How does the RMS Queen Mary compare to the RMS Titanic? I thought this might be an interesting
topic to discuss simply because the ships are so different yet so similar. First,
I want to give a brief overview of the two ships and their story for those who are new
to the ocean liner topic, then I’ll get into some basic comparisons of size, accommodations,
and engines. Please note that I do not consider myself an expert on ocean liners, I’m just a fan,
and this video is just for entertainment. Also, there aren’t enough images of the Titanic out
there, so some pictures and video will be of her nearly identical sister ship, the RMS Olympic. Ok,
with that out of the way, let’s begin! I’m sure you already know the story of the
RMS Titanic, she and her sister ships the Olympic and the Brittanic were constructed at Harland and
Wolff shipyards in Belfast, Ireland, and were owned by the White Star Line. The Titanic was
the largest ship in the world at the time of her maiden voyage, which set sail from Southampton,
England on April 10th, 1912. She struck an iceberg on her way to New York and subsequently sank in
the early morning hours of April 15th, 1912, killing 1,517 of the nearly 2200 souls on board.
Even less of you know the story of the RMS Queen Mary, she and her sister ship the RMS Queen
Elizabeth were constructed at John Brown Shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and were owned by the
merged Cunard White Star company. She was intended to be the largest ship in the world but the SS
Normandie added over 3,000 tons to her size just so the Mary could not claim that title.
Nevertheless, the Queen Mary had her maiden voyage on May 27th, 1936, capturing the coveted
Blue Ribband just two years later, making her the fastest ocean liner in the world
for 14 years. She was used as an armed troopship during World War II, carrying whole divisions of
soldiers at a time. She still holds the record for most souls onboard a single voyage: 16,683 people.
The Queen Mary retired 10 years early in 1967, because she couldn’t keep up
with the airline industry. Today she sits as a tourist attraction in Long Beach, California.
For those that don’t know, these vessels are not cruise ships, they are ocean liners,
built for ferrying passengers across the sometimes dangerous North Atlantic. These
two vessels with their primitive technology and design could easily outrun a modern cruise ship
and survive a powerful ocean storm that would otherwise rip a cruise ship apart.
And that is an important distinction.
And now, for the first comparison between the two ships: size. Unfortunately, many people still
think the Titanic is the largest ship ever built, and this is where I have to burst that bubble.
The Titanic’s length measured 269 meters or 882 feet, and she had a width of 28 meters or 92 feet.
She weighed 52,310 long tons. Compare that to the Queen Mary which measures a length of 310.5
meters or 1,019 feet, her beam is 36 meters or 118 feet in width,
and lastly, she weighed 77,400 long tons. The Mary has 12 decks and two swimming
pools split between the three classes, while the Titanic had only 10 decks and one swimming pool,
accessible only to first-class passengers. The Titanic had a capacity of 2,435 passengers
and 892 crew members for a total of 3,327 people. Whereas the Queen Mary’s capacity
held 2,139 passengers and 1,101 crew, for a total of 3,240 people. That’s right, despite the Queen
Mary’s incredible size difference she held 87 less people than Titanic, and the reason why
brings us to the next comparison.
We’ll now compare the passenger accommodations between the ships. Both ships were split into
three classes, to simplify, we’ll call them first, second, and third classes. However, the first
thing we must distinguish is how these classes changed in the 24 years between these ships.
During the days of the Titanic, the Edwardian era was coming to a close, but the wealthy were
still treated like society’s royalty, while the working class was treated like peasants. When the
Queen Mary first set sail, people had already been through the first World War and had survived the
Great Depression; events that humbled society and narrowed the divide between the classes.
On the Queen Mary, first-class passengers still enjoyed a more modest luxury, while third-class
were entitled to more comfort than ever before. When it comes to the Titanic we’re used to
seeing the first-class rooms look like they belong in a palace, but only some of the
first-class staterooms appeared like that, the rest were more modest with exposed ceilings.
The Queen Mary was similar, most of her first-class staterooms were also individually
designed with their own artistic style, but yet there were also more affordable options.
On the Titanic, most of the first-class passengers had to share toilets with others,
just as the second and third class had to, but on the Queen Mary, every first-class stateroom had
its own toilet and tub. It was a different story for the second-class, some had their own toilets,
but others had to share. In third class, sometimes 5 cabins would have to share a single bathroom.
But at least on the Queen Mary, third-class passengers were able to keep their own staterooms,
because, on the Titanic, third-class passengers often had to share a cramped space with strangers,
not to mention the community toilets. This is why the Titanic held more passengers,
it was simply because the Queen Mary was designed to give all the classes more elbow room.
The Titanic had a wonderful first-class dining saloon with bright interiors and
carved wood pilasters, this is vastly different from the Queen Mary’s first-class Main Restaurant
which prized its warm glow and golden Peroba wood paneling.
On Titanic, first-class passengers could enjoy dining at the “a la carte” restaurant, the Queen
Mary had an equivalent as well, it was called the Verandah Grill, and was quite exclusive.
The Cafe Parisien was a great place for Titanic passengers to grab a snack and enjoy tea, which is a contrast
to the Queen Mary’s Observation bar, where guests enjoyed pricey libations in a high-end atmosphere.
Titanic’s third-class smoking room was rather bare-bones, but the dark wood paneling was at
least comfortable and familiar. Now, compare that to the Queen Mary’s third-class smoking
room which was furnished with comfortable furniture and had more personality.
Titanic's third-class general room acted as a sort of lounge and was also quite sparse, but on the Queen Mary,
the third-class had two lounges: the main lounge, and a decorative garden lounge.
Titanic’s swimming pool was among the first swimming pools ever built on an ocean liner,
and as such was understandably somewhat lackluster with exposed steel bulkheads, support structures,
and light bulbs. However, the first-class swimming pool on the Queen Mary is dramatically different,
with its upper balcony, glazed eggshell tiles, double-sided staircase,
and mother of pearl ceiling. This swimming pool was used by the third class passengers as well.
The next matter in this comparison video is the
propulsion of these two great ships, which differ greatly between them, but yet have similarities.
The Titanic’s engines operated on steam power which was generated by the 29 scotch boilers
they had. There were three engines, two of them were quadruple cylinder triple expansion
reciprocating engines, and the third was a low-pressure Parson’s steam turbine.
When steam entered the triple expansion engines, it powered a high-pressure cylinder, which
exhausted into an intermediate pressure cylinder, which then exhausted into two low-pressure
cylinders. The spent steam from both engines was then exhausted into the parson’s turbine
blowing across its rows of blades causing it to spin like a pinwheel. Each triple expansion engine
could produce 15,000 shaft horsepower, with the parsons turbine generating 16,000, for a combined
engine output of 46,000 horsepower which pushed the Titanic at its maximum speed of 23 knots.
In contrast, the Queen Mary used 4 sets of engines to drive her four propellers. Each of the engines
consisted of four Parson’s turbines. Steam from the Queen Mary’s 24 yarrow boilers entered a
high-pressure turbine, which exhausted into an intermediate pressure turbine, which exhausted
into a second intermediate-pressure turbine, which then exhausted into a low-pressure turbine.
The high speed of the turbines was sent through a single reduction gearbox, converting it to 53,000
horsepower. The four sets of engines could produce a combined maximum of 212,000 shaft horsepower,
which drove the Queen Mary at her highest achievable speed of 32.84 knots.
Naturally, you’d think a ship like the Queen Mary would have larger propellers,
but actually, the Titanic had bigger ones. The Mary had four quadruple-bladed screw propellers
that each measured 20 feet in diameter (which is 6 meters) and weighed 35 tons. The Titanic
on the other hand, had 3 propellers, the two triple-bladed outward screws measured 7.2
meters in diameter which is 23.5 feet, and they weighed 38 tons. The central propeller
was driven by the parson’s turbine, and it was 5.2 meters in diameter which is 17 feet.
The propellers on both the Queen Mary and the Titanic were made of manganese bronze,
which was somewhat resilient against the corrosive nature of seawater.
Well, everyone, I hope this was fun and enlightening. Again I am no expert on
ocean liners, I just love sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm with others.
The Queen Mary is often compared unfairly to the Titanic, and so I thought it was only natural to
compare both ships without bias. I know many people think the Queen Mary is lackluster in
comparison, but honestly, I think that depends on which architectural style you like more. Just
because the Queen Mary wasn’t built with Edwardian taste, doesn’t mean her Art Deco style was any
less luxurious for her time.
Thank you all for watching, please like and subscribe for more content and I’ll see you next time.