The Queen Mary

I suppose it makes sense that I start with this ship. I've worked aboard her as a tour guide for the past two years and have loved every moment of it.

The Queen Mary was built by the John Brown shipyard in Clyebank, Scotland and owned by the Cunard White Star Line (later just Cunard - as it remains today). She is more than double the size of the infamous Titanic at 81,237 GRT and 1,019.5 feet long. You could actually nestle Titanic in Queen Mary's bow. She could also hold about 3,200 people all together - that's 2,000 passengers and 1,200 crew.

The ship was named after Mary of Teck, the wife of Great Britain's King George V (the current queen's grandfather). She was heralded as the most luxurious liner ever built and operated between Southampton, England and New York City. Her maiden voyage began on May 27, 1936 and she ultimately took the transatlantic speed record (called the Blue Riband) away from her chief rival - France's Normandie.

When World War II began, however, the ship was pressed into service as a troop transport. Between 1940 and 1946 she carried more than 800,000 soldiers and sailed more than 600,000 miles - playing a role in virtually every major Allied campaign of the war. Adolf Hitler actually put up a $250,000 bounty and offered the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves to any U-Boat captain that could find and sink her. At one point in 1943, the Queen Mary transported 16,683 people at one time - a world record that still stands today.

The ship was restored to passenger service in July 1947 and spent the next 20 years as the "Grand Old Lady of the Sea." Anyone who was anyone sailed aboard either the Queen Mary or her younger - and larger - sister the Queen Elizabeth.

But the rise of affordable transatlantic air travel ended her career. By 1967 the loss of passengers and income forced the Cunard Line to put the Queen Mary up for auction.

The City of Long Beach purchased the ship for $3.45 million dollars with the intent of turning her into a floating museum and hotel. She arrived on December 9, 1967 and was converted from an ocean liner. All 27 of her boilers were removed, along with the forward engine room and both turbo generator rooms. There is no way that the Queen Mary can ever go anywhere again.

Many of her interiors have been preserved, however. The wheel house (seen above) looks magnificent as the sun glances off its brass telegraphs and antique wood.

The Main Hall, which was the First Class shopping area, serves in the same capacity today. Many of the displays have changed since this photo was taken last year, which has really enhanced the overall feel of this room.

The liner's staterooms are a part of the hotel nowadays, but - space permitting - you can see one on Behind-the-Scenes and Twilight Historical Tours. Many of them are similar to the photo above, but no two cabins aboard the Queen Mary are exactly alike. They are each unique and special in their own right.

The Travel Bureau on "M" Deck. This was where passengers could book passage on other Cunard ships or reserve hotel rooms ashore once the Queen Mary docked.

The Queen's Salon was the First Class Main Lounge - the social epicenter aboard the liner. It is the second largest room on the ship and is one of my personal favorites.

Also on display towards the bottom of the ship is one of the Queen Mary's four propellers. Each of these weigh 32 tons, yet turned three times a second when the ship was at full steam (that's 180 RPM!). The other three were removed and put on display elsewhere.

I actually talked about this in another one of my blogs.

All told, the Queen Mary is a real treasure when you consider that most of her contemporaries were broken up and sold for scrap. She serves as a symbol of days gone by - when ocean liners ruled and were "the only way to cross."

The Queen Mary's address is 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, CA 90802. Go to www.queenmary.com for more details.