Queen Mary: The Power Behind Britain’s Depression-Era Giant

Queen Mary documentary: how Clydebank built the great Cunard liner through the Depression, and her life at sea and at war. In 1930 the shipyard at Clydebank began work on the biggest liner Britain had ever attempted, known only as number 534. A year later the Great Depression stopped everything. For more than two years the unfinished hull stood silent above the Clyde while thousands of men waited for work. A government loan brought the yard back to life, on condition that Cunard joined forces with its old rival White Star. Queen Mary herself launched the ship in 1934. She won the Blue Riband, then served in the war as the Grey Ghost, carrying more than 800,000 troops. Since 1967 she has rested at Long Beach, California, as a hotel and museum. Chapters 00:00 The Biggest Ship on the Clyde 04:00 Number 534 08:00 The Yard Falls Silent 13:00 The Loan and the Merger 18:00 Launch Day, 1934 23:00 The Race for the Blue Riband 28:00 The Grey Ghost 33:00 Long Beach Today