A short and enjoyable book on the two great Cunard Atlantic liners, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. This is not an engineering or naval architecture textbook, it's very much a social history of them.

It starts with a brief history of Cunard, particularly in contrast to the White Star line and IMM. The two Queens are then given their context in the mid-1920s, when the goal was to make a regular weekly Atlantic crossing, the speed needing an even larger and faster pair of ships. Then the Depression of the 1930s struck and construction was halted for two years. Government intervention, partly for prestige but also to reduce unemployment in the strategic shipyards, provided a large loan enabling its recommencement . Queen Elizabeth was still fitting out when the war started and yard capacity was urgently needed for battleships. The two prime targets for U-boats not only had to be protected, but also turned out to be hugely valuable as troopships, moving one and a half million troops, more than their civilian passengers in peacetime. The 1950s were again a time of success and prestige, but as Atlantic jet airliners came to dominate, this couldn't continue and both were retired in 1967. Sadly one more successfully than the other. ( )

After touring the Queen Mary in Long Beach, I wanted to know more about her. There was very little available at the library, but I did find this one. ( )