Gray Ghost - The RMS Queen Mary at War

Gray Ghost - The RMS Queen Mary at War
by Steve Harding
Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Inc., Missoula, Montana, USA, 1982

Review by Felix Bustelo

With the beginning of World War II, the routine shuttle service provided by transatlantic liners great and small screeched to a halt. While these liners sat moored at piers with their immediate futures uncertain, key people in the Allied forces realized that these ships would be capable of transporting badly needed troops quickly. While this was not a new concept, as liners were used during World War I and as recently as the Falklands War, liners as large as the Queen Mary had not been available for such a task.

This 84-page soft cover book chronicles the wartime duty of this beautiful liner. Nicknamed the Gray Ghost, her capacity and speed made a tremendous contribution to the Allied victory. The Queen Mary was the pride of the Cunard fleet and Britain's answer to the French superliner Normandie. Like most "civilians" called into active duty, the Queen served with great determination and dedication. Steve Harding does an excellent job in documenting the various roles she played during the war, roles that were determined by the changing circumstances of the conflict. She originally transported thousands of troops from the far-flung Allied nations to fronts all over the world. Later, she would transport a number of Axis POWs to detention centers in South Africa, Canada and the United States. The Queen also brought wounded Allied soldiers home from the front. After the end of the war, she would bring troops back home and later reunite thousands of wartime brides and children with their husbands. The book covers the challenges and dangers the Queen Mary faced, as she often crossed hostile oceans with out escorts.

There are a total of 79 photos and illustrations, which show the Queen Mary in her wartime uniform, the armament installed on her during the war and how life onboard was like during this time. Five photos are spread out across two pages. Some of the photos will be helpful to modelers wishing to build a model of the Queen Mary in this fit. I did find a printer's error on page 27 on my copy where the same photo was reproduced twice.

There are two appendices included with the book, one which covers the wartime specifications of H.M.T. Queen Mary and the other that details her numerous war related voyages, including her postwar demobilization and "bride and baby" voyages. In total, the Queen Mary traveled over 600,000 miles and transported 800,000 persons.

This book makes for very interesting reading and is well researched. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to learn about an aspect of the Queen Mary's career that is often overshadowed by her luxury liner days and to any one wishing to convert the Revell or Modelcraft model into her Gray Ghost appearance.

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