The Great Transatlantic Ocean Liners
 The
Transatlantic Ocean liners changed the world. Up until the 1960s
they were the only way to travel to the "new world".
They were the equivalent of the 747 today - but much more exciting. Each arrival
and departure in Liverpool, Southampton or New York was an event in itself.
They were extremely elegant, fantastically fast and unbelievably huge! The
biggest man made objects that could move - and boy did they move! They
were high society at sea, and THE place to be seen.
Are you American? If so, chances are your grandparents travelled on one of the great
ocean liners like the Mauretania.
Are you European? If so, chances are a relative of yours left on one of these
great ships, or one of your relatives worked to build them.
What you probably don't know, is that these great ships helped us to win two world wars
- they were the biggest troopships the world has ever known.
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The new Queen Victoria (QV) (2007) and the new Queen
Elizabeth (QE) (2010) will not be listed here.
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These ships should not have been called Queens.
Cunard are undermining their own amazing flagship by doing this,
and their own amazing history (see below) |
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The QE2's replacement, and the ship nobody thought they'd build.
Cunard's flagship. The fourth Cunard Queen and the first transatlantic ocean liner since QE2
34 years before.
She is not just an ocean liner in name. This is not just
marketing 'spin'. She is fast, strong and designed to be comfortable
at speed in stormy waters. She is uniquely custom-designed from her
keel plates up. A one-off. |
 QM2 : The
Last Transatlantic Liner? |
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The third Cunard Queen. Today,
after an amazing 39 years, QE2 is still the fastest, most powerful,
stylish and most famous liner afloat.
When new she was the epitome of 60s British style - Swinging London at
Sea. The last
Clyde-built ocean liner. |
The Legendary QE2
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Reborn as the slower, more profitable "Norway" cruise ship in 1980, she
was both the last of the great French transatlantic ocean liners and the
first of the new cruise liners. Beached after a long
struggle at Alang shipbreakers, August 2006. |
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By far the fastest liner ever, she was rapidly overtaken by the Jet age and became
unprofitable. Today, sadly, she stands idle and stripped in Philadelphia
awaiting an uncertain fate. |
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For decades, the largest liner afloat, the Queen Elizabeth ,
the second Cunard Queen to be built, helped win World War 2 with
her sister ship, The Queen Mary. Her secret escape while unfinished from
under the nose of the Luftwaffe is a fantastic story. |
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Arguably the most famous
ocean liner ever and the first of the Cunard
Queens.
Born in the 30s depression, spent the War years
outrunning all the enemy craft and carrying up to 17,000 troops in one crossing.
The
epitome of Art Deco style and elegance. Queen Mary is now a floating Hotel in Long
Beach - just a shell of her former self as the fastest ship afloat but still with us. |
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The most stylish liner ever. An Art Deco beauty which may have captured the Blue
Riband from the Queen Mary had she not met a very tragic end in New York. |
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For years the most famous fastest, most luxurious ships afloat.
The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat with the loss of over 1100 lives. |
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"The ship beautiful" served for an amazing 35 years
including during both world wars and was for a long time the last remaining
4-funnel ship in the world.
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These
are pages that deal with liners in general. For links relating to specific liners
mentioned above, please go to that page first.
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