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181-702: 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 the British response to

362-810: A cargo liner or cargo-passenger liner. The advent of the Jet Age and the decline in transoceanic ship service brought about a gradual transition from passenger ships to modern cruise ships as a means of transportation. In order for ocean liners to remain profitable, cruise lines modified some of them to operate on cruise routes, such as the SS ; France . Certain characteristics of older ocean liners made them unsuitable for cruising, such as high fuel consumption, deep draught preventing them from entering shallow ports, and cabins (often windowless) designed to maximize passenger numbers rather than comfort. The Italian Line 's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello ,

543-524: A commerce raider . The torpedoing and sinking of Lusitania on 7 May 1915 caused the loss of 128 American lives at a time when the United States was still neutral. Although other factors came into play, the loss of American lives in the sinking strongly pushed the United States to favour the Allied Powers and facilitated the country's entry into the war. The losses of the liners owned by

724-410: 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

905-452: 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

1086-520: A U-boat when tugs tried to tow her to safety. Out of all the innovative and glamorous inter-war superliners, only the Cunard Queens and Europa would survive the war. After the war, some ships were again transferred from the defeated nations to the winning nations as war reparations. This was the case of the Europa , which was ceded to France and renamed Liberté . The United States government

1267-544: A competition between world powers of the time, especially between the United Kingdom , the German Empire , and to a lesser extent France . Once the dominant form of travel between continents, ocean liners were rendered largely obsolete by the emergence of long-distance aircraft after World War II . Advances in automobile and railway technology also played a role. After Queen Elizabeth 2 was retired in 2008,

1448-500: A conflict rich in events involving liners. From the start of the conflict, German liners were requisitioned and many were turned into barracks ships. It was in the course of this activity that the Bremen caught fire while under conversion for Operation Sea Lion and was scrapped in 1941. During the conflict, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary provided distinguished service as troopships. Many liners were sunk with great loss of life; in

1629-513: A cruise ship over the years and was in active service for Cruise & Maritime Voyages until operations ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In August, 2021 she was purchased by Brock Pierce to be transformed into a hotel along with MV  Funchal . These plans were ultimately abandoned and the ship was again made available for sale, never having left port in Rotterdam. Astoria

1810-531: A dry berthed luxury hotel on Bintan Island , Indonesia. Post-war ocean liners still existent include MV  Astoria (1948), United States (1952), MV Brazil Maru (1954), Rotterdam (1958), MV  Funchal (1961), MS  Ancerville (1962), Queen Elizabeth 2 (1967), and Queen Mary 2 (2003). Out of these eight ocean liners, only one is still active and three of them have since been preserved. The Rotterdam has been moored in Rotterdam as

1991-445: A few former ocean liners were still in existence; some, like SS  Norway , were sailing as cruise ships while others, like Queen Mary , were preserved as museums , or laid up at pier side like SS United States . After the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, the only ocean liner in service was Queen Mary 2 , built in 2003–04, used for both point-to-point line voyages and for cruises. A proposed and planned ocean liner,

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2172-458: A fixed schedule, so must be faster and built to withstand the rough seas and adverse conditions encountered on long voyages across the open ocean. To protect against large waves they usually have a higher hull and promenade deck with higher positioning of lifeboats (the height above water called the freeboard ), as well as a longer bow than a cruise ship. Additionally, for additional strength they are often designed with thicker hull plating than

2353-461: 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

2534-425: A large portion of the population of cities and built hulls, machines, furnitures and lifeboats. Among the other well-known British shipyards were Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson , the builder of RMS  Mauretania , and John Brown & Company , builders of RMS  Lusitania , RMS  Aquitania , RMS  Queen Mary , Queen Elizabeth , and Queen Elizabeth 2 . Germany had many shipyards on

2715-607: 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

2896-416: 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

3077-817: A mistress. Mary married Prince George, Duke of York, in London on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace . The couple lived in York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, and in apartments in St James's Palace. York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but it was a favourite of George, who liked a relatively simple life. They had six children: Edward , Albert , Mary , Henry , George , and John . The children were put into

3258-583: A museum and hotel since 2008, while the Queen Elizabeth 2 has been a floating luxury hotel and museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai since 2018. The Ancerville was refurbished as a hotel for use at the Sea World development in Shenzhen, China in 1984. The first of these, Astoria (originally the ocean liner MS Stockholm, which collided with Andrea Doria in 1956 ) has been rebuilt and refitted as

3439-650: A museum ship, since 1961. Queen Mary (1934) was preserved in 1967 after her retirement, and became a museum/hotel in Long Beach, California . In the 1970s, SS  Great Britain (1843) was also preserved, and now resides in Bristol , England as another museum. The latest ship to undergo preservation is MV  Doulos (1914). While originally being a cargo ship, it served as the Italian ocean liner Franca C. for Costa Lines from 1952 to 1959, and in 2010 it became

3620-462: 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

3801-572: 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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3982-537: A screw propeller was SS  Great Britain , a creation of Brunel. Her career was disastrous and short. She was run aground and stranded at Dundrum Bay in 1846. In 1884, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship, and coal hulk until she was scuttled in 1937. The American company Collins Line took a different approach. It equipped its ships with cold rooms, heating systems, and various other innovations but

4163-505: A set route are called "line voyages" and vessels (passenger or cargo) trading on these routes to a timetable are called liners. The alternative to liner trade is "tramping" whereby vessels are notified on an ad hoc basis as to the availability of a cargo to be transported. (In older usage, "liner" also referred to ships of the line , that is, line-of-battle ships, but that usage is now rare.) The term "ocean liner" has come to be used interchangeably with "passenger liner", although it can refer to

4344-414: 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

4525-526: A speed of 27 knots. Their records seemed unbeatable, and most shipping companies abandoned the race for speed in favor of size, luxury, and safety. The advent of ships with diesel engines, and of those whose engines were oil-burning, such as the Bremen , in the early 1930s, relaunched the race for the Blue Riband . The Normandie won it in 1935 before being snatched by RMS  Queen Mary in 1938. It

4706-557: A steamship was capable of crossing the ocean, the public was not yet prepared to trust such means of travel on the open sea, and, in 1820, the steam engine was removed from the vessel. Work on this technology continued and a new step was taken in 1833. Royal William managed to cross the Atlantic by using steam power on most of the voyage; sail was used only when the boilers were cleaned. There were still many skeptics, and in 1836, scientific writer Dionysius Lardner declared that: As

4887-471: A swimming pool. In the 1920s, SS  Paris was the first liner to offer a movie theatre. The British and the German shipyards were the most famed in shipbuilding during the great era of ocean liners. In Ireland, Harland & Wolff shipyard of Belfast were particularly innovative and succeeded in winning the trust of many shipping companies, such as White Star Line . These gigantic shipyards employed

5068-452: A tonnage of 79,280. In 1940, RMS  Queen Elizabeth raised the record of size to a tonnage of 83,673. She was the largest passenger ship ever constructed until 1997. In 2003, RMS  Queen Mary 2 became the largest, at 149,215 GT. In the early 1840s, the average speed of liners was less than 10 knots (a crossing of the Atlantic thus took about 12 days or more). In the 1870s, the average speed of liners increased to around 15 knots

5249-564: A trip to Spain for the wedding of King Alfonso XIII to Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg , at which the bride and groom narrowly avoided assassination. Only a week after returning to Britain, Mary and George went to Norway for the coronation of George's brother-in-law and sister, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud . On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died . Mary's husband ascended the throne and she became queen consort . When her husband asked her to drop one of her two official names, Victoria Mary, she chose to be called Mary, preferring not to be known by

5430-429: Is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships ). The Queen Mary 2 is the only ocean liner still in service to this day. The category does not include ferries or other vessels engaged in short-sea trading, nor dedicated cruise ships where

5611-514: 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

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5792-481: Is found on cruise ships, as well as a deeper draft for greater stability, and have large capacities for fuel, food, and other consumables on long voyages. On an ocean liner, the captain's tower ( bridge ) is usually positioned on the upper deck for increased visibility. The first ocean liners were built in the mid-19th century. Technological innovations such as the steam engine, Diesel engine and steel hull allowed larger and faster liners to be built, giving rise to

5973-637: The Avro Lancaster and Boeing B-29 Superfortress , with their range and massive carrying capacity, were natural prototypes for post-war next-generation airliners . Jet engine technology also accelerated due to wartime development of jet aircraft . In 1953, the De Havilland Comet became the first commercial jet airliner; the Sud Aviation Caravelle , Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 followed, and much long-distance travel

6154-520: The Big Four of the White Star Line were the first liners to surpass Great Eastern as the largest passenger ships . Ultimately their owner was American (as mentioned above, White Star Line had been absorbed into J. P. Morgan's trust). Faced with this major competition, the British government contributed financially to Cunard Line's construction of two liners of unmatched size and speed, under

6335-540: 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

6516-700: The Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, which has built ships including RMS  Queen Mary 2 . France also had major shipyards on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea . Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 1867 – 24 March 1953) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions , and Empress of India , from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936 as

6697-517: The Dominion governments, that he could not remain king and marry Simpson, Edward abdicated . Though loyal and supportive of her son, Mary could not comprehend why Edward would neglect his royal duties in favour of his personal feelings. Simpson had been presented formally to both King George V and Queen Mary at court, but Mary later refused to meet her either in public or privately. She saw it as her duty to provide moral support for her second son,

6878-542: The Falkland Islands to recover the Falklands from the invading Argentine forces . The P&O educational cruise ship and former British India Steam Navigation Company liner Uganda was requisitioned as a hospital ship, and served after the war as a troopship until the RAF Mount Pleasant station was built at Stanley , which could handle trooping flights. By the first decade of the 21st century, only

7059-523: The Far East , India, Australia, etc. The birth of the concept of international water and the lack of any claim to it simplified navigation. In 1818, the Black Ball Line , with a fleet of sailing ships, offered the first regular passenger service with emphasis on passenger comfort, from England to the United States. In 1807, Robert Fulton succeeded in applying steam engines to ships. He built

7240-487: The First World War , his ill health, and major political changes arising from the aftermath of the war . After George's death in 1936, she became queen mother when her eldest son, Edward VIII , ascended the throne. To her dismay, he abdicated later the same year in order to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson . She supported her second son, George VI , until his death in 1952. Mary died

7421-610: 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

RMS Queen Mary - Misplaced Pages Continue

7602-449: 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

7783-477: 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

7964-719: The Russian imperial family , which had been deposed by a revolutionary government, was refused asylum. News of the tsar's abdication provided a boost to those in Britain who wished to replace their own monarchy with a republic. The war ended in 1918 with the defeat of Germany and the abdication and exile of the kaiser . Two months after the end of the war, Prince John died at the age of thirteen. Queen Mary described her shock and sorrow in her diary and letters, extracts of which were published after her death: "our poor darling little Johnnie had passed away suddenly ... The first break in

8145-542: The SS  Andrea Doria , which later sank in 1956 after a collision with MS  Stockholm . Before the Second World War, aircraft had not posed a significant economic threat to ocean liners. Most pre-war aircraft were noisy, vulnerable to bad weather, and/or incapable of the range needed for transoceanic flights; all were expensive and had a small passenger capacity. The war accelerated development of large, long-ranged aircraft. Four-engined bombers, such as

8326-576: The Titanic II , is a modern replica of the original RMS Titanic , which sank in 1912. The ship is owned by Blue Star Line and is bought by Australian businessman Clive Palmer , the ship is set to be launched by 2027. Four ocean liners made before the Second World War survive today as they have been partially or fully preserved as museums and hotels . The Japanese ocean liner Hikawa Maru (1929), has been preserved in Naka-ku, Yokohama , Japan, as

8507-433: 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

8688-604: The flagship of the company's fleet. Because all U.S. registered ships counted as an extension of U.S. territory, the National Prohibition Act made American liners alcohol-free, causing alcohol-seeking passengers to choose other liners for travel and substantially reducing profits for the United States Lines. In 1929, Germany returned to the scene with the two ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd, SS  Bremen and SS  Europa . Bremen won

8869-752: The Allied Powers were compensated by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This led to the awarding of many German liners to the victorious Allies. The Hamburg America Line's trio ( Imperator , Vaterland , and Bismarck ) were divided between the Cunard Line, White Star Line, and the United States Lines , while the three surviving ships of the Kaiser class were requisitioned by the US Navy in

9050-667: The Atlantic. Constructing large ships was therefore more profitable. Moreover, migration to the Americas increased enormously. These movements of population were a financial windfall for the shipping companies, some of the largest of which were founded during this time. Examples are the P&;O of the United Kingdom in 1822 and the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique of France in 1855. The steam engine also allowed ships to provide regular service without

9231-466: The Blue Riband for her company. This race for speed, however, was a detriment to passengers' comfort and generated strong vibration, which made her owner lose any interest in her after she lost the Blue Riband to another ship of Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was only used for ten years for transatlantic crossing before being converted into a cruise ship. Until 1907 the Blue Riband remained in the hands of

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9412-528: The Blue Riband from Britain's Mauretania after the latter had held it for twenty years. Soon, Italy also entered the scene. The Italian Line completed SS  Rex and SS  Conte di Savoia in 1932, breaking the records of both luxury and speed ( Rex won the westbound Blue Riband in 1933). France reentered the scene with SS  Normandie of the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). The ship

9593-488: 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

9774-542: The British Empire. In his jubilee speech, George paid public tribute to his wife, having told his speechwriter, "Put that paragraph at the very end. I cannot trust myself to speak of the Queen when I think of all I owe her." George V died on 20 January 1936, after his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn , gave him an injection of morphine and cocaine that may have hastened his death. Queen Mary's eldest son ascended

9955-478: The British. From 1912 to 1914, Hamburg America Line completed a trio of liners significantly larger than the White Star Line's Olympic -class ships. The first to be completed, in 1913 was SS  Imperator . She was followed by SS Vaterland in 1914. The construction of the third liner, SS  Bismarck , was paused by the outbreak of the First World War. The First World War was a hard time for

10136-596: The Duchess of Cambridge, but she donated lavishly to dozens of charities. Prince Francis was deeply in debt and moved his family abroad with a small staff in 1883, in order to economise. They travelled throughout Europe, visiting their various relations. For a time they stayed in Florence , Italy, where May enjoyed visiting the art galleries, churches and museums. She was fluent in English, German, and French. In 1885,

10317-652: The Germans. In 1902, J. P. Morgan embraced the idea of a maritime empire comprising a large number of companies. He founded the International Mercantile Marine Co. , a trust which originally comprised only American shipping companies. The trust then absorbed Leyland Line and White Star Line. The British government then decided to intervene in order to regain the ascendancy. Although German liners dominated in terms of speed, British liners dominated in terms of size. RMS  Oceanic and

10498-803: 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

10679-1049: The London stage in Crown Matrimonial , 1972), Greer Garson (in the television production of Crown Matrimonial , 1974), Judy Loe (in Edward the Seventh , 1975), Dame Peggy Ashcroft (in Edward & Mrs. Simpson , 1978), Phyllis Calvert (in The Woman He Loved , 1988), Gaye Brown (in All the King's Men , 1999), Miranda Richardson (in The Lost Prince , 2003), Margaret Tyzack (in Wallis & Edward , 2005), Claire Bloom (in The King's Speech , 2010), Judy Parfitt (in W.E. , 2011), Valerie Dane (in

10860-601: 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

11041-433: 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

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11222-404: 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 ,

11403-414: 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

11584-445: The Second World War the three worst disasters were the loss of the Cunarder Lancastria in 1940 off Saint-Nazaire to German bombing while attempting to evacuate troops of the British Expeditionary Force from France, with the loss of more than 3,000 lives; the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff , after the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, with more than 9,000 lives lost, making it the deadliest maritime disaster in history; and

11765-405: 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

11946-414: 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

12127-525: The United Kingdom and the United States. Over time, the paddle wheel, impractical on the high seas, was abandoned in favour of the propeller. In 1840, Cunard Line's RMS  Britannia began its first regular passenger and cargo service by a steamship, sailing from Liverpool to Boston , Massachusetts. As the size of ship increased, the wooden hull became fragile. Beginning with the use of an iron hull in 1845, and then steel hulls, solved this problem. The first ship to be both iron-hulled and equipped with

12308-480: The United States during this time. The year 1858 was marked by a major accident: the sinking of SS  Austria . The ship, built in Greenock and sailing between Hamburg and New York twice a month, suffered an accidental fire off the coast of Newfoundland and sank with the loss of all but 89 of the 542 passengers. In the British market, Cunard Line and White Star Line (the latter after being bought by Thomas Ismay in 1868), competed strongly against each other in

12489-413: 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

12670-471: The accession of Elizabeth II, there was some dispute regarding the dynasty to which descendants of Elizabeth and her husband Phillip would belong. Mary expressed to Prime Minister Winston Churchill her aversion to the idea of the House of Mountbatten succeeding the House of Windsor as the royal dynasty. Mary died on 24 March 1953 in her sleep at the age of 85, ten weeks before her granddaughter's coronation . She had let it be known that should she die,

12851-438: The added amenity of large portholes, electricity and running water. The size of ocean liners increased from 1880 to meet the needs of immigration to the United States and Australia. RMS  Umbria and her sister ship RMS  Etruria were the last two Cunard liners of the period to be fitted with auxiliary sails. Both ships were built by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. They were record breakers by

13032-485: The arrangements were the royal servants, who found the house too small. From Badminton, in support of the war effort, Queen Mary visited troops and factories and directed the gathering of scrap materials. She was known to offer lifts to soldiers she spotted on the roads. In 1942, her son George , Duke of Kent, was killed in an air crash while on active service. Mary finally returned to Marlborough House in June 1945, after

13213-485: 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

13394-548: 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

13575-438: The cabin class and the steerage class. The passengers travelling on the former were wealthy passengers and they enjoyed certain comfort in that class. The passengers travelling on the latter were members of the middle class or the working class. In that class, they were packed in large dormitories. Until the beginning of the 20th century, they did not always have bedsheets and meals. An intermediate class for tourists and members of

13756-412: The care of a nanny, as was usual in upper-class families at the time. The first nanny was dismissed for insolence and the second for abusing the children. This second woman, anxious to suggest that the children preferred her to anyone else, would pinch Edward and Albert whenever they were about to be presented to their parents so that they would start crying and be speedily returned to her. On discovery, she

13937-446: The care of their grandparents, for such a long time. On 9 November 1901, nine days after arriving back in Britain and on the King's 60th birthday, George was created Prince of Wales . The family moved their London residence from St James's Palace to Marlborough House . As Princess of Wales, Mary accompanied her husband on trips to Austria-Hungary and Württemberg in 1904. The following year, she gave birth to her last child, John. It

14118-601: The children of the Prince of Wales , who were similar in age. She grew up at Kensington Palace and White Lodge , in Richmond Park , which was granted by Queen Victoria on permanent loan. She was educated at home by her mother and governess (as were her brothers until they were sent to boarding schools). The Duchess of Teck spent an unusually long time with her children for a lady of her time and class, and enlisted May in various charitable endeavours, which included visiting

14299-597: The coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea , including Blohm & Voss and AG Vulcan Stettin . Many of these shipyards were destroyed during World War II; some managed to recover and continue building ships. In France, major shipyards included Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire , known for building SS  Normandie . This shipyard merged with Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard to form

14480-525: The competition from Cunard Line, White Star Line ordered the Olympic -class liners at the end of 1907. The first of these three liners, RMS  Olympic , completed in 1911, had a fine career, although punctuated by incidents. This was not the case for her sister, the RMS ; Titanic , which sank on her maiden voyage on 15 April 1912, resulting in several changes to maritime safety practices. As for

14661-471: The condition that they be available for conversion into armed cruisers when needed by the navy. The result of this partnership was the completion in 1907 of two sister ships: RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania , both of which won the Blue Riband during their respective maiden voyages. The latter retained this distinction for twenty years. Their great speed was achieved by the use of turbines instead of conventional expansion machines. In response to

14842-588: The construction of the Queen Mary while progressively sending their older ships to the scrapyard. The Queen Mary was the fastest ship of her time and the largest for a short amount of time, she captured the Blue Riband twice, both off Normandie . The construction of a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth , was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War . The Second World War was

15023-420: The context of the conflict and then retained. The Tirpitz , whose construction was delayed by the outbreak of war eventually became the RMS  Empress of Australia . Of the German superliners, only Deutschland , because of her poor state, avoided this fate. After a period of reconstruction, the shipping companies recovered quickly from the damage caused by the First World War. The ships, whose construction

15204-502: The coronation should not be postponed. Her remains lay in state at Westminster Hall , where large numbers of mourners filed past her coffin. She is buried beside her husband in the nave of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle . Mary's will was sealed in London after her death. Her estate was valued at £406,407 (or £13 million in 2023 when adjusted for inflation). Actresses who have portrayed Queen Mary include Dame Flora Robson (in A King's Story , 1965), Dame Wendy Hiller (on

15385-504: The country residence of Danish Ambassador Christian Frederick de Falbe, Albert Victor proposed marriage to May and she accepted. The choice of May as bride for the Duke owed much to Queen Victoria's fondness for her, as well as to her strong character and sense of duty. However, Albert Victor died six weeks later, in a recurrence of the worldwide 1889–1890 pandemic . Albert Victor's brother, Prince George, Duke of York , now second in line to

15566-409: The crowding of passengers, and faster ships, to reduce the duration of transatlantic crossings. The iron and steel hulls and steam power allowed for these advances. Thus, SS Great Western (1,340 GRT) and SS Great Eastern (18,915 GRT) were constructed in 1838 and 1858 respectively. The record set by SS Great Eastern was not beaten until 43 years later in 1901 when RMS  Celtic (20,904 GT)

15747-417: The dawn of the jet age . Such routes included Europe to African and Asian colonies, Europe to South America, and migrant traffic from Europe to North America in the 19th and first two decades of the 20th centuries, and to Canada and Australia after the Second World War. Shipping lines are companies engaged in shipping passengers and cargo, often on established routes and schedules. Regular scheduled voyages on

15928-596: 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

16109-409: The duration of a transatlantic crossing shortened to around 7 days, owing to the technological progress made in the propulsion of ships: the rudimentary steam boilers gave rise to more elaborate machineries and the paddlewheel gradually disappeared, replaced first by one screw then by two screws. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cunard Line's RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania reached

16290-477: 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

16471-474: The eldest son of the Prince of Wales and second in line to the throne. Six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly during a pandemic . The following year, she became engaged to Albert Victor's only surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her husband's accession, she was successively Duchess of York , Duchess of Cornwall , and Princess of Wales . As queen consort from 1910, Mary supported her husband through

16652-651: The end without relenting a scrap. I'm afraid the fluids in her veins have always been as icy cold as they are now in death." The Duke and Duchess of York carried out a variety of public duties. In 1897, Mary became the patron of the London Needlework Guild in succession to her mother. The guild, initially established as The London Guild in 1882, was renamed several times and was named after Mary between 1914 and 2010. Samples of her own embroidery range from chair seats to tea cosies. On 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died , and Mary's father-in-law ascended

16833-638: The expectation that the owner would be willing to donate it. Mary's extensive knowledge of, and research into, the Royal Collection helped in identifying artefacts and artwork that had gone astray over the years. The royal family had lent out many pieces over previous generations. Once she had identified unreturned items through old inventories, she would write to the holders, requesting that they be returned. In addition to being an avid collector, Mary also commissioned many gifts of jewellery, including rings which she presented to her ladies-in-waiting on

17014-417: 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 was converted into

17195-500: The family circle is hard to bear but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us [the King and me] much." The Queen's staunch support of her husband continued during the later half of his reign. She advised him on speeches and used her extensive knowledge of history and royalty to advise him on matters affecting his position. He appreciated her discretion, intelligence, and judgement. She maintained an air of self-assured calm throughout all her public engagements in

17376-663: The family returned to London and lived for some time in Chester Square . May was close to her mother and acted as an unofficial secretary, helping to organise parties and social events. She was also close to her aunt Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , and wrote to her every week. During the First World War , the Crown Princess of Sweden helped pass letters from May to Augusta, who lived in enemy territory in Germany until her death in 1916. In 1886, May

17557-403: The first auxiliary cruiser in history. In the time of war, ships could easily be equipped with cannons and used in cases of conflict. Teutonic succeeded in impressing Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who wanted to see his country endowed with a modern fleet. In 1870, the White Star Line's RMS  Oceanic set a new standard for ocean travel by having its first-class cabins amidships, with

17738-558: The first ship that was powered by this technology, the Clermont , which succeeded in travelling between New York City and Albany, New York in thirty hours before entering into regular service between the two cities. Soon after, other vessels were built using this innovation. In 1816, the Élise became the first steamship to cross the English Channel . Another important advance came in 1819, when SS  Savannah became

17919-569: The first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She left the U.S. city of the same name and arrived in Liverpool, England in 27 days. Most of the distance was covered by sailing; the steam power was not used for more than 72 hours during the travel. The public enthusiasm for the new technology was not high, as none of the thirty-two people who had booked a seat boarded the ship for that historic voyage. Although Savannah had proven that

18100-425: The following year, ten weeks before her granddaughter Elizabeth II was crowned . An ocean liner , a battlecruiser , and a university were named in her honour . Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace , London, in the room where Queen Victoria , her first cousin once removed, had been born 48 years and two days earlier. Queen Victoria came to visit the baby, writing that she

18281-411: 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

18462-411: 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

18643-581: The last ocean liners to be built primarily for crossing the North Atlantic, could not be converted economically and had short careers. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the inter-continental trade rendered the development of secure links between continents imperative. Being at the top among the colonial powers, the United Kingdom needed stable maritime routes to connect different parts of its empire :

18824-399: The late 1860s. The struggle was symbolised by the attainment of the Blue Riband, which the two companies achieved several times around the end of the century. The luxury and technology of ships were also evolving. Auxiliary sails became obsolete and disappeared completely at the end of the century. Possible military use of passenger ships was envisaged and, in 1889, RMS  Teutonic became

19005-470: 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,

19186-782: 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

19367-534: The liners. Some of them, like the Mauretania , Aquitania , and Britannic were transformed into hospital ships during the conflict. Others became troop transports, while some, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , participated in the war as warships. Troop transportation was very popular due to the liners' large size. Liners converted into troop ships were painted in dazzle camouflage to reduce

19548-539: 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

19729-500: 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

19910-438: The middle class gradually appeared. The cabins were then divided into three classes. The facilities offered to passengers developed over time. In the 1870s, the installation of bathtubs and oil lamps caused a sensation on board SS  Oceanic . In the following years, the number of amenities became numerous, for example: smoking rooms, lounges, and promenade deck. In 1907, RMS  Adriatic even offered Turkish baths and

20091-582: The number of people crossing the Atlantic and at the same time reducing the number of profitable transatlantic voyages. In response, shipping companies redirected many of their liners to a more profitable cruise service. In 1934, in the United Kingdom, Cunard Line and White Star Line were in very bad shape financially. Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain proposed to merge the two companies in order to solve their financial problems. The merger took place in 1934 and launched

20272-418: The occasion of their engagements. In 1952, George VI died , the third of Mary's children to predecease her; her eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. The death of a third child profoundly affected her. Mary remarked to Princess Marie Louise : "I have lost three sons through death, but I have never been privileged to be there to say a last farewell to them." On

20453-553: The ocean liners came to an end. By the early 1970s, many passenger ships continued their service in cruising. In 1982, during the Falklands War , three active or former liners were requisitioned for war service by the British Government . The liners Queen Elizabeth 2 and Canberra , were requisitioned from Cunard and P&O to serve as troopships, carrying British Army personnel to Ascension Island and

20634-403: The only ship still in service as an ocean liner is RMS  Queen Mary 2 . Ocean liners were the primary mode of intercontinental travel for over a century, from the mid-19th century until they began to be supplanted by airliners in the 1950s. In addition to passengers, liners carried mail and cargo. Ships contracted to carry British Royal Mail used the designation RMS . Liners were also

20815-606: The operation was expensive. The sinking of two of its ships was a major blow to the company which was dissolved in 1858. In 1858, Brunel built his third and last giant, SS  Great Eastern . The ship was, for 43 years, the largest passenger ship ever built . She had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers. Her career was marked by a series of failures and incidents, one of which was an explosion on board during her maiden voyage. Many ships owned by German companies like Hamburg America Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd were sailing from major German ports, such as Hamburg and Bremen, to

20996-465: The preferred way to move gold and other high-value cargoes. The busiest route for liners was on the North Atlantic with ships travelling between Europe and North America. It was on this route that the fastest, largest and most advanced liners travelled, though most ocean liners historically were mid-sized vessels which served as the common carriers of passengers and freight between nations and among other countries and their colonies and dependencies before

21177-460: The project of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making the voyage from New York to the moon. The last step toward long-distance travel using steam power was taken in 1837 when SS  Sirius left Liverpool on 4 April and arrived in New York eighteen days later on 22 April after a turbulent crossing. Too little coal

21358-558: 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

21539-405: 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,

21720-413: 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

21901-502: The reserved Prince Albert, Duke of York . Albert ascended the throne on Edward's abdication, taking the name George VI. When Mary attended the coronation of George VI , she became the first British dowager queen to do so. Edward's abdication did not lessen her love for him, but she never wavered in her disapproval of his actions. After her reign, Mary returned to live in her main London residence Marlborough House , where she had also lived as Princess of Wales. Mary took an interest in

22082-533: The risk of being torpedoed by enemy submarines . The war was marked by the loss of many liners. Britannic , while serving as a hospital ship, sank in the Aegean Sea in 1916 after she struck a mine. Numerous incidents of torpedoing took place and large numbers of ships sank. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was defeated and scuttled after a fierce battle with HMS  Highflyer off the coast of west Africa, while her sister ship Kronprinz Wilhelm served as

22263-831: The same style as her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was the first British queen consort born in Britain since Catherine Parr assumed the title in July 1543. Mary was crowned alongside her husband at a coronation on 22 June 1911 in Westminster Abbey . Later in the year, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar held on 12 December 1911, and toured the sub-continent as Emperor and Empress of India, returning to Britain in February. The beginning of Mary's period as consort brought her into conflict with her mother-in-law, Queen Alexandra . Although

22444-549: 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,

22625-399: 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

22806-606: 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

22987-555: 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

23168-650: 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

23349-427: The sinking of SS  Cap Arcona with more than 7,000 lives lost, both in the Baltic Sea , in 1945. SS Rex was bombarded and sunk in 1944, and Normandie caught fire, capsized, and sank in New York in 1942 while being converted for troop duty. Many of the superliners of the 1920s and 1930s were victims of U-boats , mines or enemy aircraft. Empress of Britain was attacked by German planes, then torpedoed by

23530-685: The standards of the time, and were the largest liners then in service, plying the Liverpool to New York route. SS  Ophir was a 6,814-ton steamship owned by the Orient Steamship Co. , and was fitted with refrigeration equipment. She plied the Suez Canal route from England to Australia during the 1890s, up until the years leading to World War I when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser . In 1897, Norddeutscher Lloyd launched SS  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse . She

23711-435: 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

23892-742: The television version of Downton Abbey , 2013), Dame Eileen Atkins (in Bertie and Elizabeth , 2002 and The Crown , 2016), Geraldine James (in the film version of Downton Abbey , 2019), and Candida Benson (in The Crown , 2022). Many places and buildings have been named in Mary's honour, including Queen Mary University of London , Queen Mary Reservoir in Surrey, and Queen Mary College in Lahore . Sir Henry "Chips" Channon wrote that Queen Mary

24073-476: The tenements of the poor. Although May was a great-grandchild of George III, she was only a minor member of the British royal family . Her father, the Duke of Teck, had no inheritance or wealth and carried the lower royal style of Serene Highness because his parents' marriage was morganatic. The Duchess of Teck was granted a parliamentary annuity of £ 5,000 and received about £4,000 a year from her mother,

24254-406: The third sister, HMHS  Britannic , she never served her intended purpose as a passenger ship, as she was drafted in the First World War as a hospital ship , and sank to a naval mine in 1916. At the same time, France tried to mark its presence with the completion in 1912 of SS  France owned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique . Germany soon responded to the competition from

24435-455: The throne as Edward VII . For most of the rest of that year, George and Mary were known as the "Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York". For eight months they toured the British Empire , visiting Gibraltar , Malta , Egypt, Ceylon , Singapore , Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius , South Africa and Canada. No royal had undertaken such an ambitious tour before. She broke down in tears at the thought of leaving her children, who were to be left in

24616-504: The throne as Edward VIII. She was then to be known as Her Majesty Queen Mary . Within the year, Edward's intention to marry his twice-divorced American mistress, Wallis Simpson , led to his abdication. Mary disapproved of divorce as it was contrary to the teaching of the Anglican Church , and thought Simpson wholly unsuitable to be the wife of a king. After receiving advice from British prime minister Stanley Baldwin , as well as

24797-455: The throne, evidently became close to May during their shared period of mourning, and Queen Victoria still thought of her as a suitable candidate to marry a future king. The public was also anxious that the Duke of York should marry and settle the succession. In May 1893, George proposed, and May accepted. They were soon deeply in love, and their marriage was a success. George wrote to May every day they were apart and, unlike his father, never took

24978-399: 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

25159-570: 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

25340-550: The two were on friendly terms, Alexandra could be stubborn; she demanded precedence over Mary at the funeral of Edward VII, was slow in leaving Buckingham Palace , and kept some of the royal jewels that should have been passed to the new queen. During the First World War, Queen Mary instituted an austerity drive at the palace, where she rationed food, and visited wounded and dying servicemen in hospital, which caused her great emotional strain. After three years of war against Germany, and with anti-German feeling in Britain running high,

25521-423: 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

25702-470: The upbringing of her granddaughters Elizabeth and Margaret . She took them on various excursions in London, to art galleries and museums. (The princesses' own parents thought it unnecessary for them to be burdened with a demanding educational regime.) In May 1939, Mary was in a car crash: her car was overturned but she escaped with minor injuries and bruises. During the Second World War , George VI wished his mother to be evacuated from London. Although she

25883-494: The use of public trust lands and mismanagement of public trust funds. The report determined that the uses were not barred by the granting statutes or the public trust doctrine , but may be considered necessarily incidental to the enjoyment of public tidelands. They found no evidence of mismanagement, a conclusion that was reviewed and affirmed by the State Attorney General . Ocean liner An ocean liner

26064-401: The use of sail. This aspect particularly appealed to the postal companies, which leased the services of ships to serve clients separated by the ocean. In 1839, Samuel Cunard founded the Cunard Line and became the first to dedicate the activity of his shipping company to the transport of mails, thus ensuring regular services on a given schedule. The company's vessels operated the routes between

26245-648: 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

26426-488: The voyage itself, and not transportation, is the primary purpose of the trip. Nor does it include tramp steamers , even those equipped to handle limited numbers of passengers. Some shipping companies refer to themselves as "lines" and their container ships , which often operate over set routes according to established schedules, as "liners". Though ocean liners share certain similarities with cruise ships, they must be able to travel between continents from point A to point B on

26607-472: The war in Europe had resulted in the defeat of Nazi Germany . Mary was an eager collector of objects and pictures with a royal connection. She paid above-market estimates when purchasing jewels from the estate of Dowager Empress Marie of Russia and paid almost three times the estimate when buying the family's Cambridge Emeralds from Lady Kilmorey, the mistress of her late brother Prince Francis . After Francis's death, Mary had intervened to ensure his will

26788-606: 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

26969-461: The wife of King-Emperor George V . Born and raised in London , Mary was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck , a German nobleman, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge , a granddaughter of King George III . She was informally known as "May", after the month of her birth. At the age of 24, she was betrothed to her second cousin once removed Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale ,

27150-458: 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,

27331-708: 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

27512-588: 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,

27693-433: 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

27874-520: The years after the war, a period marked by civil unrest over social conditions, Irish independence , and Indian nationalism . In the late 1920s, George became increasingly ill with lung problems, exacerbated by his heavy smoking. Mary paid particular attention to his care. During his illness in 1928, one of his doctors, Sir Farquhar Buzzard , was asked who had saved the King's life. He replied, "The Queen". In 1935, George and Mary celebrated their silver jubilee , with celebrations taking place throughout

28055-441: 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

28236-471: Was "a very fine one, with pretty little features and a quantity of hair". The princess's father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck , the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his morganatic wife, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde . Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge , a granddaughter of King George III and the third child and younger daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge , and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel . The infant

28417-430: Was "above politics ... magnificent, humorous, worldly, in fact nearly sublime, though cold and hard. But what a grand Queen." Queen Mary's arms were the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom impaled with her family arms – the arms of her grandfather Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, in the 1st and 4th quarters, and the arms of her father, Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The shield

28598-436: Was a caring mother and comforted her children when they suffered from her husband's strict discipline. Edward wrote fondly of his mother in his memoirs: "Her soft voice, her cultivated mind, the cosy room overflowing with personal treasures were all inseparable ingredients of the happiness associated with this last hour of a child's day ... Such was my mother's pride in her children that everything that happened to each one

28779-465: Was a debutante in her first season and was introduced at court. Her status as the only unmarried British princess who was not descended from Queen Victoria made her a suitable candidate for the royal family's most eligible bachelor, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale , her second cousin once removed and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. On 3 December 1891 at Luton Hoo , then

28960-463: Was a difficult labour, and although she recovered quickly, her newborn son developed respiratory problems. From October 1905 the Prince and Princess of Wales undertook another eight-month tour, this time of India, and the children were once again left in the care of their grandparents. They passed through Egypt both ways and on the way back stopped in Greece. The tour was almost immediately followed by

29141-446: 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

29322-536: Was baptised in the Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on 27 July 1867 by Charles Thomas Longley , Archbishop of Canterbury . From an early age, she was known to her family, friends and the public by the diminutive name of "May", after her birth month. May's upbringing was "merry but fairly strict". She was the eldest of four children and the only daughter. She "learned to exercise her native discretion, firmness, and tact" by resolving her three younger brothers' petty boyhood squabbles. They played with their cousins,

29503-622: Was beached in Zhanjiang, China as a tourist attraction called Hai Shang Cheng Shi in 1998, though has been closed as of 2022. Funchal was purchased by Brock Pierce in 2021, with the intent of turning her into a hotel. Her future is uncertain as it was reported in July 2021 that no progress has been made since then. Since their beginning in the 19th century, ocean liners needed to meet growing demands. The first liners were small and overcrowded, leading to unsanitary conditions on board. Eliminating these phenomena required larger ships, to reduce

29684-435: Was commenced, and, with it, the tradition of the Blue Riband . With Great Western , Isambard Kingdom Brunel laid the foundations for new shipbuilding techniques. He realised that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This means that large ships are more fuel-efficient, something very important for long voyages across

29865-557: Was completed. The tonnage then grew profoundly: the first liners to have a tonnage that exceeded 20,000 were the Big Four of the White Star Line . The Olympic -class ocean liners , first completed in 1911, were the first to have a tonnage that exceeded 45,000 and the Imperator -class ocean liners first completed in 1913 became the 1st liners with tonnage exceeding 50,000. SS  Normandie , completed in 1935, had

30046-402: Was done by air. The Italian Line's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello , launched in 1962 and 1963, were two of the last ocean liners to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Cunard's transatlantic liner, Queen Elizabeth 2 , was also used as a cruise ship. By the early 1960s, 95% of passenger traffic across the Atlantic was by aircraft. Thus the reign of

30227-550: Was followed three years later by three sister ships . The ship was both luxurious and fast, managing to steal the Blue Riband from the British. She was also the first of the fourteen ocean liners with four funnels that have emerged in maritime history. The ship needed only two funnels, but more funnels gave passengers a feeling of safety and power. In 1900, the Hamburg America Line competed with its own four-funnel liner, SS  Deutschland . She quickly obtained

30408-669: Was not until 1952 that SS  United States set a record that remains today: 34.5 knots (3 days and 12 hours of crossing the Atlantic). In addition, since 1935, the Blue Riband is accompanied by the Hales Trophy , which is awarded to the winner. The first ocean liners were designed to carry mostly migrants. On-board sanitary conditions were often deplorable and epidemics were frequent. In 1848, maritime laws imposing hygiene rules were adopted and they improved on-board living conditions. Gradually, two distinct classes were developed:

30589-428: Was of the utmost importance to her. With the birth of each new child, Mama started an album in which she painstakingly recorded each progressive stage of our childhood". He expressed a less charitable view, however, in private letters to his wife after his mother's death: "My sadness was mixed with incredulity that any mother could have been so hard and cruel towards her eldest son for so many years and yet so demanding at

30770-435: 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

30951-600: Was prepared for the crossing, and the crew had to burn cabin furniture in order to complete the voyage. The journey took place at a speed of 8.03 knots. The voyage was made possible by the use of a condenser, which fed the boilers with fresh water, avoiding having to periodically shut down the boilers in order to remove the salt. The feat was short-lived. The next day, SS  Great Western , designed by railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel , arrived in New York. She left Liverpool on 8 April and overtook Sirius ' s record with an average speed of 8.66 knots. The race of speed

31132-410: 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

31313-428: Was reluctant, she decided to live at Badminton House , Gloucestershire, with her niece Mary, Duchess of Beaufort , the daughter of her brother Adolphus . Her personal belongings were transported from London in seventy pieces of luggage. Her household, which comprised fifty-five servants, occupied most of the house, except for the Duke and Duchess's private suites, until after the war. The only people to complain about

31494-592: Was replaced by her effective and much-loved assistant, Charlotte Bill . Sometimes, Mary and George appear to have been distant parents. At first, they failed to notice the nanny's abuse of their sons Edward and Albert, and their youngest son, John, was housed in a private farm on the Sandringham Estate, in Charlotte Bill's care, perhaps to hide his epilepsy from the public. Despite Mary's austere public image and her strait-laced private life, she

31675-607: Was reported to have been sold for scrap in January 2023, but this has been denied by the ship's owner. United States has been docked in Philadelphia since 1996, but following a legal dispute between the organization that owns United States and the pier owners, she was purchased by Okaloosa County , Florida to be turned into the world's largest artificial reef. There are plans for a land-based museum and several pieces of United States are planned to be preserved. Brazil Maru

31856-590: Was sealed by a court to cover his affair with Kilmorey. This set a precedent for royal wills to be sealed. In 1924, the famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens created Queen Mary's Dolls' House for her collection of miniature pieces. She has sometimes been criticised for her aggressive acquisition of objets d'art for the Royal Collection . On several occasions, she would express to hosts, or others, that she admired something they had in their possession, in

32037-621: Was started before the war, such as SS  Paris of the French Line , were completed and put into service. Prominent British liners, such as the Olympic and the Mauretania , were also put back into service and had a successful career in the early 1920s. More modern liners were also built, such as SS  Île de France (completed in 1927). The United States Lines , having received the Vaterland , renamed her Leviathan and made her

32218-400: Was the largest ship afloat at the time of her completion in 1935. She was also the fastest, winning the Blue Riband in 1935. A crisis arose when the United States drastically reduced its immigrant quotas, causing shipping companies to lose a large part of their income and to have to adapt to this circumstance. The Great Depression also played an important role, causing a drastic decrease in

32399-533: 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

32580-540: 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

32761-674: Was very impressed with the service of the Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as troopships during the war. To ensure a reliable and fast troop transport in case of a war against the Soviet Union, the U.S. government sponsored the construction of SS  United States and entered it into service for the United States Lines in 1952. She won the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage in that year and held it until Richard Branson won it back in 1986 with Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. One year later, in 1953, Italy completed

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