The following antique vintage photograph was acquired during a house clearance & unwanted by the families or owners of the properties cleared.
RMS Queen Mary Facts/History
The RMS Queen Mary, a colossal ship that was bigger, faster and more powerful than the Titanic.
The construction Cunard Queen Mary ship began in December 1930 (the ship’s keel was laid down on 31 January 1931) in the yard of “John Brown & Co” at Clydebank (Scotland).
The work was completed in March 1936. The Queen Mary ship sailed out for preliminary trials and after being painted in Southampton.
Length – 1,019.5 ft. (310.74 m.)
Weight – 81,237 gross tons
Horsepower – 160,000
Cruising Speed – 28.5 knots
Height 181 ft (55,2 m)
Number of cabins – 776 cabin class (1st class), 784 tourist class, 579 3rd class cabins.
Engines – 4 sets of Parsons steam turbines
During WWII she was better known as the “Gray Ghost”.
Number of funnels – 3
Number of masts – 2
Launched – September 26, 1934
Number Of Decks – 12
Passenger Capacity – 1,957
Officers & Crew – 1,174
Current address: 1126 Queens Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90802, USA.
The Queen Mary operated Trans-Atlantic crossings in the period 1936-1967 for the Cunard Line (then known as Cunard-White Star).
In 1940 work began converting the ship into a troopship. The luxury furnishings were removed and tiers of bunks and hammocks were fitted.
Although small calibre guns were fitted on the ship its main protection was to be its speed.
In 1941 the Queen Mary sailed to Boston. Here its trooping capacity was increased to 8,500 and it was fitted with heavier calibre guns and anti-aircraft cannons.
By the end of World War II, the ship had carried more than 800,000 troops, traveled more than 600,000 miles and played a significant role in virtually every major Allied campaign.
Number of portholes (~2000), number of rivets used (~10 mill)
After several years of low profits, RMS Queen Mary was retired from service in 1967.
On-board QM facilities were the 2 indoor pools, beauty salons, libraries, kids nurseries, a music lounge, a lecture hall, even a Jewish prayer room, a telephone connection to anywhere in the world, outdoor tennis courts, and of course – the dog kennels.
In 1967 the Queen Mary was sold for $3.45 million to the city of Long Beach, California, for use as a maritime museum and hotel.
Some say the Queen Mary is one of the most haunted places in the world with as many as 150 known spirits lurking upon the ship.
Today, the Queen Mary, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
