In the 1920s the Cunard Company relied upon three ships to operate its transatlantic mail and passenger service, since no one ship could make the crossing, refuel and set sail again inside a week. Competition on the North Atlantic was fierce and in a bid to regain its earlier supremacy Cunard resolved to build two new ships - bigger, yet fast enough to complete the journey in under a week.

In December 1930 the first of these super-liners was commissioned from John Brown, shipbuilders, of Clydebank and assigned Job No. 534. The work went well, but after twelve months, and £1.5 million, Cunard found itself running short of capital as the effects of the US economic recession spread world-wide. A plea for Government funds failed and on 11th December 1931 work was suspended. Three thousand men directly employed in building the ship were laid off with no idea of when or if they would return. Six thousand more around the country were hit by the loss of contracts for steel, electrical equipment and other machinery.

During those dark days of dole queues and hunger marches the rusting hull of No. 534 bore silent witness to the plight of Britain's economy. For over two years MPs and newspapers lobbied the Government to intervene. The Prince of Wales visited Clydeside adding his support to the campaign. Protracted negotiations with the Treasury eventually secured a Government advance of £4.5 million, with the promise of a further £5 million when the second ship (the Queen Elizabeth) was built. An unexpected condition, which Chancellor Neville Chamberlain attached to the loan, was that the North Atlantic assets of Cunard should merge with those of its great rival White Star to form a single company. It was an astute move since it precluded a second call on the public purse from White Star. When, in December 1933, work recommenced on No. 534, White Star's Job No 844 "The Oceanic" was shelved.

The merger also made it much more likely that British prestige in the North Atlantic would be regained. Chamberlain wrote in his diary, "my own aim has always been to use the 534 as a lever for bringing about a merger between the Cunard and White Star lines, thus establishing a strong British firm in the North Atlantic trade."

All through its construction No. 534's name was kept secret and it remained so up until the launch. Even the poem by Poet Laureate John Masefield to commemorate the event went by the title "No. 534". There is a story - almost certainly apocryphal but too good not to recount - that, in keeping with company tradition that ship names end in "ia", Cunard planned to name No. 534 the Victoria. They sought George V's permission to name the ship after "the most illustrious and remarkable woman who has ever been Queen of England." Not realising that they had in mind his grandmother, the King replied that his wife would be delighted!

As the first ship of the newly merged Cunard and White Star lines it would not, in truth, have been appropriate for No.534's name to end "ia" or, for that matter "ic", which had been the White Star convention. By the time she was launched on 26th September 1934 the Queen Mary had become much more than just another liner. The large investment of public money effectively made her a ship of state and required a name that would inspire the nation.

The monarchy of the 1930's personified Britain's national identity. King George V and Queen Mary, both nearing their seventies, commanded enormous loyalty and affection and there was great public interest in the Silver Jubilee the following year. With hindsight the name "Queen Mary" could not have been more appropriate.

Over the next 18 months the ship became a floating showcase of British design and construction, skill and craftsmanship, art and décor. She was fitted out in soft upholstery, brass handrails, chrome, glass and glossy veneers. Extensive use was made of wood in her public rooms, alleyways and staterooms - Pacific maple, Indian freywood, English oak and yew, chestnut and sycamore, Burma cedar, African cherry - in all over fifty different woods from every corner of the Commonwealth. Leading British artists contributed paintings and wall panels for the public rooms and salons, and a huge marble medallion portrait of Queen Mary.

The Cunard publicity department went into overdrive, employing every superlative in the dictionary as they churned out facts, figures and comparative anecdotes. Passengers learnt that the height of the Queen Mary was greater than Niagara Falls, that she weighed more than the entire Spanish Armada, that her rudder was big enough to fit two men inside and the answers to countless other trivia questions they probably never would have asked.

Having captured the imagination of the country the Queen Mary went on comfortably to achieve her prime objective. In August 1936 she crossed the Atlantic in less than 4 days and in the process took the famed Blue Riband trophy. She proved to be without equal. Her record crossing of 3 days, 20 h ours and 40 minutes in 1938 went unbeaten for 14 years.

The Queen Mary was an instant hit with the travelling public. She was constantly in the news because of her celebrity passengers, a veritable Who's Who of Hollywood including Clark Gable, Laurel and Hardy, Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, Bob Hope and Liberace, plus various Royals, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, millionaire businessmen and leading politicians.

She also notched up a distinguished wartime service record. She and the newly completed Queen Elizabeth were requisitioned for use as troop carriers as soon as war was declared. Between them they transported one and a quarter million service personnel and were credited by Sir Winston Churchill with having shortened the war in Europe by a year.

Camouflaged with grey paint, and capable of speeds that could out-manoeuvre German torpedoes, the Queen Mary earned the nickname The Grey Ghost. Not surprisingly Hitler wanted her destroyed and is said to have offered a quarter of a million dollars and the Iron Cross to the U-boat Commander who could sink either one of the Queens. The Queen Mary never saw enemy action but she was involved in a tragic accident on 2 October 1942 when she collided with her escort ship the Curacoa, slicing it in two. The Queen Mary sustained minimal damage but the Curacoa sank with the loss of 338 men - a sad shadow on an otherwise impeccable record.

At the end of September 1946 the Queen Mary was released from war service, stripped down and extensively restored and refitted. The US government paid Cunard $91 million in recompense for wartime transport of American soldiers in the two great ships. In the 18 months following the end of hostilities the Queen Mary plied a happier trade as she transported 12,886 GI brides and their babies to America and a further 10,000 to Canada.

During her thirty-one years the Queen Mary carried over two million passengers, made over a thousand Atlantic crossings and earned over £200 million for Cunard: not a bad return on their investment. However by the 60's competition from air travel had caused a sharp decline in transatlantic trade. Profits melted into losses. After a brief and unsatisfactory stint as a cruise ship the Queen Mary was said to be losing around £750,000 a year. In May 1967 Cunard announced that she was to be withdrawn from service, paying tribute to her "unique position in the history of the sea and in the affections of sea faring people everywhere."

When it came to disposing of her there were many expressions of interest. One plan envisaged her carrying the Australian migrant trade from Southampton to Sydney; the City of New York proposed turning her into a floating high school; Japan wanted her for scrap; but the City of Long Beach, California, put in the highest bid. They paid £1.2 million with the intention of turning the Queen Mary into a hotel and tourist attraction.

With bedrooms, kitchens, restaurants and bars already in place conversion to a hotel may sound relatively simple. In fact it cost Long Beach a further £23 million - £7 million on the ship itself, to install air conditioning, replace fire, electric, sewage, telephone and other services, and the rest to extend the Long Beach freeway, provide parking lots, pier facilities etc.

Tragically, during what has become known as the "rip-out" phase, three of the ship's propellers were removed along with all of her boilers, both turbo generator rooms and one of her engine rooms. They were stripped out ostensibly to make way for a museum of the sea, although some areas may have been cleared for their scrap value. The museum never materialised, but the damage was done.

The Queen Mary is no longer a ship: technically she is a building these days. All of the hotel's main services are shore based. Electricity is generated at a dockside sub station and on through a series of transformers on board. Air conditioning is drawn through articulated pipes and dispersed by 400 fans throughout the ship. Two lift shafts on the quay give access on three deck levels, assisting segregation of hotel guests from day visitors.

So how has the old lady fared in this new guise? Is she languishing, as one commentator has described her, "like a wild animal tethered in a circus ring ... demoted to a floating hotel and conference centre"? I honestly think not. The great passenger liners were often dubbed "floating hotels". "Getting there is half the fun" had been the Cunard slogan of the 50's. Having recently visited there I found Long Beach fiercely proud of the Queen Mary and well aware of how important a piece of Britain's heritage it holds in trust. Cabbies and bus drivers, when they hear you are staying on board, ask what you think of her and whether you are pleased with the standard of service. She is the jewel in the crown of the Long Beach Visitors' Bureau and takes pride of place in all their promotions.

After two or three false starts under different owners the hotel is thriving today under the management of the Queen Mary Foundation. It has 365 bedrooms priced to suit every credit card limit - from £250 for the "Royalty suite" down through staterooms, first class cabins and tourist class cabins to a modest £50 for an inside cabin. Three restaurants cater for guests and day visitors. For those on a budget, the "Promenade Café" offers a main course for around £6.50. If you prefer Silver Service then at "Sir Winston's" a typical entree costs in the region of £20 - still very good value. There are a number of small speciality shops dotted about the ship, and every Tuesday afternoon, in homage to her past, they stage big band dancing in one of the main salons.

Another interesting diversion is the Queen Mary self-guided shipwalk tour - free of charge to hotel guests. Starting in the engine room, where you can view the one remaining propeller from inside an inspection box welded to the side of the ship, the tour takes you the length of the ship, past museum style exhibits with authentic furnishings recreating first, second and third class accommodation of the 40s and 50s, and depicting the Queen Mary's illustrious wartime service, including the incident with the ill-fated Curacoa. For a small fee there is a guided tour that takes you to parts of the ship not open to the public. The young tour guides' patter is packed with historical detail and peppered with amusing anecdotes, but tired delivery and their incongruous Californian drawl tend to spoil it a little. On 27 June 1998 the Queen Mary acquired an unusual companion when she was joined by the Scorpion, a Russian Foxtrot-Class submarine. The sub, now moored alongside the ship, also offers tours on a joint ticket.

One obvious draw back, still, is the lack of a swimming pool for hotel guests. In the North Atlantic the Queen Mary had little use for an outdoor pool. In California a pool is a must. The old first class indoor pool is badly cracked and would need extensive work before it could be used. The pool is very small by today's standards and, located in the centre of the ship, has no natural light: the whole area is dim and dismal. It would hardly be worth reinstating. There are plans to build an open air pool on land adjacent to the ship, giving the hotel a dockside sun/pool area.

As the Queen Mary enjoys her retirement, basking in the sunshine of the golden state, there is an element of history repeating itself as she plays her part in pulling the City of Long Beach out of the doldrums just as she did Britain sixty years before.