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RMS Queen Mary was the first British ‘super liner’ (with a length of over 1,000ft), completed just before the Second World War, and serving into the 1960s. From a military point of view she is of interest because she served as a troop ship during the Second World War, alongside her slightly newer sister RMS Queen Elizabeth, carrying nearly one million soldiers around the world, relying on her high speed to avoid the enemy.
This book takes an interesting approach to the Queen Mary, organising the text into 101 questions and answers, most of them fairly short. This covers everything from her building and technology to the details of the children’s playrooms, her wartime service, her post-war return to the passenger service, and her life in ‘retirement’ in Long Beech. The only section that breaks from this format looks at the problems faced by each of the companies that have run her in retirement, a lengthy list of enthusiastic arrivals and bankrupt departures, half completed repairs and various troubles. This started with the original conversion from a liner into a tourist attraction, which went over-budget, over-ran in time, and in areas was only partly completed. However the author does take time to point out that she has been a major tourist attraction for most of that time, with fond memories for many people, and that she’s been moored at Long Beach for longer than she was an active ship!
The war years chapter looks at her use as a troop ship. This saw her carry vast numbers of people, including setting a record of 16,683 people in a trip in 1943, a record that has never been beaten (twice as many as fit on the largest modern cruise ships)! She also went into parts of the world she wasn’t designed for, suffering from problems because of a lack of air conditioning (not needed in the North Atlantic!). We look at the conditions for normal troops and for officers, which were as different as you might expect. Also covered is a tragic accident when she collided with the cruiser HMS Curacoa, cutting her in half. Only 99 of her over 300 crew survived.
This is an interesting little book, covering a lot of ground in its 101 questions, and giving a fascinating insight into what life was like on this massive liner, both in war and in peace.
Chapters
A Short History of RMS Queen Mary
Queen Mary Timeline
Queen Mary Fact File
Building and Launch
Design and Technology
Crew and Passengers
Life Aboard
The War Years
End of an Era
A New Beginning
Queen Mary Today
Heavy Weather
Author: David Ellery
Edition: Paperback
Pages:
Publisher: Aldard Coles
Year: