RMS Queen Elizabeth (Johnsonverse)

The RMS Queen Elizabeth is an ocean liner operated by Continental Shipping Lines and formerly operated by Cunard Line. With RMS Queen Mary, she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France.

While being constructed in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, the build was known as Hull 552. She was launched on 27 September 1938 and named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, who was later known as the Queen Mother. With a design that improved upon that of RMS Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth was a slightly larger ship, the largest passenger liner ever built at that time and for 56 years thereafter. She also has the distinction of being the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage. She first entered service in February 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and it was not until October 1946 that she served in her intended role as an ocean liner.

With the decline in popularity of the transatlantic route, both ships were replaced by the smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969. Queen Mary was sold to Continental Shipping Lines and placed back on the Southampton route, where she remains in service to this day.