The Titanic and The Queen Mary are two of the world’s best-known Ocean Liners.
When the Titanic was built in 1912 she was the largest and most technologically advanced ship of her day.
The Queen Mary was built later in 1936 and since she retired in 1967, has had a second life as a floating hotel in Long Beach, California.
I have spent two nights onboard the Queen Mary, and she’s every bit as grand as you’d expect.
Although both ships were built and set sail less than 30 years apart, there are some considerable differences between them.
How did the Titanic Compare to the Queen Mary?
The Queen Mary:
- The Queen Mary is 15% longer than the Titanic.
- This is based on the length of the cruise ship as parallel to the waterline.
- Some parts of the ship do technically protrude further than at the waterline, such as the aft section of Titanic.
- She is 28% wider than the Titanic.
- The beam of a cruise ship is the width of the cruise ship at the widest point. It’s usually measured where the hull meets the waterline.
- She has over three times the horsepower and was able to travel 39% faster.
- The Queen Mary has an additional three passenger decks compared to the Titanic.
Improvements in shipbuilding and design meant that not only could shipbuilders build larger ships, but also ships that could sail faster too.
Onboard safety also improved significantly with many changes being implemented after the sinking of the Titanic.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Length Comparison
| Cruise Ship | Length (Meters) | Length (Feet) |
| Titanic | 269m | 883ft |
| Queen Mary | 310m | 1017ft |
If you were to compare the length of the Titanic and Queen Mary to the current cruise ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, the Titanic would be the shortest by some distance.
The Queen Mary was similar in length to the Voyager-class cruise ships, which were built for Royal Caribbean between 1999 and 2003.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Width (Beam) Comparison
| Cruise Ship | Width (Meters) | Width (Feet) |
| Titanic | 28m | 92ft |
| Queen Mary | 36m | 118ft |
The Queen Mary is 28% wider than the Titanic.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Height and Deck Comparison
| Cruise Ship | Height (Meters) | Height (Feet) | Decks |
| Titanic | 53m | 174ft | 9 |
| Queen Mary | 55m | 180ft | 12 |
The Queen Mary was only 3% taller than the Titanic but she included an additional three passenger decks.
The largest cruise ships are around 72 meters (238 feet) high, which is 37% taller than the Titanic.
Building tall cruise ships limits the destinations they can travel to. Some large modern cruise ships are unable to sail to some ports due to bridges.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Gross Tonnage Comparison
| Cruise Ship | Gross Tonnage |
| Titanic | 46,000 |
| Queen Mary | 80,000 |
The Queen Mary had almost double the gross tonnage of the Titanic.
The gross tonnage of the Titanic is smaller than any modern cruise ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. The gross tonnage of the Queen Mary is similar to that of Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Horsepower and Speed Comparison
A ship’s horsepower is the amount of power provided by the engines. One horsepower is equivalent to 746 Watts.
| Cruise Ship | Horsepower | Maximum Speed |
| Titanic | 46,000 | 23 knots (26 MPH) |
| Queen Mary | 160,000 | 32 knots (37 MPH) |
The Titanic had three engines. Two four-cylinder steam engines and one steam turbine. Each steam engine provided 15,000 horsepower and the steam turbine provided 16,000.
The Queen Mary had four boiler rooms and four turbines in two separate engine rooms. Its combined horsepower was 160,000, which was three times as much as the Titanic’s.
This meant that the Queen Mary was able to sail 39% faster than the Titanic at full speed.
In reality, the Queen Mary usually sailed at around 29 knots (32 MPH), and the Titanic sailed at a little over 21 knots (24 MPH). This is faster than modern cruise ships, which average a speed of 20 Knots (23MPH)
Modern cruise ships still usually have a maximum speed of between 25-30 knots, but normally sail far slower than that.
Similarities Between the Queen Mary and The Titanic
Both Ships Were Made From Riveted Steel
Riveting is the process of joining together pieces of metal using metal pins called rivets. In modern shipbuilding, riveting has mostly been replaced by welding.
- The Titanic used approx 3 million rivets
- The Queen Mary used approx 10 million rivets
Since the Titanic’s creation, it has been confirmed that the builders struggled to find good-quality rivets and men to do the riveting.
Riveting by hand is a difficult and time-consuming job. Many people question whether the poor quality of Titanic’s rivets contributed to her sinking.
Both Ships Had Three Main Anchors
The Titanic had three primary anchors, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the centre.
The ship also had two kedging anchors (lighter anchors).
The Queen Mary had three anchors.
Both Ships Had Three Functioning Funnels
The Queen Mary has three obvious funnels on her top deck. The Titanic looks as though she had four, but in reality, one of those was fake.
At the time of Titanic’s creation many people believed that the more funnels a ship had the faster and more powerful she was, a fake funnel was added for this reason.
It’s also believed that even numbers of funnels was preferred.
Queen Mary vs Titanic – Ship Ownership
The Titanic was built for a company called White Star Line.
In 1934, the White Star Line merged with the Cunard Line to form the Cunard-White Star Line. The Queen Mary was then built for the Cunard-White Star Line.
Cunard owned 62% of the company, and White Star Line 38%. In 1949, Cunard bought out White Star Line, creating the Cunard brand that we know and love today.
Cunard have the last ever Ocean Liner at sea, the Queen Mary 2. Find out what I thought of her when I sailed on her here:
Is The Queen Mary The Sister Ship to The Titanic?
The Queen Mary is not the sister ship to the Titanic. She was built for Cunard Line 24 years after the Titanic was launched.
Cunard Line was part-owned by the White Star Line, the company that built the Titanic, so while the Queen Mary could be described as coming from the same family, she definitely wasn’t a sister ship.
Before You Go
To learn more about how Titanic compares to modern cruise ships, including how the ship compares to the Royal Caribbean and Cunard fleets check out this post:
Titanic vs a Modern Cruise Ship Fleet – Comparison with Photos!
Find out what the differences were between modern cruise ships and Ocean Liners here:
Cruise Ships vs Ocean Liners – Measurable Differences You Need to Know
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