How Queen Mary beat the Great Depression to become the greatest ocean liner of her time.

RMS. Queen Mary has a troubled start. Her construction was stopped because of the Great Depression. Queen Mary’s eventual completion helped save Cunard and UK Shipbuilding from the impacts of the Depression and led to the creation of Cunard-White Star Line! — In the 1920s, Cunard Line made plans for an 80,000-ton ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary, to replace the ageing Cunard ships Mauretania and Berengaria. At over 1000ft long and powered by steam turbines, the new RMS. Queen Mary was laid down in December 1930 at John Brown in Clydebank as Hull No. 534. In 1933, Cunard and White Star entered into merger negotiations due to the impact of the Great Depression. The negotiations took some time to work out, but by 1934, an agreement was reached, establishing Cunard-White Star Line. UK Government funds were made available to recommence work on RMS. Queen Mary, allowing thousands of people to return to John Browns to work on building the RMS. Queen Mary. Her Majesty Queen Mary named the new Cunard RMS. Queen Mary at a launching ceremony in September 1934. The launch took place on a rainy day with hundreds of thousands of spectators there to see the RMS. Queen Mary launched. The launch of RMS. Queen Mary was a momentous occasion. As the ship was launched, she captured the hopes and dreams of the British public. The Queen Mary was a symbol of the strength and resilience of the United Kingdom. Queen Mary’s maiden voyage was a spectacular occasion. The ship was delayed during the crossing by a thick fog bank – meaning Queen Mary didn’t capture the speed record from the French Line's Normandie on her maiden voyage, but Queen Mary did capture it later in 1936. While the French Line's Normandie would later improve on RMS. Queen Mary’s crossing time, in 1938 Cunard's RMS. Queen Mary captured the record once and for all – both eastbound and westbound – and held onto it until 1952. Watch the video to learn all about RMS. Queen Mary - Building Britain’s Flagship! Construction and Launch of Cunard’s Queen Mary. Image References / License Details: Many of the images in this video are thanks to: - Ian Boyle / Simplon Post Cards (http://http://www.simplonpc.co.uk), - Rob Henderson & Doug Cremer Collection (https://bit.ly/3fujesC) and, - Colin Hargreaves. Where these images appear they are acknowledged as so. Other image references as follows: 1) HM. Queen Mary / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/2AtFGUa 2) Queen Mary / CC2.0 Altair78 Derivative Work / https://bit.ly/2ULUuEi 3) Mauretania / Tyne & Wear Archive / https://bit.ly/2Cb69q5 4) Berengaria / Tyne & Wear Archive / https://bit.ly/3dXXTrg 5) Europa & Bremen / Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09397 / CC-BY-SA 3.0/ https://bit.ly/30HUn0w 6) SS Bremen (1929) / Drawn by John Conway, 2004, and released under GFDL / https://bit.ly/3d5FJ5A 7) Bremen / Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-11081 / Georg Pahl / CC-BY-SA 3.0 / https://bit.ly/2YxoDbC 8. Oceanic / Anton Logvynenko / CC4.0 / https://bit.ly/2YOIJOX 9. Great Depression / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/2YErtLU 10. Mauretania / Tyne & Wear Archive / https://bit.ly/3d49Bzc 11. Unemployment / Chinmaya S Padmanabha / CC4.0 / https://bit.ly/3fpRBRD 12. Normandie / Albert Julius Szunyog / CC3.0 / https://bit.ly/3e3voZm 13. Normandie / San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive / https://bit.ly/3e1eV7S 14. Rex / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/2ArxljS 15. Europa / Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09251 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 / https://bit.ly/2YxMd8k 16. Normandie / State Library of Queensland / https://bit.ly/3fslX6a 17. Normandie / Albert Julius Szunyog / Altair78 / CC3.0 18. Cunard White Star / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/2AEhCxN 19. (Missed! Oops!) 20. Sunset on Titan Crane / Mark Harkin / CC.2.0 / https://bit.ly/2UL1Zva 21. Queen Victoria / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/3fsvR7Q 22. Sir Percy Bates / Public Domain / https://bit.ly/30UfM6T All uncredited images are Frame/Cross. Bibliography: - Fact Ref [1] - more details can be found: Frank Osborn Braynard, ‎William H. Miller (1991) "Picture History of the Cunard Line", - Fact Ref [2] - more details can be found: William H. Miller Jr. (2012) "Picture History of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth", - Fact Ref [3] - more details can be found: William H. Miller Jr. (2012) "Picture History of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth". Other references : - Book / 180 Years of Cunard: https://www.chriscunard.com/180yearsofcunard - Book / The Evolution of the Transatlantic Liner: https://bit.ly/3hztOQV - Book / Picture History of the Cunard Line: https://bit.ly/2UO0uws - Book / Picture History of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: https://bit.ly/2UQivu9 Music / Sound Effects: Youtube Audio. Thumbnail Photo: Colin Hargreaves. Original Thumbnail Image: Simplon Postcards. Original Thumbnail Arrow: Jesse Pinkman CC Attribution via Adobe Spark / The Noun Project #cunard #queenmary #history #rmsqueenmary #queenmary2 #cunardline #greatdepression