What was the name of the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean? The Britannia or the opening of the Transatlantic line. Steamship "Great East"

Since the advent of transoceanic passenger lines (established in the 1840s for regular passenger transport between continents), the passenger liners serving them have been rather slow to "gain weight": the tonnage of a typical 19th century steamship liner usually amounted to only a few thousand registered tons. After the first unsuccessful experience of creating a giant steamship - we are talking about a British liner Great Eastern 1858 (tonnage 18,915 register tons) - shipping companies have long been wary of building large ships. Only at the end of the 1880s did the first passenger steamships with a size of more than 10,000 registered tons begin to appear (a total of 37 of these were built before 1900), then in 1901 the first liner with a tonnage of more than 20,000 tons appeared - CelticWhite Star company, and in 1907 they appearedLusitania And Mauretania"Cunard", breaking the 30,000 tons mark. In 1911, the 40,000 ton milestone was finally crossed: the White Star Line launched the first giant liner of the 20th century - Olympic measuring 45,324 register tons, designed to serve the Southampton-New York passenger line.





The first giant liner turned out to be a lucky ship - even a meeting with a German submarine in the First World War ended with the sinking of not the giant liner, but the German submarine itself;Olympic quietly worked on the North Atlantic lines until 1935, after which he died the natural death of the ship - it was written off for scrap metal. But Olympic's siblings became infamous. ABOUT the fate of the liner launched in 1911 Titanic there is no need to say much - the whole world knows that this ship died on its very first voyage, taking more than 1,500 lives with it to the bottom.
Titanic, 46,328 tons

The third of the brothers turned out to be a little luckier - Britannic(48,158 tons). Launched in 1914, due to the outbreak of war, she did not have time to work on passenger lines, but in 1915 she was converted into a hospital ship for the British Navy and, as such, made five voyages to the Eastern Mediterranean. The sixth flight in November 1916 turned out to be fatal: Britannic died in the Aegean Sea after being blown up by an enemy mine, becoming the most large ship, sunk in the First world war; 30 people died along with the ship.

"Cunard" - the eternal competitor of the "White Star" - could not help but react to the creation of three giant ships at once by its rival. In 1913, the company launched its first giant liner - it was Aquitaniawith a tonnage of 45,647 tons, plied the seas from 1914 to 1949, surviving both world wars; by the end of the 30s, the liner remained the only operating four-pipe ship in the world.

Aquitania compared to the United States Capitol

The creation by the British of four giants at once prompted the German shipping company Hamburg-America to create their own super-large passenger liners, surpassing the ships of the British. The first of the "Big Three" in 1913 was Imperator(52,117 tons), then they were launched Vaterland("Vaterlyand", 54,282 tons) and Bismarck(56,551 t). Due to the war that began in August 1914, the first of the brothers had very little time to sail on the Hamburg-New York line, and Bismarck and never once went on a flight under the German flag. Since the beginning of the war Vaterland was blocked in New York and in 1917 went to the Americans; after the war, two other ships had to be given to the British as reparation payments.

Imperator went to the Cunard company and received the name Berengaria


Bismarck was given to White Star Line and given the name Majestic. In 1914-1935, it held the title of the largest ship in the world.




Vaterland remained with the Americans under a new name Leviathan and until 1934 sailed on the New York-Cherbourg-Southampton-Hamburg line

The First World War dealt a strong blow to transatlantic passenger shipping: only by the end of the 20s did passenger traffic between North America and Europe again exceeded the mark of 1,000,000 passengers per year (for comparison, in 1913, 2.6 million passengers crossed the Atlantic). Then, by the end of the 20s, the rivalry between shipping companies in Europe revived again. The German company Norddeutscher Lloyd used money received from the United States (it was compensation payments for the German ships confiscated in 1917) decided to create two new giant liners:
Bremen Built 1928, 51,656 register tons


And Europa 1930, 49,746 tons.

The new German liners turned out to be the most technically advanced ships of their time - Bremen the first of the giant ships to become the owner of the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic (before him, giant liners did not show speed records), and Europa- second. Both record-breaking airliners served German passenger lines until 1939, then the war began. Bremen did not survive the war (it burned down in 1941), but Europa in 1945 it became a trophy of the Americans, who gave this liner to France as compensation for the Normandy they burned (more about it below). The French have a name Liberte this liner sailed until 1962, when it was scrapped.

And the French themselves did not sit idle in the late 20s. In 1927 it was put into operation Ile de France- the first French giant liner (43,153 tons). To the one who created it French Line l einer worked more than 30 years.


Photo after World War II.


Then in 1930 the French launched L"Atlantique, 40,945 tons - the first giant liner designed to operate on non-North Atlantic lines ( L"Atlantique sailed on the line Bordeaux - Rio de Janeiro - Buenos Aires). The hull of this vessel was designed by Russian engineer Vladimir Ivanovich Yurkevich. A distinctive feature of the two French giants was the magnificent innovative interior design in the Art Deco style. Unlike Ile de France this ship lived a very short life.


Finally, in the early 30s, a completely new player appeared in the race of giant steamships - Italy, where, on the initiative of the ambitious leader Benito Mussolini, shipping companies began creating two new large-scale liners. The first to be launched Rex(51,062 tons).


Then was lowered Conte di Savoia, 48,502 tons. Since 1932, both liners sailed on the Genoa-New York line. The most famous of the two Italian brothers was Rex, which was captured from the Germans in 1933 Blue ribbon. Smaller Conte di Savoia I didn’t set any speed records. On the line o ba liners were operated until the spring of 1940, then after Italy entered the war they were laid up and ingloriously died under the bombs of Anglo-American planes.
Conte di Savoia



Britain also joined the renewed race: overtaking the temporarily lagging Cunard and White Star, the Canadian Pacific company distinguished itself - in 1931 it launched a liner on the Southampton-Quebec-Montreal line Empress of Britain(42,348 register tons). In September 1939, the ship was requisitioned for the British Navy and was sunk by a German submarine in October 1940, becoming the Kriegsmarine's largest casualty of the Second World War.



For giant liners, 1932 became a kind of acme - then 12 ships with a tonnage of more than 40,000 registered tons each plied the waters of the Atlantic Ocean at once; in descending order of tonnage starting with the largest:

Majestic

Leviathan

Berengaria

Conte di Savoia

Aquitania

Ile de France

Empress of Britain

L"Atlantique
However, 1932 certainly couldn’t be called a happy time for trans-Atlantic shipping - the Great Depression was raging, so that year only 751,592 transatlantic passengers, by 1934 their number had completely dropped to 460,000. After 1932, the size of the “League of Giants” began to sharply thin out: after sailing for only 15 months in January 1933 , in the second half of the 1930s they were taken out of service and scrappedOlympicand three captured Germans (Leviathan,Majestic And Berengaria); Aquitaniaremained the only giant ship of the 1910s in service.
But they were replaced by a more than worthy replacement - three supergiant airliners measuring more than 80,000 register tons each.

The first of them was a French liner Normandie, which set out on its first voyage in May 1935. This liner became the most Russian of the giant ships of the 20th century: the ship’s hull was designed by the already mentioned engineer Vladimir Yurkevich,the unsinkability system for the Normandy was developed by other Russian engineers - I.P. Poluektov, I.N. Bokhanovsky and B.S. Verzhebsky, the propellers for the ship were developed by another Russian emigrant, Alexander Kharkevich, and the artist Alexander Yakovlev took part in creating the luxurious interior of the ship. At the time of creation, the tonnage of the vessel was 79,280 tons, but then the tonnage was increased to 83,423 tons; up to 1940Normandieheld the title of the largest passenger ship in the world and at the same time in 1935-36 and 1937-38 she held the title of the fastest ship in the world - the Blue Riband of the Atlantic - became the first, after the Lusitania and Mauritania, the passenger ship of the twentieth century to beat both a magnitude record and a speed record.








But Normandiewas not destined to live a long life - in August 1939 the liner arrived in New York and got stuck here due to the outbreak of war in Europe; in December 1941, after the United States entered the war, the liner was requisitioned by the American government, and the liner was re-equipped for military transport. In the midst of work in February 1942, a fire broke out on the ship, 1 person died, and along with him, theNormandie.

Main rivalNormandiein the second half of the 30s she became an EnglishwomanQueen Mary(1936, 81,237 tons) of the new merged company Cunard White Star.


The length of the liner was 311 meters


The liner survived World War II and continued to operate on the Southampton-New York line after the war from 1949-1967; for 15 whole years this ship held, not without difficulty, what it had taken fromNormandieAtlantic Blue Ribbon. In 1967Queen Mary was taken to the Californian port of Long Beach, where it still serves as a hotel.

(Near Queen Marythere is B-427, a former submarine Pacific Fleet USSR, now a museum ship)

In 1940, the sister was launched Queen Mary - liner Queen Elizabeth(83,673 tons), the largest passenger liner of the twentieth century. From 1946 to 1968 this ship sailed on the Southampton-Cherbourg-New York line, then was sold to Hong Kong for refitting; in January 1972, in the same place in Hong Kong, this ship burned down.
Queen Elizabeth





Europe took a long time to recover from the consequences of World War II, so the first post-war giant liner was an American shipUnited States 1952 , 53,329 tons. The American liner became the last owner of the Atlantic Blue Riband and held it until her retirement in 1969.


In 1969 United Stateswas laid up in Philadelphia and has been standing - or rather, rotting - there for 46 years.

By the end of the 50s, transatlantic passenger shipping picked up again - in 1957 and 1958, more than 2 million passengers crossed the North Atlantic by ship (and the same number crossed the ocean by air). 15 years after the end of the war, Europeans again began to build giant ships. France retired in 1958Ile de Franceand began to create a replacement for it - in 1961 the liner was launchedFrance(66,343 tons), intended for operation on the Le Havre-Southampton-New York line.



The English company Peninsula and Orient in the early 60s put into operation two new giant liners designed to operate on the Southampton - Suez Canal line (but after June 1967 they sailed through South Africa) - Australia; those were linersOriana(41,910 t) and Canberra(45,270 t). Both ships served the passenger line until 1973, and then were repurposed as cruise ships.
Oriana




Canberra




In the 1960s, Italy returned to the already fading race of giant liners - in 1963 it launched a linerRaffaello(45,933 tons), a year later - a liner Michelangelo(45,911 t). Both sisters worked on the Genoa-New York line.
Raffaello




Michelangelo



By the mid-60s, 8 giant liners continued to sail on ocean passenger lines - their maximum number since the 1930s; 6 of the 8 giant liners served the European-North American route, 2 - the European-Australian route. But such a type of transport as an ocean liner has already reached the end of its life. last years: in 1961, 750 thousand passengers crossed the North Atlantic by water, and 2 million by air; by 1964, the share of ships in transatlantic passenger traffic had decreased to 17% (in 1957 it was 50%), and by 1970 it had completely fallen to 4%. One after another, shipping companies began to withdraw their liners from service on passenger lines, and to close the lines themselves - in 1969 it was removed from the lineUnited States, in 1974 - France(was sold to Norway and sent to work on cruises), in 1975 the Italians finished their workRaffaello And Michelangelo(after many ordeals they were scrapped).
And in this very “era of decay” in 1969, the last giant passenger airliner of the 20th century began operating on the Southampton-New York line - an EnglishwomanQueen Elizabeth 2(69,053 register tons), combining work on a passenger line with cruise activities. By the mid-70s, the only competitors of this liner on the North Atlantic route were the Soviet medium-sized liners Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov, and the Polish liner Stefan Batory, but in the next decade these rivals were gone.
Passenger airlinerQueen Elizabeth 2entered the 21st century in splendid isolation.

Queen Elizabeth 2was "retired" in 2008.

On February 11, 1809, American Robert Fulton patented his invention - the first steam-powered ship. Soon steamships came to replace sailing ships and were in charge by water transport until the middle of the 20th century. Here are the 10 most famous ships

Steamer "Clermont"

The Claremont became the first officially patented steam-powered vessel in the history of shipbuilding. The American Robert Fulton, having learned that the French engineer Jacques Perrier had successfully tested the first ship with a steam engine on the Seine, decided to bring this idea to life. In 1907, Fulton surprised the New York public by launching a ship with a large funnel and huge paddle wheels on the Hudson River. Onlookers were quite surprised that this creation of Fulton's engineering was able to move at all. But the Claremont not only sailed along the Hudson, but was also able to move against the current without the help of wind or sails. Fulton received a patent for his invention and within several years improved the ship and organized permanent river cruises on the Claremont on the Hudson River from New York to Albany. The speed of the first steamship was 9 km/h.

Steamship "Clermont"

The first Russian steamship "Elizabeth"

The steamship "Elizabeth", built for Russia by the Scottish mechanic Charles Bird, entered service in 1815. The ship's hull was wooden. A metal pipe with a diameter of about 30 cm and a height of 7.6 m served instead of a mast for setting sails in a tailwind. The 16 horsepower steamship had 2 paddle wheels. The steamship made its first voyage on November 3, 1815 from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt. To test the speed of the steamer, the port commander ordered his best rowing boat to compete with it. Since the speed of the "Elizabeth" reached 10.7 km/h, the oarsmen, who leaned hard on the oars, sometimes managed to overtake the steamer. By the way, the Russian word “steamboat” was introduced into use by naval officer P. I. Ricord, a participant in this voyage. Subsequently, the ship was used to transport passengers and tow barges to Kronstadt. And by 1820, the Russian fleet already consisted of about 15 steamships, by 1835 - about 52.


The first Russian steamship "Elizabeth"

Steamboat Savannah

The Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1819. He made a flight from the American city of Savannah to Liverpool, England in 29 days. It should be noted that the steamer sailed almost the entire way, and only when the wind died down was the steam engine turned on so that the ship could move even in calm weather. At the beginning of the steamship era, sails were left on ships making long voyages. The sailors still did not fully trust the power of steam: there was a great risk that the steam engine would break down in the middle of the ocean or there would not be enough fuel to reach the destination port.


Steamboat Savannah

Steamship "Sirius"

They decided to abandon the use of sails only 19 years after the transatlantic voyage of the Savannah. paddle steamer Sirius left with 40 passengers from the English port of Cork on April 4, 1838 and reached New York 18 days and 10 hours later. Sirius crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time without raising sails, using only a steam engine. This ship opened a permanent commercial shipping line across the Atlantic. "Sirius" moved at a speed of 15 km/h and consumed a monstrously large amount of fuel - 1 ton per hour. The ship was overloaded with coal - 450 tons. But even this reserve was not enough for the flight. "Sirius" barely made it to New York. To keep the ship moving, ship rigging, masts, wooden bridge decking, handrails and even furniture had to be thrown into the firebox.


Steamship "Sirius"

Steamship "Archimedes"

One of the first steam ships with a propeller was built by the English inventor Francis Smith. The Englishman decided to use the discovery of the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, which had been known for a thousand years, but was used only for supplying water for irrigation - the screw. Smith came up with the idea of ​​using it to propel the ship. The first steamship, called Archimedes, was built in 1838. It was moved by a screw with a diameter of 2.1 m, which was powered by two steam engines with a power of 45 horsepower each. The vessel had a carrying capacity of 237 tons. "Archimedes" developed a maximum speed of about 18 km/h. Archimedes did not make long-distance flights. After successful trials on the Thames, the ship continued to operate on inland shipping lines.


The first screw steamer "Stockton" to cross the Atlantic

Steamship "Stockton"

The Stockton was the first screw steamship to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Great Britain to America. The story of its inventor, Swede John Erikson, is very dramatic. He decided to use a propeller to propel a steam ship at the same time as the Englishman Smith. Erickson decided to sell his invention to the British Navy, for which he built a screw steamer with his own money. The military department did not appreciate the Swede's innovations; Erickson ended up in prison for debt. The inventor was saved by the Americans, who were very interested in the maneuverable steam ship, in which the propulsion mechanism was hidden below the waterline, and the pipe could be lowered. This is exactly what the 70-horsepower steamship Stockton was, which Erickson built for the Americans and named after his new friend, a naval officer. On his steamship in 1838, Erickson left for America forever, where he gained fame as a great engineer and became rich.

Steamship "Amazon"

In 1951, newspapers called the Amazon the largest wooden steamship ever built in Britain. This passenger transport the luxury class could carry more than 2,000 tons and was equipped with an 80 horsepower steam engine. Although metal steamships had been rolling out of shipyards for 10 years, the British built their giant from wood because the conservative British Admiralty was prejudiced against innovation. On 2 January 1852, the Amazon, crewed by 110 of Britain's best sailors, sailed for the West Indies, taking on board 50 passengers (including the Lord of the Admiralty). At the beginning of the journey, the ship was attacked by a strong and prolonged storm; in order to continue moving further, it was necessary to start the steam engine at full power. A machine with overheated bearings worked non-stop for 36 hours. And on January 4, the officer on duty saw flames coming out of the engine room hatch. Within 10 minutes the fire engulfed the deck. It was impossible to put out the fire in the stormy wind. The Amazon continued to move through the waves at a speed of 24 km/h, and there was no way to launch lifeboats. Passengers rushed around the deck in panic. Only when the steam boiler had exhausted all the water were they able to put people into the rescue longboats. After some time, those who sailed away in the lifeboats heard explosions - it was the gunpowder stored in the holds of the Amazon that exploded, and the ship sank along with the captain and part of the crew. Of the 162 people who set sail, only 58 were saved. Of these, seven died on the shore, and 11 people went crazy from the experience. The death of the Amazon became a cruel lesson for the Lords of the Admiralty, who did not want to admit the danger posed by combining the wooden hull of a ship with a steam engine.


Steamship "Amazon"

Steamboat " Great East»

The steamship "Great East" is the predecessor of the Titanic. This steel giant, launched in 1860, was 210 meters long and for forty years was considered the most big ship in the world. The "Great East" was equipped with both paddle wheels and propellers. The ship became the last masterpiece of one of the famous engineers of the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The huge ship was built to transport passengers from England to distant India and Australia without visiting ports to refuel. Brunel conceived his brainchild as the safest ship in the world - the Grand Orient had a double hull that protected it from flooding. When at one time the ship received a hole larger than the Titanic, it not only remained afloat, but was able to continue its voyage. The technology for building such large ships had not yet been developed at that time, and the construction of the “Great East” was marred by many deaths of workers working at the dock. The floating colossus was launched for two whole months - the winches broke down, several workers were injured. A disaster also occurred when the engine was started - the steam boiler exploded, scalding several people with boiling water. Engineer Brunel died upon learning of this. Infamous even before it set sail, the 4,000-person Grand Orient set off on its maiden voyage on June 17, 1860, with just 43 passengers and 418 crew on board. And in the future there were few people willing to sail across the ocean on the “unlucky” ship. In 1888, they decided to dismantle the ship for scrap metal.


Steamship "Great East"

Steamship "Great Britain"

The first screw steamship metal body"Great Britain" left the stocks on July 19, 1943. Its designer, Isombard Brunel, was the first to combine the latest achievements on one big ship. Brunel set the task of turning long and dangerous transatlantic Passenger Transportation in fast and luxurious sea ​​travel. The huge steam engines of the Great Britain steamship consumed 70 tons of coal per hour, produced 686 horsepower and occupied three decks. Immediately after its launch, the steamship became the largest iron ship in the world with a propeller, marking the beginning of the era of steam liners. But this metal giant also had sails, just in case. On July 26, 1845, the steamship Great Britain set off on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic with 60 passengers on board and 600 tons of cargo. The steamer moved at a speed of approximately 17 km/h and after 14 days and 21 hours entered the port of New York. After three years of successful flights, the Great Britain failed. On September 22, 1846, the steamer, crossing the Irish Sea, found itself dangerously close to the shore, and the rising tide brought the ship ashore. There was no disaster - when the tide went out, the passengers were lowered from board to the ground and transported in carriages. A year later, the “Great Britain” was rescued from captivity, a canal was broken, and the ship was back on the water.


The huge transatlantic steam liner Titanic, which claimed the lives of more than a thousand passengers

Steamship Titanic

The infamous Titanic was the largest passenger airliner in the world at the time of its construction. This city steamship weighed 46,000 tons and was 880 feet long. In addition to the cabins, the superliner had gyms, swimming pools, oriental baths and a cafe. The Titanic, which set sail from the English coast on April 12, could accommodate up to 3,000 passengers and about 800 crew members and moved at a maximum speed of 42 km/h. On the fateful night from April 14 to 15, when it collided with an iceberg, the Titanic was traveling exactly at this speed - the captain was trying to break the world record for ocean-going steamships. There were 1,309 passengers and 898 crew on board at the time of the shipwreck. Only 712 people were saved, 1495 died. There were not enough lifeboats for everyone; most of the passengers remained on the ship without hope of rescue. On April 15, at 2:20 a.m., a giant passenger ship, making its first voyage, sank. The survivors were picked up by the ship "Carpathia". But even on it, not all those rescued were transported to New York alive and well - some of the Titanic passengers died on the way, some lost their minds.

Transatlantic liners of the mid-20th century are huge, fast, comfortable ships, a whole era not only in shipbuilding, but also in the public life of many states. After all, until the 1950s there was no other way to get from Europe to America other than by sea.

The era passed away along with the airliners - they were replaced by fast and less expensive planes. But even today there is an opportunity to visit one of the greatest transatlantic ships in history - the Queen Mary liner. After ending her career in 1967, this liner was not scrapped like other ships, but became a museum, hotel and business center in Long Beach, California, USA.

We will now visit it on board. But first, a little history of the ship.

One of largest companies servicing the transatlantic line was the British Cunard Line. After the end of the First World War, her three largest ships - Mauretania, Aquitania and Berengaria (the former German Imperator, received as reparations) carried passengers smoothly and with great comfort from Southampton to New York and back. These three ships provided weekly departures from both ports. The one-way flight lasted just under five days.

But by the early 1930s, these ships began to become obsolete, and competition on the Atlantic also increased. The company found itself in a difficult financial situation. Then the decision was made to build a new ship.

True, its concept was not immediately decided upon. The priorities could be speed, or comfort, or the efficiency of the new vessel. The preliminary decision was not to chase speed, but to provide the highest level of comfort for first class passengers. However, in the end, it was decided to proceed from the need to replace the three existing ships with two, but with the same frequency of departure from Southampton and New York, that is, to build two high-speed transatlantic liners, not forgetting, of course, about comfort.

Construction of the liner began at the shipyard in Clydebank (Great Britain) in 1930, but a year later it was frozen: the world was hit by a severe crisis. Only in 1933, after receiving financial assistance from the British government, construction was continued. The liner, named Queen Mary, was launched by Queen Mary herself on September 26, 1934, and on May 27, 1936, set off for the first transatlantic flight from Southampton to New York.

On one of the first voyages, Queen Mary set a speed record for crossing the Atlantic - the voyage was completed in just four days. Transatlantic passengers of that time valued their time, and accordingly valued such records. For comparison: today a transatlantic flight on the same route on the new Queen Mary 2 liner is completed in six to seven days. But today's passengers are in no hurry: they are on a cruise. And if they need to go to America on business, they will use a fast and much cheaper plane. In the same years when Queen Mary entered transatlantic routes, it was not yet possible to cross the Atlantic by plane.

The British government subsidized the construction of the Queen Mary for a reason, but in order to have a fast transport for transporting troops across the Atlantic in case of war. And the opportunity presented itself. Between 1939 and 1946, the Queen Mary and her newly built sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, transported troops across the ocean, carrying fifteen thousand men on some voyages.

After returning to civilian service, the Queen Mary operated on transatlantic routes for another twenty years, until competition with aviation made the operation of older transatlantic ships impossible. In September 1967, the liner made its last, 1001st transatlantic flight, and on October 31, it set off on its last cruise from Southampton to its eternal anchorage in California.

During this voyage, with mostly American tourists on board the Queen Mary, she crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the last time, rounded Cape Horn, and visited the ports of South America and Mexico. Of course, I’m not the only one who would like to use a time machine and be on this significant flight. But the cruise itself was not very successful, because the Queen Mary was built to operate on the North Atlantic and did not have an air conditioning system. Therefore, as we approached the equator, many passengers and crew members began to succumb to the heat. Secondly, due to the huge fuel consumption, the company ordered the flight to be carried out on two turbines instead of four, which is why the speed dropped and many stops were shortened.

On December 9, 1967, Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, where it can still be visited today. You can even live on board by booking one of the first class cabins (there are no other cabins on the Queen Mary).

Let's walk along the decks of the liner from top to bottom. I’ll say right away that not all of Queen Mary’s public spaces are open to the public, and not all of them have survived. But what can be seen gives a good idea of ​​the vessel.

Let's start with chopping.

Maneuvers, as on modern ships, can be conveniently performed while on the wing of the bridge. Duplicate engine telegraphs were placed on the wings of the bridge.

Next to the wheelhouse were the cabins of the liner's senior command staff. The captain had a separate office and a separate living cabin. The captain was served by a separate steward who lived on the same deck.

The cabins of the chief mate and the chief engineer of the ship were located nearby.

Now let's go down to the deck below. The deck below is called the sports deck, here is its diagram:

The deck plans I will show here are consistent with the post-war layout of the Queen Mary. The post-war layout differs little from the pre-war one, with a few exceptions. In the post-war period, new names for passenger classes began to be used: first class became cabin class, second class became tourist class, and third class remained third.

While we're talking about classes, the Queen Mary was designed back in the period when transatlantic ships traditionally used a system of dividing into three passenger classes (similar to how modern transatlantic flights have first, business and economy class). The ticket price differed accordingly. This created great inconvenience even at the design stage, because the classes did not intersect with each other, and all passenger spaces (lounges, restaurants, promenade decks) had to be duplicated. Therefore, by the 1950s, the number of classes on new ships was reduced to two, and then the division into classes was completely abandoned.

Queen Mary - classic liner with a three-class layout. Moreover, a significant part of the passenger premises was allocated to first class. Second and third class passengers hardly saw the ship: access to first class was denied to them. Therefore, if we talk about a time machine with the goal of making a transatlantic journey on the Queen Mary: to get a full-fledged experience, you will need not only to travel back in time in a time machine, but also to buy a first class ticket. But this raises the question of price: how many of us fly first class across the Atlantic these days? Even then, not everyone could afford to cross the Atlantic first class.

Let's go back to the sports deck. Some passengers actually did sports here. In addition, a section of the deck was dedicated to walking the dogs of first class passengers. The dogs lived in a room next door, and special crew members were responsible for their maintenance and walking.

The Queen Mary had three funnels (at that time, many still considered the number of funnels to be an indicator of the reliability of the liner). But the very similar Queen Elizabeth, built a few years later, had the number of pipes reduced to two.

The Queen Mary's pipes fell into disrepair towards the end of the liner's life and were replaced in 1968 with aluminum replicas.

Below the sports deck is the sun deck. It, like the sports one, is entirely reserved for first class passengers.

Verandah Grill restaurant was the best restaurant throughout the ship, and worked on an a la carte system. Every modern Cunard Line ship also has a restaurant with the same name and the highest level of food preparation and service.

On the Queen Mary this was a very prestigious first class seat, decorated with theatrical themes. Lunches and dinners were served here for an additional fee (in the 1930s it was one British pound, not so little at that time). Despite this, the restaurant was so popular that it was sometimes fully booked months in advance.

After 1967, when the Queen Mary came to Long Beach, the Verandah Grill was used in various ways, including as a fast food joint, and redecorated accordingly. Today this room is used as a conference room.

The outdoor promenade terrace looks the same as on modern cruise ships (although the Queen Mary was built in the 30s of the last century).

In some places there are narrow passages between the terraces of different sides.

And here’s what lifeboats looked like on ships of those years: unlike modern motorboats, they were not closed at the top.

At the bow of the sun deck there are public spaces: a museum and a tea restaurant. However, when the Queen Mary was an active ship, they did not exist: the command staff's quarters and offices were located on this site.

The deck below is called the "promenade".

The central part of the deck, and perhaps the entire ship, is the first class foyer. The high, multi-deck atriums that modern cruise passengers are accustomed to were not yet made. But the lobbies of ocean liners have always been spacious and tastefully decorated.

During Queen Mary's transatlantic career, the central semicircular room in the foyer housed a store where one could buy a variety of goods needed by a traveler. The foyer was surrounded by small first-class rooms: a library, a drawing room, and a children's playroom. There was even a special 35-seat cabin designed for passengers to tell other passengers about their travels with the ability to show slides. Now almost all of these premises have been converted into shops; they sell souvenirs and literature about historical ships.

The forward part of the deck is occupied by a viewing bar for first class passengers. During flights this place was extremely popular. What could be better than talking and watching the sea with a glass of something strong? When the third class public areas were expanded in the early 1960s, the observation bar became reserved for passengers in that class.

The bar is still open today.

The deck is surrounded by a promenade terrace, protected from the North Atlantic winds, almost entirely intended for first class passengers. After the war, two small “winter gardens” were equipped on this terrace - for first and second class passengers, but they have not been preserved.

A small part of this terrace towards the stern is reserved for second class passengers. They also had a large open area at the stern.

From the enclosed promenade terrace one could enter the spacious first-class public rooms, each through its own foyer. Previously, first class public spaces could be accessed not only from the promenade terrace, but also from internal terraces that ran along almost the entire deck. These terraces have partially disappeared during the redevelopment of Long Beach.

The large first class salon was the center of Queen Mary's social life. Center in every sense, including literally: this salon was located exactly in the middle of the ship, so that the passengers gathered in it would feel less pitching (after all, storms in the North Atlantic were not uncommon). The salon received musical motifs in its design; played here in the evenings live music, the passengers danced.

Sunday services were held in this cabin during flights, and passengers of all three classes were invited to these services. The service was traditionally conducted by the captain of the liner.

In the 1970s there was an idea to turn this saloon into a central restaurant (even though the original Queen Mary restaurants remained three decks below). During the reconstruction process, the decor was partially lost, and the premises were somewhat reduced in size. But the work was never completed. Today the central salon is available for rent for events; its original furnishings have not been preserved.

Passengers in each class had their own smoking room. They did not smoke in the smoking rooms, but rather enjoyed cigars and socializing. Traditionally, smoking rooms on ocean liners were considered “male territory”: women at that time did not indulge in cigars, but, however, they also visited the salon.

The smoking lounge on the Queen Mary was amazing in size. In its original furnishings, it was a salon with soft armchairs and small tables.

The smoking lounge is decorated with a painting by the English artist Edward Wadsworth (by the way, he painted it right here on the spot). During the first voyages of Queen Mary, the painting caused a lot of controversy and even indignation among adherents of the traditional design of transatlantic liners - people never accept something new right away. But then they got used to the picture, and it has been in its place for eighty years.

On the same deck there is another cozy, smaller salon. It was, of course, cozy in its original furnishings: the modern “conference” furniture that is now furnished in first class rooms creates some dissonance. But mentally add here old-fashioned soft chairs and low tables, and everything will fall into place.

In place of the second-class smoking lounge, there are service rooms and a chapel.

But it’s not easy to guess the purpose of the room shown in the next photo. It was used by the musicians who played in the main salon for rehearsals before the start of the performance.

Each class had its own children's room, where children could be left under the supervision of teachers. The first class children's room has been preserved; the toys in it are recreated from old photographs of life on board the Queen Mary.

Already today, part of the promenade deck on the starboard side has been converted into the center Catering. There is a fast food cafe and two restaurants here.

Below is the main deck.

In its central part there was a travel agency where first-class passengers could book return transatlantic flights, train tickets, hotel reservations, and even purchase theater tickets in London and New York.

Most of this deck is occupied by first class cabins. The interiors of the corridors and lobbies made of precious wood (and fifty different types of wood were used in the design of the liner) return to the 1930s-50s. By the way, the river passenger diesel-electric ships “Lenin” and “Soviet Union”, built in 1958-59 in the USSR, had very similar interiors. Perhaps, when creating these ships, Soviet constructors and designers studied foreign experience in the design of prestigious ocean liners.

The aft deck is reserved for public premises of the second (tourist) class. This is an open promenade deck and salon.

The second class saloon, like other areas of the ship, is devoid of “salon” furnishings. This is now one of the conference rooms on board. It is combined with the former promenade deck, which has been converted into a conference hall foyer

We go down to the next deck. The decks below do not have names; instead, they are designated by letters A to H. The lowest decks are closed to access.

In the center of Deck A is the information desk for first class passengers (now the hotel's "reception"). It was this foyer that first class passengers entered when boarding the Queen Mary.

Almost the entire A deck is dedicated to first class cabins, with the exception of the aft section, which once housed second class cabins.

My cabin is also located on this deck. Of course, it would be nice to take a transatlantic voyage in a Queen Mary first class cabin, but these days it's really about hotel room. The layout is a large first class cabin, with new decoration. All of Queen Mary's first class cabins were originally wood-panelled, and many cabins retain their original finishes.

At the stern of Deck A there is another open area for second class passengers, and another second class lounge. The Queen Mary had the vertical classroom layout that was common at the time. That is, the premises of all three classes were located on all or almost all passenger decks, but in different parts of the liner. On the Queen Mary, first class accommodations occupied the entire central part of the ship, second class accommodations occupied aft, and for third class passengers rooms were allocated in the bow.

To facilitate maneuvers in ports, an additional superstructure was built at the stern of the Queen Mary and other ships of that time - the stern bridge. During maneuvers, one of the watch officers was on this bridge, transmitting information to the wheelhouse about the position of the stern relative to other ships, berths and other objects.

First and second class cabins are located on Deck B. Of interest here is the medical isolation room in the aft part.

It would seem that the lower we go, the less chance we have of seeing any interesting public spaces. But once on deck C, you can see that this is not the case. Restaurants of all three classes are located here.

As on modern cruise ships, passengers arrived at the restaurant by elevator, or went down to it along a wide gangway.

The first-class restaurant, three decks high, is a prototype of today's atriums on cruise ships. This restaurant accommodated all first class passengers at once; Accordingly, breakfasts, lunches and dinners took place in one shift. But this only applied to a first class restaurant. Second class passengers ate their meals in a smaller restaurant in two shifts. And third class passengers had their own small restaurant, where they ate in as many as three shifts.

The first class restaurant on the Queen Mary still operates today, with a weekly Sunday champagne brunch.

The premises of the second and third class restaurants are now used as office space and warehouses. Many elements of their design have been lost; access to them is closed.

Deck D, located even lower, is interesting because it housed a first class indoor swimming pool. Now the pool is not functioning due to the fact that it does not meet modern requirements for the strength of ship structures, but you can visit its premises during an excursion called “The Ghosts of Queen Mary” (there is one). Second class passengers also had their own swimming pool: it was located on the deck below. This space became partly a museum cinema and partly offices.

The aft Deck area has been dismantled and now houses the Queen Mary and Transatlantic Shipping Museum. From the museum you can go down to the engine room of the ship.

The huge propeller of the liner underwater makes a great impression.

Decks E and below are closed to the public; Almost all the premises there have been dismantled.

A visit to the Queen Mary leaves a very strong impression. And not only thanks to the stylish interiors in the British style of the middle of the last century, but also thanks to the feeling of exceptional power huge airliner, and thanks to the amazingly positive energy of the ship, which transported hundreds of thousands of people across the Atlantic.

A liner similar to the sensations it creates will probably never be built again. After all, this also requires an appropriate era. But it is remarkable that this ship has been preserved. If you have the opportunity, visit it.


December 1, 1930 at the John Brown shipyard, located in the county of Clydebank, the ceremonial laying of the vessel took place "Queen Mary"- one of the most grandiose passenger ships. For this significant date, we have prepared a review of the most interesting ships that have left their mark on the history of shipbuilding.

Royal William



Royal William was one of the first passenger ships to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She was launched on April 27, 1831 in Quebec. The ship sailed between Quebec and the Atlantic colonies several times until the route was closed due to a cholera epidemic in 1832. Royal William was later sold to the Spanish Navy, where she served for quite a long time.

Great Eastern



Great Eastern (Leviathan) was launched in 1858. The 211-meter steamship was considered the largest ship until 1899. It reached a speed of 14 knots, had a displacement of 32,000 tons, and its engines produced power of 8,000 hp. From 1864, the ship was converted into a transatlantic cable layer, and in 1888 it was sold for scrap for £16,000.

Servia



The world's first steel liner, Servia, made its maiden voyage in 1881. Due to some innovative technologies (such as electric lighting), many historians call it the first "modern" airliner. The 10,300-horsepower ship reached a speed of 17 knots. The designers focused specifically on passenger transportation, reducing the volume of the cargo compartment and offering customers incredibly comfortable conditions for staying on board the ship. In 1902, the ship was removed due to breakdown.

Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse



The first four-funnel liner, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, was launched on May 4, 1897. It marked the beginning of an era of new, more modern and powerful passenger ships. The liner won the Atlantic Blue Riband for the first time for Germany for the fastest voyage from Europe to America. During the First World War she was converted into a warship. Kaiser Wilhelm was sunk in 1914.

Titanic



The legendary liner Titanic was launched on April 10, 1912. It reached a maximum speed of 24 knots. The displacement of the 269-meter giant was 52 thousand tons. However, the fate of the liner was tragically cut short on its first voyage: the Titanic sank on April 14 after colliding with an iceberg.

Normandie



The transatlantic liner Normandie began its maiden voyage on May 29, 1935. The ship, which displaced 71,000 tons, is still considered the most powerful turbo-electric ship ever built. Featuring an innovative body design, a refined interior and impressive technical specifications, many experts recognized it as the best liner. On February 9, 1942, the liner caught fire from a spark in one of the cabins. It was later sold for scrap.

Queen Mary



On September 26, 1934, the legendary Queen Mary liner was launched. However, only 18 months later the 160,000-horsepower car set off on its first voyage. The liner crossed the Atlantic in 3 days 23 hours 57 minutes with an average speed of 30.63 knots, and on one of its subsequent voyages won the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic. On March 1, 1940, the order was given to prepare the liner for military service. After the war, it returned to the transatlantic route, but was not nearly as profitable. On December 10, 1967, the liner took its place in Long Beach Harbor and is now a museum.

Voyager of the Seas



Cruise ship Voyager of the Seas It is often called a “floating hotel” because of the amount of entertainment it can offer its clients: cabins for every taste, shops, restaurants, sports fields, a climbing wall, an ice skating rink and much more. It is 311 meters long, has a power of 75.6 MW, a speed of 22 knots, and a maximum capacity of 3,840 passengers.

Queen Mary 2



In 2003, the Queen Mary 2 became largest airliner in the world. The 17-deck vehicle is capable of speeds of up to 30 knots and can accommodate 2,620 passengers. In tribute to modern standards, the ship is equipped a huge amount shops, restaurants and entertainment centers.

Allure of the Seas



Allure of the Seas, which set off on its first voyage three years ago - on December 1, 2010, is still the largest cruise ship. It offers its 6,296 passengers an incredible variety of services, including a theatre, carousels and an ice skating rink. The liner is equipped with folding (telescopic) pipes that allow it to pass under low bridges. The average speed of the car reaches 27 knots. A reliable security system has already shown its best side several times, successfully extinguishing small fires.

 

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