Last week I visited the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. I'm going to post some pictures here. Its a great ship to explore and I highly recommend you visit it if you are in the Los Angeles area. She was built in 1934 and sailed until 1967 for the Cunard Line (at that time it was still the Cunard-White Star line after the merger). During WWII she served as a troop transport ship and known as "The Grey Ghost". There is a lot of great information here so I don't want to just repeat what is already out there on the internet. One of the most interesting stories about the ship however is its name. I always thought the RMS Queen Mary was named after Queen Mary I of England. But, this is not true. The ship is actually named after Queen Mary, the wife of King George V (the monarch at the time of the ship's launching). The story goes (never confirmed) that the Cunard-White Star wanted to name the ship Queen Victoria. They asked the king if they could name the ship after Britain's "greatest queen" and the king stated that his wife would be very happy. Oops! As it was probably not wise to upset the king and explain that they meant Queen Victoria, they just went along with it. Now I'm not sure if this was true or not but there are several sources that verify the story. Plus, Cunard tradition has been to name their ships with an "-ia" ending (Aquitania...Mauretania...Lusitania) so "Victoria" does make sense. Either way, it is an interesting story!
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