Could the queen mary be used as a troop ship if war broke out again?

To be honest, no its not possible. Every cruise ship in the world would be pressed into service before they considered restoring the Queen Mary as a troopship

@@AlextheHistorian thanks for the response keep up the good work 👍

If you're going to the east coast to catch the QM2, maybe you can stop by the SS United States and give us an update. If any old liner is gonna be restored, that's the one.

Fantastic Alex! Have a Great time and stay safe Mate We need you, your doing fine work! Cheers Mate!

Well said!

Yes leave it well preserved as a shrine to the times,there's a queen mary 2 now,museum and hotel ship is fine,it did 300 odd years.

I think there are a LOT of people who would go aboard to relive the past, I sure would in a heartbeat, even more so than the modern ships.

I would too, and yes there would be a lot of people. But...I do not think it would be enough to give her full occupancy every day, no. And she would need full occupancy to make up for the expense of keeping her operating.

30 odd years rather

I would think the War would have fucked her. Roll or not, an elegant lady. Fast.

Interesting idea

Lol 🤣 I came to post the same thing here

Yes, I wish so much that the boilers and other machinery had not been so heartlessly ripped out and scrapped.

​​@@jimbilton1956 did not realize parts were removed.

The Crystal Cruises study from 2016 on the SS United States put the total bill for all that work at some $700 million. That is completely unrealistic for an old liner like the SSUS, as much as I'd love to see it happen. A new cruise ship on the small side like the SSUS would probably be in the $200-500 million range.

As far as im aware the QM is in better shape than the SSUS. I'm sure I read that the hull isnt in great shape due to neglect? Anyway, try the QM2, shes the only current ocean liner in the world (still sailing).

@@mikeh2006 yes and no. SS United States hull is quite sound and in good condition. But she has been completely stripped of ALL interior fittings and her engine room and boilers have been out of service for over 50 years now. Honestly they would have probably replaced those engines anyway because of the fuel consumptions issues but still...

@@ashleighelizabeth5916 everyone who tries to fix the united states' goes bankrupt

@@ashleighelizabeth5916 I had read earlier somewhere that her engine technology is pretty much old and getting those engines back to life is next to impossible. Also making her the fastest, and military category, they had put the most powerful engines which means those would not prove fuel efficient in current times. And replacing them with modern engines would need to remove large portions of the superstructure which is again another challenge.

Speaking of Locomotives the flying Scotsman is over 99 years old she's was also resorted and continues to take passengers under her own steam. When she came back into serves thousands of people from all over the UK came out to see her

@@bellabella2865 the flying Scotsman is now 100 years old

Exactly, I mean look at the Iowa class battleships last activated in the 1990's still technically ready and able to go if need be. Though there is a lot of debate in the navel world about reactivating them.

You are right, I just didn't want to confuse people into thinking that means she can't float where she is, because many people will take it to mean that.

@@AlextheHistorian It was done with the J class racing yachts one of which lay in the mud in Southampton water UK for fifty years before being bought and rebuilt. There are now about fifteen of them. This would be the same on a larger scale !

On top of this is the fact the ship was gutted and weakened further by cutting out decks and bulkheads to build that massive Jacques Cousteau museum that failed. So much of the internal structure of the ship is either missing or badly altered that even trying to tow the ship would likely result in the bow being torn off and the ship sinking for good right in the harbor. The conversion job was botched quite severly.

@Maxideas yes you are right that many of her interiors were gutted, but the rest of the statements about structural weakening all that...I had done a lot of research into this and what I found was that areas of structural alteration had their supports replaced with strengthening members more robust than what was there before. Take the entrance of the museum on D Deck for example, they removed C Deck to create high ceilings, but they replaced the structural support with steel dual beams 4 feet in depth and 24 inches in width. Not to mention the steel is welded as opposed to riveted, and is made of higher quality steel than what they ripped out. In all my research the only place aboard the ship that was left weakened by the removal of structural support was the C Deck bulkheads located next to the tank of the first class swimming pool, it allowed the tank to warp its shape. But with the water of the pool since removed, it poses no further hazards. The biggest concern with moving the ship is not having the bow being torn off (which is not physically possible), is actually losing control of the ship in high winds and having it collide with something. Otherwise with hull plates still at least an inch thick, there's no worry of punching a hole into it and causing a flood, especially considering she has a double hull, so you'd have to punch a hole at least 6 feet into the ship to breach both layers.

@@AlextheHistorian it would cost a lot, but you could rehull her.

Oh yes the RMS Olympic is my favourite ocean liner of all time. And the best looking

@@bisken6547 Olympic was a Gem. She might be shorter in length by 40M but she holds her own and she isn't that small to us anyway, she's deemed small because modern ships will be bigger but 270m is a sight. I'd like to see new ship designs that are like the Olympic class

The Queen Mary 2 is an actual Ocean liner with design elements of the original Queen Mary

@@bisken6547 i think titanic. They need to make the sisters al 3 off them again just like it was ones. And let it run on fuel.

retro-looking modern liner with sheer and without balconies, with "cathedral" diesel engines (like on Emma Maersk) - too good to be true

Yes very understandable

The Titanic II is likely a scam at this point. Its been talked about for best part of a decade now with nothing really to show, and it would have the same problem as the QM. Complying to current maritime laws would make it unrecognisable and not even resembling the original

People should recreate these ships so MORE people can experience the design and history. We have so many brilliant ships even before which are lost and are something I think would be financially worth the time.

@@francoismurrell4604 yeah it's either a scam or too poorly managed to get anywhere. a 1:1 perfect replica would only be good as a museum anyway.

Actually QM2 is the only ocean liner still in service in the world. Queen Elizabeth is a cruise ship (unlike QE2 which was an ocean liner now used as a hotel in Dubai).

Very good point. I agree. I have seen QM2 but doubt that I will ever sail on her. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

Who wanted a balcony cabin in the North Atlantic in winter time?

Having crossed on RMS Queen Mary 2 several times, there is absolutely no need for a balcony on the North Atlantic. You want to cross the ocean quickly and in comfort (which airplanes don't do....there are not comfortable and the number of missed and delayed flights are not worth it). RMS Queen Mary will likely never sail again nor will she survive her current state. However, it would be nice of we had another transatlantic liner in service as QM2 is often sold out.

Agreed!

Astoria is now sadly laid up and likely to end up on a beach after several attempts to save her fell through; she hasn't sailed under her own power since her owners went bankrupt in the early stages of Covid. I wish it were otherwise, but I just don't think there's a future for the handful of classic ships that survive other than as museums and hotels, and even they struggle (I.e. the Rotterdam receives millions in subsidies from the Dutch govt.)

Another concept I like is re-creations of the iconic older ships used to be tourist attractions but also functional ships like the great German, French, and British liners to be used for smaller scale travel and for people interested. I imagine with the amount of fans there are for titanic and other ships we would have a viable experience for those who like traditional to art nouveau to art deco and it would all be an option for people who design to incorporate modern ideals like ensuites and perhaps a more open concept for people to experience all the ship with an upgrade to be able to enjoy all the rooms rather than the class designated spaces.

Try a Holland America ship. They're a bit smaller and at least somewhat more like a vintage ship size-wise. I share your angst about some of the monstrosities that pass for cruise ships these days, but I didn't find their Eurodam to be excessively large.

Her hull is still strong... Still better looking than the ugly design cruise ships sailing today. She got a refit update the boilers and turbines... Other coast guard codes...

Try a Windjammer cruise...they use sailing ships. It's not a vintage liner, but it's small, with limited passenger capacity. Also, you're actually on a ship, not a floating monstrosity

You'd also need to put in an engine, and quite a bit of the original ship is already missing because they gutted the steerage and second class to make way for a conference center.

It's the old "ship of Theseus" riddle from ancient Greece. If (days of wooden boats) you replace planking, structural members and so forth over many years, at which point does the vessel become abother ship?

Ehhhh, just replace the engines and whatnot. If it was safe enough and worked then, it is now

I hope so too!

While some of the load bearing bulkheads were removed, they were replaced with structural framework even stronger than before. This can be seen on D Deck aft where they removed C Deck to make the museum lobby with taller ceilings. Even though they removed the Deck above, the framework was reinforced with a lattice of steel I-beams four feet tall. Far stronger than what was there before.

You'll love this channel :)

My pleasure!

I agree 100%

I need to tell you... she died and now the king is in charge

There were some things also going for the France that made her conversion to cruising much easier. As an example, her design was such that the ship had ample air conditioning throughout.

In all fairness to the France though, I feel using her as a comparison is just unfair. From her debut as the Norway all the way to the end of her service life, she was both the most famous and most successful vessel in the cruise market and is the ship we have to thank for making cruising what it is today. The only reason her boiler exploded is that, when Knut Kloster stepped down from the head of NCL in '86, his successors were money-hungry trash bags who frankly couldn't give a damn about this literal gold mine they had at their disposal, and as such, cut down heavily on her maintenance. No wonder she finally blew, and it is a testament to her construction and the Frenchmen who built her that she lasted so long. It is my firm belief that if they had shown that vessel the care that she not only deserved but rightfully earned, or just decided to sell her right then and there as soon as they took over the company, that she would still be here today.

@@Kaidhicksii The QM lucked out in her final disposition. Keep in mind that ships, like planes, are modes of transportation. When a mode becomes old, it is eventually scrapped. Think of the Ford Tri Motors, the Pan Am clippers and even today's 747's. Today, only a vestige of them exists in the razors that you use (they were melted down). How long was the France to carry on? Since the France was a cruise ship the last few decades, the likelihood of it being a museum ship was slim to none. I pray that one day the SS United States can be saved.

The Then Giant Ocean Liner, France 🇫🇷 that became Norway that also just like its Rival Queen Elizabeth 2nd Vessel also sailed for 40 years and eventually had many Engine troubles failures that eventually was Scrapped at Alang, India 🇮🇳

@@Wongwanchungwongjumbo Hello!! What are you talking about? The Queen Elizabeth 2 certainly had some initial mechanical problems early in her life but those were put right. Eventually she was re-engined to diesels from steam turbines as the diesels were more efficient. With these engines she ran very well until the end of her life. She was not scrapped at Alang or anywhere at all, she is now in a static role in Dubai.

queen mary 2, theres your answer

How much are they as a passenger?

@@ernshaw78 Don't know I don't live in sweden and Skandanavia lol

Thanks Ms Audrey, welcome aboard!

@@AlextheHistorian Audrey is right about the QM2. I have just completed a transatlantic passage on her. She is a beautiful ship, fitted out to a standard comparable to her forbears, even allowing for the restrictions on materials that can be used today, and her art deco inspired interior is just stunning. The standards of service, entertainment, food and general facilities make her a worthy successor to the great Queens and other liners of the past.

Seconded. It would be more feasible to return the SS United States. The engines are actually reported to be maintained, interiors gutted, the ship was designed to be fire resistant. There is no need for every ship to resemble a floating shopping trolley/apartment block. If the big U was restored I expect at least a profitable amount of clientele. Perhaps about 1,500? After all the QM2 operates on the Atlantic with a capacity of 2600 and she is a much larger ship. The only problem would be rebuilding the interiors, boilers, bridge instrument update and perhaps a major overhaul of the turbines. As she is an existing ship there is no stipulation to be powered by anything other than oil. So yeah fair enough if a new cruise line wanted to try this but we must wait and see. She deserved a longer career anyway.

@@danbell124 Engines were the property of US military and engine room was filled with gravel and engines dismantled.

The annoying thing about the whole bringing the United States back into revenue service question is that it most definitely can be done, but the problem is no one has the guts to do it. That or they don't have the means. The ship is in very good condition structurally: in fact, when her hull and superstructure were tested, it was still roughly 92% sound. That's being Navy built for ya. And while her interiors may be completely gutted, they now present a clean slate with which to start over. For that reason alone, it wouldn't be unreasonably difficult to change the layout of some areas to make room for, say bigger cabins. Now the problem with the venture proposed by Crystal Cruises (and everyone else for that matter) is that it called for changing the ship DRAMATICALLY. Stupid idea: that's not thinking at the margin. Of course it would cost upwards of $700-million dollars to do what they were planning to do with her, though even then I don't want to hear it, because in the cruise market, $700-million is chicken feed. You mean to tell me you have $1.6-BILLION (not million, BILLION) in the bank to build one of these mega-ships that are increasingly becoming little more than floating condominium buildings, but you don't have $700-million AT MOST to restore a ship that, though old and pretty small by today's standards, is still in top-notch condition and is ironically back to being an empty shell with which to work with? Give me a break. But no; the best thing to do to bring the United States back into service is to think at the margin. Rather than making such a vast amount of changes right away, one should instead take the path that made her contemporaries, the QE2 and the France, successful in the long run. QE2 went from her original 1969 configuration to having a few balcony cabins and new shopping areas two years later. As time went on, she gradually received more and more upgrades, until she became what she was when QM2 took over her role as flagship in 2004. France, when she was transformed into Norway, mostly just received a few new outer deck areas as well as tenders due to her deep draft (in the case of the United States, whose 31' draft is more comparable to the largest cruise ships, I don't think she'll need that). As time went on, the additional balconies were added. These are just the changes that I can already eyeball and name off the top of my head. The thing that none of those ships had were already empty interiors with which to start from scratch, like what the US now has. If one were to buy the US and make only the necessary changes to start off, and then add more incremental changes as time goes on, then that would be a whole lot cheaper than just making them all right out of the gate. With a project such as this, success lies not in the short run, but in the long run, and that's what one needs to remember.

@@Kaidhicksii companies aren't interested in the long term, if the project isn't brining profit right away, it's worthless.

Surely not every ocean going passenger ship requires balconies. I think passengers would sail on board a restored SSUS for the nostalgia it conjures. Traditional cruising/transatlantics have at least enough clientele to fill this 50 something thousand gross ton vessel (considerably smaller than even 'small ships' such as Aurora and Oceana in the P&O fleet). I agree that the cabins should be enlarged and the engines rebuilt but people would surely adore the restored public areas.

Thank you Mike!

Well apparently a replica Titanic is being built with the Involvement of Clive Palmer one of our Australian Billionaires! I hear!, The major Question for me with our Queen would be, Is the Hull and Superstructure still strong enough for a sea going career long term? If so you're still looking at Billions of dollars here But it is the sort of stuff Dreams are made of! Second to ships (I am a retired Ships Engineer and actually worked for Cunards Cargo ship division in the 70s & 80s as Third) my other love is Trains, I love the way the Brits have preserved much of their Steam locomotives eg The Flying Scotsman just one example, of course Ships are a different ball game, still I so wish the "Pomms" (I'm a Pomm living in Oz) had been able to preserve at least 1 or 2 of their Classic larger vessels, Passenger and Cargo! The Germans, Dutch and Japanese have done this, of course the general public are far more interested in Trains than Ships, sad but I completely understand that.

@@setter501 Clive palmers running it, no chance it’s ever gonna finish. He’s a joke in Australia. If you’re interested check out friendlyjordies videos on it

@@setter501 I remember first hearing about that a decade ago, honestly I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere and I think QMs hypothetical success would be because of its historical status, something that a replica ship cannot achieve.

Clive Palmer has been talking about that Titanic since I was a kid, I knew then it would never happen. His idea never left the drawing board and it was officially canceled last year.

@@chillinginthefrozennorth A very good question!, If the drive shafts (assuming they haven't already been removed??) haven't been rotated in 50 odd years the main problem would be settling into the bearing surfaces, now let's say someone came along with a few Billion to spend!, and she could be somehow "re made" (this is currently hyperthetical It's improbable but not impossible!) She would most likely be re engineered completely with motive and auxiliary power being provided by several large medium speed Diesel engines driving Alternators in what amounts to a floating power station, a possibility is Azipods would replace the original shafts and propellers, these Azipods are electrically driven self contained propulsion units, (as is the case with the Liner QM2 and many modern cruise vessels) this would be an enormous undertaking as I say not impossible but!.....OK, let's say it was decided to stick with the old system of propulsion engines driving the propeller shafts, Those shafts(I don't know if they are even still in place??, (Alex??...Are they??) If so? they would definitely have to be removed and checked over on shore along with all the bearings, couplings the whole 9 yards, this would have to be done just for survey just for a start, it's quite possible new shafts would have to be manufactured rather than mess around with the old ones! The whole thing about getting QM1 running again is not impossible but it would never be a profitable undertaking for any organisation that took it on, I'd certainly do it if I had an 20 billion Bux to spare! But that's just me! I hope I've answered your question satisfactorily?, I am a humble ex Ships Engineer, a full on Naval Architect may be able to give you a better idea? But that's the basics, Great question.

QM2 is an ocean liner. She’s not a cruise ship. She’s also probably the most beautiful ship in service. If you look at QM2, her balconies are all well above the water, as are the lifeboats, which is by design. She’s built for transatlantic crossings, just like her older sister. Don’t ever compare QM2 to the floating apartment blocks we see today, it’s an insult.

@@robdog1245 Did you not understand my comment? It somewhat aligns with yours, although not sure I agree about QM2 in the "beauty" department. I've sailed on her, as well as her sister Queen Victoria. Funny (you) mention 'floating apartment blocks'. That's a good description of the disproportionately elevated profiles.

They only way to really do that would be to convert her to diesels.

You'd have to do that anyway because no one is going to construct a new steam propulsion plant for her

Sadly I must Agree with you

If they could cut off the bottom part and put in on a barge, we might get something done!!

And that doesn't even address the SOLAS requirements for steering gear that she fails to meet. That was one of the things that well and truly killed the idea of the SS United States ever sailing again. SS Rotterdam which was far newer and more up to date was removed from service partially because she couldn't meet new SOLAS requirements. And that happened over a decade ago.

There are riveted iron sailing ship's that have been restored to full operational sea service. The James Craig here in Sydney Australia is a fully restored sailing ship. Nevertheless restoring the Queen Mary to operational service would never be remotely viable. At some stage she will need to shifted to have the hull restored just to continue to float!

There are Lakers from the early forties and fifties, with, I am certain, rivets still operating....you may be incorrect.

SS Constitution was spared from the breaker yards and was not scrapped because she sank on the journey there, which in my opinion is a far far better and more merciful death for the old girl. I will never forgive NCL for what they did to Norway and Independence and what they tried to do to Constitution. They lied about the future of those ships until practically the moment they were beached for scrapping.

Yep, bakelite was considered a miracle material too, it was tough, resistant to heat and cold, and could be made into jewelry.

Poor Stockholm. She is virtually unrecognizable from the beautiful little liner she started her life as.

@@ashleighelizabeth5916 Is this the same ship that sank the Andra Doria?

@@lawrencebraun7616 yes it's the same ship that rammed the Doria.

I make learning fun 😎

I dont think I was all that successful. A lot of people ended up commenting "just build a replica with today's standards" and indeed I have responded "they did, its called Queen Mary 2."

@@AlextheHistorian LOL, Things could be worse. You could be trying to explain why the SS United States will never be rebuilt.

Lol true

I think people from those eras would prefer the newer Queen Mary 2, to the original.

@@AlextheHistorian I think that goes for most everything we glorify from the past, those folks would likely be eager to take the modern examples Especially when ocean liners weren't used as a tourist destination, but rather a means to cross the ocean. That is now achievable to the masses far cheaper, and in a fraction of the time required via airlines Another example would be cars, and the "they don't make them like they used to" in reference to modern consumerism, yet back in the 50s, automotive design changed every year purposefully to make the previous model look old so that customers return to buy the newest version In other words, people in the 30s, 40s and 50s were likely excited about what the future has to bring, to sort of overlook what they currently have to experience. Much can be said about is in our current time, reminiscing about past ways of life or future endeavors, rather than embracing and enjoying the current state of technology/advancements/achievements etc It would be like someone in the 1930s on an ocean liner pinning for the 1850s way of transportation

You speak the truth, yet I can't explain why I still love the style and technology of the 1930s more than today. I just prefer it.

Thanks Donald!