Queen Mary -- The RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California

by Darin Volpe

Title

Queen Mary -- The RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California

Artist

Darin Volpe

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

The RMS Queen Mary departed on her maiden voyage from Southampton on May 27th, 1936, across the North Atlantic bound for New York. On December 9th, 1967 she tied up for the last time in the city of Long Beach, California where she remains a hotel and tourist attraction.

Between 1936 and 1967, the RMS. Queen Mary had an illustrious career. From 1936 until 1952 she held the award for being the fastest passenger liner crossing the Atlantic in regular service, with only a one-year break in that streak in 1937. She carried celebrities, dignitaries, and royalty across the Atlantic regularly.

On August 30th, 1939, the Queen Mary departed from Southampton bound for New York. The following day, Germany invaded Poland and the captain was ordered to operate under blackout conditions and set a zigzag course across the Atlantic to defend against the possibility of attack by German U-Boats. She remained in New York until March of 1940, when she set sail for Sydney, Australia to undergo conversion into a troop ship. Her luxurious furnishing were removed, replaced by bunks and hammocks. Her capacity went from 1,900 passengers to over 15,000 troops and she still holds the record for most passengers ever transported on one vessel , 16,638. By the end of the war she had carried almost 800,000 troops, and after the war she transported nearly 13,000 war brides and their children from Europe to America.

Two years after the war ended she was refitted and reentered passenger service, but by the 1960s jet travel had begun to render the great Atlantic liners obsolete. She was retired in 1967, and in September of that year completed her 1,000th and last crossing of the North Atlantic. Her last voyage was from New York, around Cape Horn South America, and into Long Beach Harbor.

Uploaded

September 20th, 2013

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