THE launch of the Queen Mary, in September 1934, had gone perfectly.
The Queen herself, accompanied by King George V and the Prince of Wales, had named the vessel, at Clydebank’s John Brown yard, watched by a huge crowd. The Glasgow Herald described the Cunard-White Star liner as “the greatest ship the world had ever seen”and said of the launch that “in exactly 54 seconds the greatest weight ever set in motion by human command was safely transferred from the solid ground to the less stable element.”
Much remained to be done on the liner, however. The installation of the boilers began shortly after the launch: later came the installation of the engines and the heavy machinery.
The picture, taken in November 1935, shows men working on the Queen Mary’s deck.
The liner attracted many celebrities during its life at sea. Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Bob Hope and Greta Garbo all had cause to marvel at its Art Deco-influenced interior design.
Winston Churchill sailed across the Atlantic three times on the Queen Mary during the war, and even signed the D-Day Declaration on board the ship.
The Clydebuilt-liner has for decades been a major hotel, event location and tourist attraction in Long Beach, California. A new Churchill-themed exhibition has in fact just been opened on the Queen Mary.
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