Probably the most famous, and certainly one of the best-loved ships in the world, the Cunard transatlantic liner RMS Queen Mary has now been preserved at Long Beach, California as a floating hotel and tourist attraction for more than fifty years, comfortably longer than her 31-year career as an ocean liner. Laid down in 1930, Queen Mary's construction was severely delayed by the Great Depression. Eventually completed in 1936, the ship was an instant success, capturing the famous Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic later that year, and regaining it in 1938\. During the Second World War she served as a troop ship, carrying a total of 810,730 troops and also setting the record for the most individuals carried in a single voyage - 16,683 - which stands to this day. By the time she ceased passenger service in 1967, superseded by the airliner as the preferred mode for international travel, Queen Mary had carried nearly three million people, from royalty, politicians and