World War 2 was a devastating period of human history.
The human environmental and economic costs of the war were enormous.
But at the end of the war, Sir Winston Churchill credited
two ships for helping shorten the war, by supporting the allied war effort.
I'm Chris Frame, and today we're going to be going back
to the dark days of WWII, to look at how two ships helped to
shorten the war and bring that terrible human conflict
to an end.
The two ships that we're looking at are the RMS. Queen Mary and
RMS Queen Elizabeth, two of the largest liners of their day, and the pride of
British engineering. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were
designed during the interwar years. At over 80 000 tons each,
both ships exceeded 1,000 feet in length and were the largest ocean liners of
their time. Built to carry roughly 3 000 people,
both passengers and crew, these ships carried upwards of 15,000
people during their WWII service.
Dwarfing the passenger capacity of today's largest cruise ships.
But more about that later in the video. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were
envisioned to be the largest passenger transports
in the world, with the goal of offering a two-ship
weekly transatlantic service. This was the age before mass air travel,
when ocean liners were the only way to cross.
At this time, the main mode of transportation for the majority of long
duration transcontinental travel was by ship. The North Atlantic was a
highly contested body of water and shipping lines on both sides of the
Atlantic had been battling it out for supremacy
since the middle of the 19th century. Queen Mary entered service in 1936
and her construction was not without its own dramas -
you can check out my video about the construction of the Queen Mary by
hitting the (i) or in the description box below. By 1938
Queen Mary was celebrated as the world's fastest ocean liner.
The newer Queen Elizabeth was to join Queen Mary in passenger service in 1940,
but WWII put a hold on that. Instead the Queen Elizabeth was sent to
New York in complete secrecy on her maiden voyage,
and I've also done a video about Queen Elizabeth's maiden voyage, which you can
check out in the description box below. By March of 1940, both liners were laid
up in NYC, awaiting orders, and they were not alone
with many other famous liners also berthed in the harbour -
including the iconic French Line Normandie.
Ocean Liners have been called into military service for about as long as
ocean liners have existed. In fact it's only relatively recently
that aircraft have been the main mode of transportation
for military movements around the world, with the majority of conflicts relying
on transport by ship to move both troops
and materials between different parts of the war zone.
This was certainly the case during World War II.
The Queen Mary was requisitioned by the British admiralty in March of 1940
while Queen Elizabeth was called up in November of that same year.
Both of these ships were converted into the world's largest troop carriers,
which the Admiralty hoped would be a great asset to the allies.
But how did they go about converting ships that were designed for the
luxurious transatlantic passage with their art deco refined interiors
into troop carriers? While Queen Elizabeth hadn't yet been
completed as a passenger liner, Queen Mary had been in active service
for several years, with her last peacetime voyage leaving
her berthed in NY. So the first thing that took place
onboard Queen Mary while she was berthed in New York was the removal of valuable
items from aboard the ship. This included the majority of furniture
carpets and art, as well as anything that resembled the
ship's luxurious origins. This kind of finery wouldn't be required
for her role as a troop ship. The ship's hull and superstructure were
painted grey (gray), and her name was painted over in the
hopes of making the world's most recognizable ocean liner a little bit
less recognisable. Queen Elizabeth had already been given a
similar paint job before she left the shipyard where she had been built.
Queen Mary then sailed for Sydney (Australia) arriving in the harbour on 17 April.
She was sent to the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company where the true
conversion work was undertaken. Queen Mary's public spaces were largely
repurposed, with many of the ship's onboard
amenities taking on a more utilitarian nature.
Space was of a premium on board so even the first class swimming pool was
converted, with bunks installed here as well as in
pretty much every other part of the ship that was available.
While the ship's dining rooms retained their meal time use,
the ambience and cuisine changed dramatically. The large first class
dining room became the main mess hall due to its large size, while offices were
welcomed into the smaller and more intimate tourist class dining
room. The ship's highly acclaimed international shopping promenade also
underwent a change, with military officers setting up shop
here, although the barber shop was retained with barbers on board
to see to the needs of the officers and the troops.
Now, despite being a luxurious ship the majority of the Queen Mary's staterooms
did not have private bathroom facilities, rather there were shared bathrooms
located down the hall. This probably made it easier for the
conversion process, because these spaces could be expanded
allowing for more bathroom space with the increased capacity.
Additionally they also increased the space of the galleys to allow for an
increased food service. Queen Elizabeth underwent a similar
conversion in Singapore. Structurally both ships were altered
with reinforced protective covers on the bridge windows,
sandbags were utilised to protect vulnerable areas
and there was the installation of degaussing coils to reduce the risk of
contact with sea mines. Furthermore both ships were fitted with
anti-aircraft guns - although in reality their speed of over
30 knots was their primary defense against enemy
attack. The conversion took two weeks for each ship,
a remarkably quick time frame when you think about the scale of works that was
done. Although Queen Elizabeth did require
some extra works to be completed when she arrived in Sydney.
After the conversion both ships could carry up to 10,000 people per voyage.
Queen Mary was completed first and departed Sydney on trooping voyages to
the middle east carrying Australian and New Zealand
troops. Queen Elizabeth joined her several months later and the
two ships sailed in convoys with other requisitioned ocean liners.
When the United States entered the war the Queens were redeployed to the North
Atlantic service, to aid in preparations for the D-Day
landings. Their original design - to undertake regular transatlantic
crossings - as well as their speed and their size made them perfect
candidates to assist in the movement of troops on the North
Atlantic Ocean. As the need to move more troops increased both ships were
altered to up their carrying capacity even further,
with both Queens regularly transporting over 15 000 people.
In fact the Queen Mary still holds the record to this day for the most people
carried on a ship - 16 683 people on a single crossing!!
As you might imagine the experience of sailing on the Cunard Queens during their
wartime service was very different to how it was advertised in the peacetime
brochures. It was considerably more crowded
so to maintain order and stability the ships were divided into three zones
with movement controlled through these zones. Keep in mind these ships were
designed to carry around about 3,000 people - that's both passengers and crew!
They also weren't huge ships by today's standards, although they were
giants for their time they were only about a third of the tonnage of the
Oasis Class of cruise ships, but they were carrying more than twice
the number of people that the Oasis Class carries.
Another thing to think about is that Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth retained
their Cunard-White Star Captains and Officers
for the duration of their wartime service, so the experience for the
officers and crew on board was very different!
And a lot more dangerous during the wartime service on the Queens.
Too fast for convoys and outrunning their escorts,
both Queens sailed solo across the Atlantic for the majority of their
voyages, maintaining high speeds throughout their
crossings this was their best defence - but it did
mean that they were alone in dangerous waters. In fact, unbeknown at the time
Queen Elizabeth passed in front of the periscope of an enemy U-Boat
while Queen Mary was involved in a tragic collision with the HMS Curaçao.
Both of these stories are best saved for another video - so let me know in the
comment section below if you're interested in hearing more about Queen
Mary and Queen Elizabeth's wartime service.
Although Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were by no means the only ocean liners
being used for trooping services during WWII, their sheer size and the
number of people they could transport and the speed in which they could make
the crossing had a big impact on the allied war effort.
The troop carrying capacity of the Cunard Queens was, and still is, unmatched!
Never before have two ships carried so many people
in such a relatively short period of time. Their unique characteristics of
size and speed, as well as the navigational skill and
professionalism that the Cunard-White Star team brought to their operation
allowed the Allies to move entire divisions in a single crossing.
Something that had never been possible in any past conflict.
In fact at the height of their service the Queens were transporting over
30,000 US. and Canadian troops per month and the Queens were responsible for
transporting half of the allied divisions involved in the
D-Day landings! It was this impact and the advantage that it gave to the
Allies that led Sir Winston Churchill to acknowledge the Cunard Queens as
having helped shorten the war, saying in a letter to Cunard Chairman Sir
Percy Bates that without their aid 'the day of final
victory must unquestionably have been postponed,' When their wartime
Atlantic service came to an end the two ships had moved more than 1.25
million people, but their service to the war effort was not over.
In fact after the war the Queens completed a stint as repatriation
vessels, joining other Cunard-White Star Liners
including Aquitania, Britannic and the second Mauretania in
transporting troops and war brides across the Atlantic. In
1947 the two Queens were able to enter transatlantic service as passenger liners,
on that two-ship weekly transatlantic service. The ships were famous
on both sides of the Atlantic as well as across the world. In fact in many
respects they were as famous as many of the famous passengers
who sailed on them during the golden age of travel. The two
Queens maintained a weekly transatlantic service until the
middle of the 1960s, and have gone down history as being two
of the finest ships to ever transit the North Atlantic ocean.
Fortunately with the end of WWII, we have never since needed ships to
carry such numbers in a wartime scenario, and the Queens will hopefully remain as
the largest troop transports the world has ever known.
Thanks so much for watching. I hope you found the video interesting. These two
ships are two of the most spectacular ships in the
world, in my opinion, and I really do enjoy sharing their
story. So if you'd like to hear more about the Queens,
you can either check out my website at www.chriscunard.com or let me know in the
comments below what else you'd like to know
about Cunard's famous Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
If you're interested in their backstory don't forget to check out my videos
about the constructions and maiden voyages of both of these ships -
I've linked them in the description below. If you're interested in what's
going on in the cruising world at the moment
check out my cruise news playlist or if you're more interested in more
maritime history- including looking at the Carpathia, the ship that saved the
Titanic survivors or the QE2, the successor to the original
Queens, check out my maritime history playlist.
Thanks again for watching and when we are next able to set sail, I
hope to see you on board.
(Music)