The Cunard Line began construction of the Queen Mary in 1930 when the luxury liner was known simply as “Job No. 534.” The expensive project was stalled for more than two years because of the Great Depression and was restarted in 1934 with a loan from the British government.
The Queen Mary set sail on her maiden voyage on May 27, 1936, from Southampton to New York City. At the time, she was the second-largest passenger ship in the world behind the Normandie, a French luxury liner.
The Queen Mary operated a weekly transatlantic passenger service until World War II, when she was converted for military service. Painted gray for camouflage, the Queen Mary could transport 16,000 troops at speeds exceeding 30 knots (35 miles per hour), earning her the nickname “Grey Ghost.”
After the war, the Queen Mary returned to civilian service, sailing a weekly route between New York and Southampton until 1967, when air travel effectively sank the passenger ship business. In retirement, the Queen Mary found a second life as a tourist destination. The city of Long Beach, California, bought the Queen Mary in 1967 for $3.4 million and turned her into a floating hotel, museum and conference center.
According to legend, at the Queen Mary’s launching ceremony in 1934, English psychic Lady Mabel Fortescue-Harrison predicted, “The Queen Mary will know her greatest fame and popularity when she never sails another mile or carries another fare-paying passenger.”
For 31 years, the Queen Mary transported 2.2 million passengers and 810,000 military personnel. Since docking in Long Beach, the Queen Mary has welcomed more than 50 million visitors.
