Video: City begins demolishing historic Queen Mary lifeboats • Long Beach Post News

You have to wonder if the removal of these lifeboats is the thin end of the wedge for scrapping her. After closure due to COVID and the collapse of the hotel group that owned her, she was handed over to the city of Long Beach. since then proper surveys have not brought good news.

I'm so glad my wife and I stayed on her for our first anniversary in 2019. It was my second time on her, the first being a gnarly Atlantic crossing in December 1966.

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Release the Kraken

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

What a bunch of jerks!

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No baby we aint

it's in the governments hands.. what could go wrong...

The story makes pretty clear that
the boats were in really poor shape.

They posed a hazard to the upper
structure of the QM because of their
weight.

Not all are being destroyed.

The city tried to preserve them via
auctions to museums, etc. No
takers.

Looks like the city is trying its best
to actually preserve the ship.

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Ubi Est Mea

The SS America was my ocean liner. Crossed from NYC to Bremerhaven in 1958 at the age of six. Back to NYC in 1960 for home leave. A magnifient ship:



Hard times after the passenger jet age. She foundered in the Canaries in 1994 after a checkered coupla decades:



Nothing left now, from what I read, other than a debris field and a low tide view of a partial hull.

Memories.

Sad to hear, Was assigned to Naval Station Long Beach & NWS Seal Beach for several years.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Aboard the qm 1947

The Cutty Sark burned to a crisp a few years ago and got restored. Hard to imagine in a nation of 330 million people they couldn't find enough who care about the QM.

"A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money”

How Long Beach leaders charted a disastrous course for the Queen Mary - Long Beach Post Features

My HS Senior Prom was on the Queen Mary. I didn't go as I had just got out of the Hospital.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Our family has been on board dozens of times. The SIL was married on it. That was fun.

Grandpa came back from WW II on the QM. A documentary was filmed about it about 10 years ago and he was one of the stars. We lost him 2 years ago at age 97. He was a B17 bomber pilot with 34 missions. One of the greatest men I ever knew with stories that would curl your hair.
I miss him a lot.

Prescut

Your lucky. Wish I would of had the experience.

Her sister ship, the SS United States, is still awaiting a mission in Philadelphia, 53 years after being taken out of service.

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Slava Ukraini!

No takers under the terms set by Long Beach and the state of California. Because of the lead based paint, California likely declared them boats as hazmat. Knowing the "fees for everything" practiced in NV and CA, that would push the costs through the roof.

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Release the Kraken

Back when the Newport News shipyard still did commercial work, as kids we loved to go watch the United States and the America come in for their refits before the new season. Once the United States went out of service and all it’s furnishings and beautiful woodwork were stripped and auctioned off, I had doubts she’d ever be saved. Last I heard the bell was in a restaurant in Nags Head.

IIRC, the Queen was used as a hospital ship during WWII. You should have fit right in as an exhibit.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

The descendants of it's designer, W.F. Gibbs, have been involved with it's preservation for years. Fingers crossed.
One of her screws is the majestic centerpiece of the entry to the grounds of the Mariners Museum in Newport News.



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Slava Ukraini!

No, she was a troop transport carrying as many as 15,000 troops at a time to the different war zones. On return voyage's she carried POW's and probably some wounded. Read this: The War Years She was capable of carrying a full division at a time.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I recall one of their last runs was carrying wives from Europe to the US.

or was that a dream?

Prescut

Look at the link I provided. You particular interest is 1946.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

There's an excellent book about the SS United States that I read a few years ago:



About the book: Man & His Ship Americas Greatest Naval Architect & His Quest to Build the S S United States: Steven Ujifusa: Trade Paperback: 9781451645095: Powell's Books

About the ship: SS United States - Wikipedia

Yes. Haven't read the book, but very familiar with the back story of that amazing renaissance man and the main project/love of his life.
My FIL worked for him at Gibbs & Cox, and I had a stint there after Gibbs's passing.


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Slava Ukraini!

Ah, The Australis. That was one of a bunch of ships that Chandris Lines bought for the Immigrant trade to Australia, along with the Britanis and Amerikanis. I worked on that line as a photog in 1974

Cruise ships then and cruise ships now.

Engineers rule.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Notice anything about this photo? No PJ's, shorts, holey shirts or flip flops, my how times have changed

Still true in 1958:



That dapper young man in the forefront is me. (I look a little worse for wear these days...)

I am told that my maternal grandfather, William Little, was a supervisor/shipfitter in the shipyard in Scotland where the Queen Mary was built. He helped build the Queen Mary. I had hoped to someday visit her.

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'Merica!

FIFY!

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!