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Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired
ocean liner that sailed on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to
1967 for the Cunard Line, which was called the Cunard-White Star
Line, the company that launched the Titanic, when the ship first
started sailing. Constructed in Clydebank, Scotland, the QM was
designed for express service that ran from Southampton to Cherbourg
and then on to New York City; and was one of two planned to do the
weekly express. Their version of the mainland European superliners
of the late 1920s and 1930s, after the QM was released from her war
duties transporting troops. Her running mate was the RMS Queen
Elizabeth, that was the other ship in the express service that went
on for two decades; which was when the Queen Mary was retired and
then brought to Long Beach. She is registered in the National
Register of Historic Places and is permanently berthed at Long
Beach, where she is a hotel and museum. In 2004, she celebrated her
70th anniversary from Clydebank and Long Beach, and then celebrated
her 70th maiden voyage anniversary in 2006. The Queen Mary had been
the flagship of the Cunard Line from 1936 until 1945, when the Queen
Elizabeth replaced her. The onboard amenities are done according to
the class, with the first class passengers getting the bigger space
and luxury. She featured an indoor swimming pool, outdoor paddle
tennis court, kennel, library, salon and children's nursery. The
biggest room was the grand salon or dining room, that went up three
stories in height and anchored by wide columns. The indoor swimming
pool was as big as two stories of the ship; and the dining room had
a huge map of the transatlantic crossing with twin tracks showing
the summer and winter routes, which ran further south to avoid any
icebergs that might be around. In the crossing, a motorized QM would
show the progress as she moved east or west. Giving the first class
passengers an alternative to the grand salon, the QM had a Verandah
Grill located on the Sun Deck on the upper aft; it was an ultra
exclusive a la carte restaurant that could seat up to 80 people and
became the Starlight Club at night. Brian Cleeve, Irish writer and
broadcaster was a commis waiter for many months on the ship in 1938,
after he had run off from his family and home. The first class
passengers also had access to the Observation Bar, which was an art
deco type of lounge, with expansive ocean views. Marvelous wood from
different part of the British Empire were used in the public rooms
and staterooms, with their accommodations ranging from fully
equipped, luxurious first class staterooms to modest and quite
cramped third class cabins. During the second world war, she
was refitted as a troop carrier, and perhaps the most memorable
occasion was the crossing in December of 1942, when she was carrying
over 16,000 American troops from New York to Great Britain, the most
passengers ever moved in a single ship, when she came across a gale
about 700 miles from Scotland. Suddenly and without any warning, a
rogue wave slammed into her side, estimated to be around 92 feet
high and it was almost capsized. Walter Ford Carter's father, Dr.
Norval Carter, was on board and Walter wrote in his book, No Greater
Sacrifice, No Greater Love, that his father told him that at one
point the ship damn near capsized. He said that one point the ship
was at its usual height, then wham, down and over and forward she
pitched. Later, it was calculated that the ship tilted 52 degrees
and most certainly would have capsized if she had rolled another 3
degrees. This incident was the inspiration for Paul Gallico to write
his story called the Poseidon Adventure, which became a movie.
During that war, she would often carry the prime minister Winston
Churchill across the ocean to meet with other Allied officials and
he was listed on the passenger manifest as "Colonel Warden" and
Churchill insisted that his lifeboat carry a .303 machine gun so
that he could resist capture at any cost.
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