RMS Queen Mary is an ocean liner from the Cunard Line in service from 1936 to 1967. Propelled by four screws, each moved by a collection of high-speed steam turbines, Queen Mary offered the fastest civilian Atlantic crossings available. Her record setting voyage of 3 days, 21 hours earned her the Blue Riband which she held for 14 years. Unlike many of the other liners of the day, Queen Mary survived her service life and found a permanent home along the coast of Long Beach, California, where she now accommodates hotel guests, numerous restaurants, tourists, and a community center built into her forward engine room and aft boiler rooms.
On Sunday morning, I drove up to Long Beach along the Pacific Coast Highway to spend as much of the day as possible exploring Queen Mary's decks and interior spaces, hoping to see as much of the ship as possible. Displacing 81,000 tons and with a length of 1,020 ft, I would surely run out of daylight long before I ran out of things to see.
Hopefully this blog post captures some of the highlights of my visit.
Forward well deck, superstructure, and bridge of RMS Queen Mary
Port side showing bridge wing, hull, and superstructure.
Various controls and telegraphs in the aft engine room. The forward engine room housing propulsion machinery for the outer screws has been emptied of contents, and a public area has been constructed in its place. I think they may have removed part of the bulkhead separating it from the aft-most boiler room.
Controls and telegraphs in the aft engine room. The telegraph is how the bridge suggests a speed and direction to the engineers who actually adjust the steam valves accordingly. Turbines aren't typically reversible, so a separate set of high-pressure and intermediate pressure turbines are provided for moving astern. Note, the "astern" valves are open in spite of the request to move "ahead slow;" this is an unrealistic configuration.
The engine room is large, and structural elements are clearly visible. Several of the turbines and gearboxes are in place and exposed revealing large cast iron gearing and the lowest-pressure turbine rotor. The author appreciates seeing exposed machinery.
Looking forward along the port side at the Promenade (A) Deck level. Many of the internal passage ways inside the ship are blocked, so getting from the engine room to the promenade deck can only be completed by this external catwalk system. Lame.
It's a long way down from the boat deck to the water line. Ripples indicate 1 on the Beaufort scale.
Looking forward, view of B deck, forward well deck, and the forecastle. The rifle battery is an homage to her WWII service. Queen Mary holds the record for largest number of people transported on a ship at any given time (16,000 or so).
I never look happy about anything. I am, though.
Queen Mary's outer port propeller is still on its shaft. A tank built around the ship and illumination sources make it visible. It's an incredible sight. In viewing this, I realized QM is actually grounded and not afloat making her immune to the tides and quite stationary.
I was clearly here all day.
RMS Queen Mary's bridge.
More images are visible in this directory.
1 comment:
thanks for the shots!
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