The Power Train of the Queen Mary

For sheer size and horsepower, the power train of the Queen Mary was probably the largest ever built aboard a ship in human history. Absorbing the majority of the space on the five lower decks of the 1,000 ft. long liner, it permitted the Queen Mary to wrest the Blue Ribband from her great rival, the Normandie, and hold it unchallenged for well over a decade.

The power train of the Queen Mary consisted of four primary boiler rooms each containing six massive Yarrow boilers (for propulsion), an auxiliary boiler room with three Scotch boilers (to generate electrical power for the ship's services), two turbo generator rooms, two engine rooms and a feed water softening plant that was capable of producing 300 tons of softened water every day to provide feed water that worked efficiently in the water tube boilers.

The major elements in the power train were arranged in the following order (bow to stern):

1936-1967

During the entire service life of the RMS Queen Mary the power train functioned as designed and built. During World War II, while the ship was used as a troopship sometimes carrying as many as 16,000 troops at once, the power train was off-limits to allied troops.

1968 to Present

While the new owners recognized the "icon" value of the ship, apparently few seemed to think that the public would be interested in seeing and/or using the Queen Mary as she was when she came to them. The power train was considered unnecessary since the ship was to be permanently docked. One engine room (the aft engine room), shaft alley and a single propeller were retained in place. All of the other elements of the power train were gutted at great expense to create space for a massive "Museum of the Sea". 

This museum was the justification for the use of state tidelands funds to purchase the ship. 

Initially the auxiliary boiler room, (Boiler Room # 1), that provided electrical power for the ship's hotel services was to be retained. But the martitime museum developers demanded more space -- so it too was gutted. A new power plant providing alternating current was built on land at the adjacent Pier J. 

The gutted lower decks of the Queen Mary are regarded by both the ship's owners (the City of Long Beach) and the ship's various operators (currently the RMS Foundation) as an opportunity for commercial development. Over the years various suggestions have been considered including a factory outlet, a gambling casino, an IMAX theater, additional banqueting space, a brewery, and a "blitzkrieg" nightclub.

The current lessee says he is working with an Orlando, Florida based attractions designer to develop a "ghost and mystery tour," and a "maritime museum" on the lower decks. Additional openings to the ship's hull at D deck (wharf level) are envisioned to integrate the ship with a proposed "Quay Street" development. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) says that retail and restaurant venues would be created on the ship on D deck.

What does this mean for the historic ship? We believe it means that continued conversion of the Queen Mary, not restoration, is the goal of the operator.

Proponents of continued conversion believe that the current attraction, while not perfect, more than adequately responds to the needs and interests of the ocean liner buffs. To prosper, they believe that the Queen Mary needs to attract a broad audience who come to the ship for totally different reasons. Hence they are quite comfortable with removing original areas and auctioning original artifacts to build new features that were never part of the life of the Queen Mary as a great ocean liner.

This was the thinking in 1968-71 when the ship was converted and it is still the thinking today. The fact that the major new features imposed on the ship in the costly 1968-1971 conversion - e.g., the "Cousteau Living Sea Museum" and the two groups of tourist orientated shops on Sun deck - were both total failures - has not dissuaded them from this thinking. They believe that the wrong new features were picked in 1968-1971. They view their mission today as picking the "right" new features to add to the ship.

• Have the planners for the Queen Mary have been missing the boat for the past thirty years?
• Does the enormous success of the movie "Titanic" teach us anything?
• Are there possibilities for recreating the power train?
• Would there be any real financial benefit for the ship?

Let's start in reverse order with the current Exhibit Hall which occupies space that once housed the after Turbo Generator Room, Boiler Room # 5 and the Forward Engine Room - and which was gutted for the Cousteau Living Sea Museum.

The current exhibit hall is a modern and stylistic intrusion in the fabric of the Queen Mary. It adjoins the only surviving engine room. Because of its totally unrelated "look" it makes developing a contiguous historic tour of the lower decks difficult, if not impossible. But what if the thirty year old power station that currently is housed on Pier J were replaced by a contemporary one using modern turbine technology that was placed aboard the ship itself in this exhibit hall? It might be new but it would fit in and in its own way reflect the evolution of the Queen Mary from ocean greyhound to shore-side attraction.

This new power station could be vented through the third funnel hatch and would permit the ship to be power self sufficient. In a real sense the Queen Mary would again become (and look like) a live ship. Because of the position of this area adjacent to the after engine room, it is even conceivable one day that the outbound propeller shafts might be reconnected to give the ship not just hotel power, but limited self-powered mobility!

Forward Turbo Generator Room and Boiler Rooms 3 and 4.

Mr. Robin Jacobs, a Queen Mary enthusiast, master model builder and craftsman, has developed a remarkable plan with accompanying model that demonstrates how boiler rooms 3 and 4 might be recreated as full size simulations and used as an tour attraction in conjunction with what remains of the original power train.

If his concept were only slightly expanded to include the forward turbo generator room, than one each of the major components of the power train of the Queen Mary would be available for viewing .

Perhaps these vast but now gutted areas might be stabilized in their vast cavernous ruin state, (but with asbestos removed) and a useable decking laid and water tight partitions replaced. In their present condition they tell an important, if tragic story about the fate of the Queen Mary.

In their stabilized state, these areas could:

1. be viewed in its present state as part of the power train tour;
2. possibly house a multi-media display on the working of the power train;
3. and be used as multi-purpose meeting/event space after attraction hours.

The Queen Mary's power train was a critical element in making her the greatest ocean liner of the twentieth century. We recognize that recreating significant portions of this power train would be costly. It requires an enormous act of faith in the historic Queen Mary. But what could possibly be put down in these spaces that would be more intrinsically interesting than what was in them originally? And what would have longer term attraction value?