No Man Left Behind...Unless Your With the Queen Mary - Part 3 of 3
The Highs and Woes of War
The Queen Mary currently berthed in Long Beach CA is beautiful, overwhelming and quite frankly, intimidating to see in person. She is known mostly for being the iconic symbol for the city of Long Beach, however she is so much more. There is a soul to her, souls should others tell it.
As tourists take photos pointing at her in awe, most are not aware of the WWII battle scars that lie beneath her shiny coats of black, red and white.
While men and women revelled along her shiny decks in the late 30's, Hitler was amassing an army, growing stronger and closing in on a section of the world.
It was in 1940 that America was to learn that even queens couldn't avoid the military draft. The Queen Mary, along with her sister ship Queen Elizabeth, were asked to take off their crowns, put on their fatigues and join the Allied Forces in WWII.
Scarlett O'Hara of the Seas
Now painted gray and nicknamed "The Grey Ghost" The Queen Mary was cloaked beauty in rags, no reminders of her former glory; portholes painted over gray, bunks added for troops and her primary mission to serve and survive the war.
Big Boat Takes Little Boat
The Queen Mary as the "Grey Ghost" had many victorious WWII runs and her name became well known among the military ranks and enemies. A phantom ship, able to pickup and drop-off troops and disappear; her speed no match for the enemy boats she easily outsailed at 28+ knots. It was said that Hitler offered a $250,000 reward* to anyone that could take her down. However, she wasn't without tragedy. During one particular run while performing the recommended zig-zag maneuvers to avoid U-boat attacks, insufficient clearance caused one of the smaller cruisers the HMS Curacoa,** to be placed directly in the path of the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary, plowed directly into the Curacoa, cutting her in half and sinking her. Under the strictest of wartime sailing orders, she steamed ahead. During later rescue operations, only 99 of the 300+ men had survived.
The Spirits Have a Name
In present time, the Curacoa tragedy has since become part of the entertaining paranormal tour now currently being held aboard the Queen Mary today. It is said that the men who were left behind to drown are heard knocking and crying in Bosun's Locker, the area of the hull that sliced the Curacoa. This group of men had names, had a story to tell and now according to some, are still trying to tell that story.
Part 1 of 3: Queen Mary in Long Beach - Tourist Attraction, Museum, Hotel and Haunted Ship
Part 2 of 3: Mary Still Cries in the Night: The Haunted Queen Mary
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*Lostliners.com "Queen Mary, The Gray Ghost"; ** uboat.net
Queen Mary operating as the Gray Ghost arrives in NY 6/20/45 Copyright public domain; Convoy photo 9/04/41 courtesy of Wikipedia Commons Copyright public domain
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Hi Andi,
I really enjoyed your post about the Queen Mary and QE. I remember my dad telling me the Queens didn't even need an escort as they could outrun any U-boat(which could only do 19 knots on the surface).
It was nice and thoughtful of you to do this post as the 65th Anniversary to the end of WWII was on Thursday and this is the first allusion to it I have seen anywhere! Thanks for a wonderful story about two GREAT ladies and their wartime service!
Andi, this is a beautifully written post. The tribute to the men who were casualities is sad, but a realism to the tragedy of wars. What a great story-tell Ms. Grant!! Brilliant series. Thank you for taking the time to write them for our reading enjoyment.
Bruce if you have any other stories your dad told you I'd love to hear or read about them! I've never been a WWII buff, but I find the Queen's history utterly fascinating. Thank you for the "knots" info as well. I didn't know how far behind the others were!
Carla - as you know, I've also been reading some of the journals of some of the troops that passengered her. It's so interesting to read. From awe, to disgust to awe again. I have a feeling I'll be keeping this series alive.
Andi, I retired from teaching in the classroom 31 years last summer(U.S. History and Economics) and my last three posts were about remembering some of the unusual and little heard of stories about World War II.(check them out I think you will find them interesting and entertaining). I was very excited to see your post about the Queen Mary and her service during WWII as I heard nothing at all honoring our men and women who served their nation during WW II(it ended 65 years ago a week ago). I plan to do a post about my Dad's service in the Navy during the war by tomorrow.
Did you know your state of California was repeatedly bombed by Japan during WWII and the Japanese bombed the continental U.S. as far east as Detroit, Michigan? (see my recent posts how they did it). We also had an incredible plan to bomb Japan with bats! (Operation Vampire???)
The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth never sailed in a regular convoy because the speed of the convoy would be around 12 knots(the speed of the slowest, beat up cargo ship) and that is when the U-boats could see the smoke of the convoy over the horizon(the Allied Convoy couldn't see the U-Boat or pick it up on radar) and race at 19 knots on the surface to get ahead of the convoy undetected and silently lay in wait for a NIGHT ambush.
The "Queens" were made for speed and the Allied navies were smart enough to just turn them loose and let them make the Atlantic run to Britain, no U-boat could catch them! (I taught a World War II class for many, many years)
Thanks for the reply! It is nice to have someone on occasion who will respond to comments.
Hi Bruce! I'm still catching up with comments and posts. "Did you know your state of California was repeatedly bombed by Japan during WWII and the Japanese bombed the continental U.S. as far east as Detroit, Michigan?"
Ha! Yes, I know because Long Beach built several breakwaters in the event of Japanese topedoes targeting the port and harbor areas during the war. The same obsolete breakwaters are now causing major citywide divisions among the residents. Since there construction, Long Beach, which was once a popular surfing and resort town, reportedly lost all tourism with the loss of waves! Businesses and jobs were lost as well. We have "ripples" but no waves unless you head further east on the 3 mile stretch. There are those who had homes built on the peninsula post-breakwater that are concerned that with the removal of the breakwater, El Nino seasonal type flooding will occur.