibraltar. The next year Cunard commissioned two ships to compete directly with
16714-605: Was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company in Glasgow with shipowner Sir George Burns together with Robert Napier , the famous Scottish steamship engine designer and builder, to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held
16851-429: Was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers during the conflict. On one voyage in 1943, she carried over 16,600 people, still the record for the most people on one vessel at the same time. Following the war, Queen Mary returned to passenger service and, along with Queen Elizabeth, commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. The pair dominated
16988-461: Was critical of Trafalgar's management of Cunard and their failure to correct Queen Elizabeth 2' s mechanical problems. In 1984, the Commission ruled in favour of the merger, but Trafalgar decided against proceeding. In 1988, Cunard acquired Ellerman Lines and its small fleet of cargo vessels, organising the business as Cunard-Ellerman, however, only a few years later, Cunard decided to abandon
17125-558: Was due to depart on her maiden voyage, and was never seen again; it was widely assumed at the time that the captain had pushed his ship to the limit to stay ahead of the new Cunarder, and had likely collided with an iceberg during what was a particularly severe winter in the North Atlantic. A few months later Persia inflicted a further blow to the Collins Line, regaining the Blue Riband with a Liverpool–New York voyage of 9 days 16 hours, averaging 13.11 knots (24.28 km/h). During
17262-552: Was larger than before the war, and White Star was in decline, having been sold by IMM. Despite the dramatic reduction in North Atlantic passengers caused by the shipping depression beginning in 1929, the Germans, Italians and the French commissioned new "ships of state" prestige liners. The German Bremen took the Blue Riband at 27.8 knots (51.5 km/h) in 1933, the Italian Rex recorded 28.9 knots (53.5 km/h) on
17399-546: Was one of the significant factors in the firm's early success. Both of the first transatlantic lines failed after major accidents: the British and American line collapsed after the President foundered in a gale, and the Great Western Steamship Company failed after Great Britain stranded because of a navigation error. Cunard's orders to his masters were, "Your ship is loaded, take her; speed
17536-435: Was open for viewing by hotel guests and visitors. Because of modern safety codes and the compromised structural soundness of the area directly below, the swimming pool could not be used for swimming after the conversion, although it was filled with water until the late 1980s. Today the pool can only be seen on guided tours and from the first class entrance on R deck. No second-class, third-class or crew cabins remain intact aboard
17673-478: Was ordered for the fleet. It would be a modified hull platform of Holland America's Pinnacle class Koningsdam . The ship was original supposed to be delivered in 2022, but would eventually be pushed back 2 years. At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Cunard cut short three world-cruises, with the passengers being flown home. The White Star Line flag is raised on all current Cunard ships and
17810-411: Was refitted for passenger service, adding air conditioning and upgrading her berth configuration to 711 first class (formerly called cabin class), 707 cabin class (formerly tourist class) and 577 tourist class (formerly third class) passengers. Following their refit, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth dominated the transatlantic passenger trade as Cunard White Star's two-ship weekly express service through
17947-483: Was reorganised as a public stock corporation, the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd . Under Cunard's new chairman, John Burns (1839–1900), son of one of the firm's original founders, Cunard commissioned four steel-hulled express liners beginning with Servia of 1881, the first passenger liner with electric lighting throughout. In 1884, Cunard purchased the almost new Blue Riband winner Oregon from
18084-410: Was replaced on the transatlantic runs by Queen Mary 2 ( QM2 ). The line also operates Queen Victoria ( QV ) and Queen Elizabeth ( QE ). As of 2022, Cunard is the only shipping company to still operate a scheduled passenger service between Europe and North America. In 2017, Cunard announced a fourth ship would join its fleet. This was initially scheduled for 2022 but delayed until 2024 due to
18221-402: Was responsible for this feature. His shipyard in Glasgow used this combination previously in 1830 on Thomas Assheton Smith 's private steam yacht "Menai". The renovation of her model by Glasgow Museum of Transport revealed that she had vermilion funnels with black bands and black top. The line also adopted a naming convention that utilised words ending in "IA". Cunard's reputation for safety
18358-597: Was sold and Queen Elizabeth 2 continued to cruise until she was retired in 2008. In 2007 Cunard added Queen Victoria , a cruise ship of the Vista class originally designed for Holland America Line . To reinforce Cunard traditions, Queen Victoria has a small museum on board. Cunard commissioned a second Vista class cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth , in 2010. In 2010, Cunard appointed its first female commander, Captain Inger Klein Olsen. In 2011, Cunard changed
18495-615: Was sunk by an Exocet missile. Cunard acquired the Norwegian America Line in 1983, with two classic ocean liner /cruise ships. Also in 1983, the Trafalgar attempted a hostile takeover of P&O , another large passenger and cargo shipping line, which was founded three years before Cunard. P&O objected and forced the issue to the British Monopolies and Mergers Commission . In their filing, P&O
18632-533: Was themed in the fashion of early-19th century sailing ships. The famed and elegant Observation Bar was redecorated as a western-themed bar. The smaller first-class public rooms, such as the Drawing Room, Library, Lecture Room and the Music Studio, were stripped of most of their fittings and converted to commercial use. This markedly expanded retail space on the ship. Two more shopping malls were built on
18769-542: Was used extensively as a soundstage for film and television by taking advantage of the adaptable interior space that was larger than any sound stage in the Los Angeles area. In 1998, the city of Long Beach extended the QSDI lease to 66 years. Carnival Cruises repurposed a portion of the dome as a passenger terminal in 2001. The California State Lands Commission also issued a report in response to citizens' concerns about
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