On the second day of our trip, we visited the R.M.S. Queen Mary in Long Beach. In addition to its significance as a luxury liner and a World War II troop carrier, the Queen Mary has particular significance for Steve because his dad traveled from England to the U.S. on the ship after living in England for several years as a boy.
When the ship was retired from service in 1967, the city of Long Beach purchased it and turned it into a tourist attraction, museum, hotel, and event facility (there’s even a wedding chapel). The next highest bidder wanted to use it for scrap metal, so we are pretty lucky Long Beach won and we can still see it. In addition to the general self-guided audio tour, the Queen Mary offers a guided Behind-the-Scenes Tour (focusing on the ship’s history and service as a passenger liner), a WWII Tour, and a Haunted Encounters Tour (which we were told is the most popular and happens to be the one we did not do). As part of our ticket package, we also got to walk through a Cold War era Soviet submarine docked along side the Queen Mary.
We started with the Behind-the-Scenes Tour. By far the best thing about it was our tour guide. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but he is featured on the Queen Mary website. He looks like a ship’s captain there, but he’s really a tour guide. Probably the most animated tour guide you’ve ever seen in your life. He didn’t just give us the tour, he performed it. Every word was slowly and clearly enunciated with flair. This was most evident in his explanation of the different classes of passengers.
You see, from the movie Titanic, most people think first class passengers are on the upper decks, second class passengers in the middle decks, and third class passengers below. Not so on the Queen Mary. Rather, the class section was determined by “smoooooooothness of the ride. Smoooooooooothness of the ride. Smoooooooothness of the ride . . .” and you get the idea. I wish I could convey the gestures that went with it, sort of a slow horizontal movement with the hands. Anyway, the smoothest ride was the center of the ship on all the decks from top to bottom. Second class was toward the aft (they got engine vibration). Third class got stuck with the bow because, in rough seas, it had a tendency to go “DOOOOOWWWN into the waves! DOOOOWWWN into the waves! DOOOOWWWN into the waves!” Pretend your hand is a ship and plunge it DOOOOWWWN into the waves and you get the idea.
Speaking of the Titanic, which ship do you think is bigger, the Queen Mary or the Titanic? Turns out Titanic was only a big movie, and the ship could fit inside the Queen Mary 1 1/2 times.
Ok, back to the tour. The Behind-the-Scenes Tour was mostly through areas of the ship that are not open and on the self-guided tour. Unfortunately, many of these spaces were dark and my flash was less than helpful, so the pictures were really bad. I did get decent pictures of the first class suite we looked at. I thought the living room was quite spacious, for being on a boat.
You might notice that there are four valves by the tub/shower in this next picture. Apparently, at the time, people believed salt water baths provides great health benefits, so you had hot and cold fresh water, and hot and cold salt water.
The bedroom, also rather spacious, for being on a boat.
And finally, the HVAC, a.k.a. a fan.
One of the other visitors on the tour asked why the ship didn’t use a steam heat system, seeing as it is a steam ship. Our guide didn’t miss a beat. They couldn’t use steam heat because the ship was extensively decorated with woods from various parts of the British Empire. This piece of inlaid wood artwork showcases more than 30 of the 50-some different species of wood used on the ship
This artwork is also a good example of the Art Deco style used throughout the ship. Art Deco style flourished in the 30s and the WWII era, the heyday of the Queen Mary. Art Deco is very ornamental, and part of the style’s success was in response to the forced austerity of WWII. Its distinguishing characteristics include varied materials like aluminum, stainless steel, chrome, lacquer, and inlaid wood, and motifs like geometric curves, stepped patterns, chevrons, fountains, and sunbursts.
This area was kind of a mini-shopping mall when the ship was running, and it still is, just mostly with cheesy souvenir stuff. You can see the step pattern and geometric curves in the ceiling detail. Oh, and the cove lighting is pretty cool too.
I loved this mirror. Look at the etched curves!
We ate lunch after the Behind-the-Scenes Tour. I paid $6 for a little hot dog, a small non-refillable soda, and small bag of chips. Doesn’t even come close to Costco’s buck-fifty dog and soda. But look at the view we enjoyed while we ate! You won’t find that at Costco.
After lunch we went on the WWII tour. The threat of U-Boats made it too dangerous for the Queen Mary to continue to operate as a luxury liner between Britain and the U.S., but with a few modifications, it could effectively operate as a troop transport. They removed all the luxury furnishings and added bunks, mounted some guns on the decks, and painted it Navy gray, which, in combination with its speed, earned it the moniker the “Grey Ghost.” (“Grey” instead of “gray” because it’s a British ship.)
The Queen Mary carried up to 15,000 troops at a time, five times the number of passengers it could carry as a luxury liner. As such, it did not have nearly enough lifeboats to accommodate all of them. Luckily for the troops, it was never an issue, and the ship never fired its guns outside of training or morale-building exercises.
The look-outs manning the crow’s nest had it good. Unlike most, this one was covered and heated.
At the other end of the ship, the sole remaining propeller, in a special viewing tank so guests can see it under the water. And yes, that’s a beer bottle floating there. Some people are so awesome.
I don’t have much to say about the Soviet submarine, the Scorpion. I’ve been on the U.S.S. Pampanito in San Francisco and the U.S.S. Bowfin at Pearl Harbor (both WWII-era U.S. subs) and found both of those to be more interesting.
And that’s about it! It took us a lot longer to see and do everything than I thought it would, and we didn’t even do the haunted ship tour. A fun, tiring day.
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Awesome recounting of your day! Thanks for preserving it for posterity!
G