Transport Atlas

How The World Moves
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Vehicle

RMS Queen Elizabeth

Passenger and Ocean Liner Vessels

RMS Queen Elizabeth is a Cunard ocean liner that entered service in 1940, at the time the largest passenger ship ever built, a record it held for decades. Completed just as the Second World War began, she served first as a troopship before entering passenger service on the North Atlantic alongside her sister ship Queen Mary, and the pair became the dominant express liners on the transatlantic route through the 1950s.

Facts
Year
1940 1
Significance
At completion Queen Elizabeth was 12 feet longer and several thousand tons heavier than her sister Queen Mary, making her the largest passenger liner ever built for a record 56 years. 1
Manufacturer or Builder
John Brown and Company, Clydebank 1
FAQs

Why did RMS Queen Elizabeth not carry paying passengers until 1946?

She entered service in 1940 as a wartime troopship and sailed commercially only from October 1946.

She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946. She had been launched on 27 September 1938, built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland.
Connections

Operated By

Cunard Line, Networks and Operators

RMS Queen Elizabeth was operated by the Cunard Line on the North Atlantic route.

Source Wikipedia: RMS Queen Elizabeth

Preceded By

RMS Queen Mary, Vehicles

Queen Mary entered Cunard transatlantic service in 1936, four years before her sister Queen Elizabeth in 1940; the two ran the joint weekly service together.

Source Wikipedia: RMS Queen Elizabeth
In the Other Atlases

Manufactured By

Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: RMS Queen Elizabeth
Wikipedia
  • Lead section, second paragraph, first sentence
    Built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, as Hull 552, she was launched on 27 September 1938 and named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI.
  • Lead section, second paragraph, second sentence
    Her design was an improvement of that of Queen Mary, resulting in a vessel 12 feet (3.7 m) longer and several thousand tons greater GRT, making her the largest passenger liner ever built for a record 56 years.
  • Lead section, second paragraph, final sentence
    She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946.
  • Operated By: Cunard Line, Lead section, first sentence
    RMS Queen Elizabeth was a British ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line.
  • Preceded By: RMS Queen Mary, Lead section, first paragraph, second sentence
    Along with her sister Queen Mary, she provided a weekly transatlantic service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France.
  • In Group: Atlantic Express Liners, Lead sentence
    RMS Queen Elizabeth was a British ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.