[4] Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, she was subsequently joined by RMS Queen Elizabeth[5] in Cunard's two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York.

[25] Among the facilities available on board Queen Mary, the liner featured two indoor swimming pools, beauty salons, libraries and children's nurseries for all three classes, a music studio, a lecture hall, telephone connectivity to anywhere in the world, outdoor paddle tennis courts, and dog kennels.

This was the first ocean liner to be equipped with her own Jewish prayer room – part of a policy to show that British shipping lines avoided the antisemitism evident in Nazi Germany.

As an alternative to the main dining room, Queen Mary featured a separate cabin class Verandah Grill on the Sun Deck at the upper aft of the ship.

Artists commissioned by Cunard in 1933 for works of art in the interior include Edward Wadsworth and A. Duncan Carse,[27] as well as Algernon Newton RA whose painting Evening on the Avon hung opposite Bertram Nicholls' Sussex in the Long Gallery.

Queen Mary left New York for Sydney, Australia, in March 1940, where she, along with several other liners, was converted into a troopship to carry Australian and New Zealand soldiers to the United Kingdom.

[29] A total of 6 miles (10 km) of carpet, 220 cases of china, crystal and silver services, tapestries, and paintings were removed and stored in warehouses for the duration of the war.

[30] Because of their importance to the war effort, Adolf Hitler offered a bounty of 1 million Reichsmarks and Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, Germany's highest military honor, to any U-boat captain that sank either ship.

[31] On 2 October 1942, Queen Mary accidentally sank one of her escort ships, slicing through the light cruiser HMS Curacoa off the Irish coast with a loss of 338 lives.

Some sources claim that hours later, the convoy's lead escort, consisting of Bramham and one other ship,[34] returned to rescue 99 survivors of Curacoa's crew of 437, including her captain John W.

[40] During this trip, on 11 December, while 700 miles (1,100 km) from Scotland during a gale, she was suddenly broadsided on her starboard side by a rogue wave that might have reached a height of 28 metres (92 ft).

[46] During the war, Queen Mary carried British Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic three times for meetings with fellow Allied forces officials.

[31] After delivering war brides to Canada, Queen Mary made her fastest ever crossing, returning in early 1946 to Southampton in only three days, 22 hours and 42 minutes at an average speed of 31.9 knots.

Due to a combination of age, lack of public interest, inefficiency in a new market, and the damaging after-effects of the national seamen's strike, Cunard announced that both Queens would be retired from service and sold off.

The immense plane, which had been sitting in a hangar in Long Beach for decades unseen by the public, was installed in a huge geodesic dome adjacent to the liner in 1983, attracting increased attendance.

The dome was used extensively as a soundstage for film and television by taking advantage of the adaptable interior space that was larger than any sound stage in the Los Angeles area.

[70] In 2004, Queen Mary and Stargazer Productions added Tibbies Great American Cabaret to the space previously occupied by the ship's bank and wireless telegraph room.

[78] On 23 February 2006, RMS Queen Mary 2 saluted her predecessor as she made a port of call in Los Angeles Harbor, while on a cruise from South Africa to Mexico.

[86] Urban Commons had plans to extensively renovate the liner and to redevelop the adjacent 45 acres (18 ha) of parking with a boutique hotel, restaurants, a marina, an amphitheater, jogging trails, bike paths and possibly a huge Ferris wheel, all at a cost of up to $250 million.

[87] In May 2019, Urban Commons formed Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Trust with the goal of generating up to $566 million for the Queen Mary along with its portfolio of 12 other hotel properties that it owns or manages.

Political leaders in Scotland, birthplace of Queen Mary, called for the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May to pressure the American government to fund a full repair of the liner in 2017.

[91] In August 2019, Edward Pribonic, the engineer responsible for inspecting Queen Mary on behalf of the City of Long Beach, issued a report stating that the ship was in the worst condition he had seen in his 25 years on the job.

[92] Pribonic stated that the neglect of Queen Mary had grown worse under the management of Urban Commons, and concluded that "without an immediate and very significant infusion of manpower and money, the condition of the ship will likely soon be unsalvageable."

The pessimistic conclusion of Pribonic was disputed by city officials, who called the warnings "hyperbolic" and pointed to the "significant" work that has already been undertaken towards repairing Queen Mary.

[93] In October 2019, the City of Long Beach warned Urban Commons that the company was failing to uphold its commitment to maintain and repair Queen Mary and that it was accordingly in danger of defaulting on its 66-year lease agreement.

[84] As overseer for several corporations that operated the Queen Mary, Eagle Hospitality Trust filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court on 9 March 2021 to auction off its lease.

[98] To keep the ship running, the city approved a $2 million, six-month contract with Evolution Hospitality to cover monthly utility fees, security, landscaping and other costs.

[100] An architecture and marine engineering firm hired by the city[101] found that $23 million was needed for urgent safety repairs to keep the ship viable over the next two years.

The city approved $1 million to continue repairs to the ship's linoleum flooring and carpet, refrigerators, elevators, kitchen exhaust hoods, and guest room locks.

[127] Further, Center for Inquiry fellow Joe Nickell attributes the Queen Mary's haunting legends to pareidolia, illusory mental images triggered by subjective feelings, and daydreaming commonly experienced by workers doing repetitive chores.