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

Queen Mary is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. Queen Mary, along with RMS Queen Elizabeth, was built as part of Cunard’s planned two ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York. The two ships were a British response to the express superliners built by German, Italian and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and won the Blue Riband that August; she lost the title to S.S. Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952, when it was taken by the new S.S. United States. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers during the conflict.

Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid 1960s, Queen Mary was aging and was operating at a loss.

After several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she was permanently moored. The City of Long Beach bought the ship to serve as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum and a hotel. The city contracted out management of the ship to various third party firms over the years. It took back operational control in 2021 when the operator filed for bankruptcy and it was found that extensive repairs were needed to keep the ship from sinking.