Queen Mary Model Ship
Just as the Great Depression began to take hold in Europe, Cunard-White Star
Line began production of the Queen Mary. After a delay of construction between
1931 and 1934, she was the second 1,000 foot ship to enter service, succeeding
only to the French Line’s sleek Normandie.
Considered to be the height of British passenger ship building, she earned handsome
profits for her owners during her active years. Unfortunately, with the outbreak
of World War II, the Queen Mary became idle, docking in New York for six months.
In March, she entered service again as a troopship ferrying troops between
Australia and Suez until the United States entered the war. She then began sailing
the North Atlantic, escaping German submarines with her speed as her only weapon.
Here she was nicknamed “the Gray Ghost.”
The Queen Mary passenger ship was the third largest ever to sail the North Atlantic
seaway and faster than any warship in service at the time. On October 2, 1942,
the Queen Mary rammed the HMS Curacoa; 346 were lost, only 26 saved as the Queen
Mary was not able to standby for a rescue.
The Queen Mary was the height of the British shipbuilding and the model for
the rest of the world to follow.
Click
on image above to view!
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