Editing Cunard Line (section)

===Cunard-White Star Ltd: 1934–1949===
{{main|Cunard-White Star Line}}

[[File:Cunard White Star Line Logo.JPG|thumb|left|''Cunard-White Star'' Logo]]
[[File:Queen Mary New York.jpg|thumb|right|''[[RMS Queen Mary|Queen Mary]]'' of 1936 (80,700 GRT) in New York (c. 1960)]]
In 1934, both the Cunard Line and the White Star Line were experiencing financial difficulties. [[David Kirkwood]], MP for Clydebank where the unfinished Hull Number 534 had been sitting idle for two and a half years, made a passionate plea in the House of Commons for funding to finish the ship and restart the dormant British economy.<ref name=herald>{{cite web |title=The Red Baron of Bearsden |url=http://www.milngavieherald.co.uk/milngavie-yesterday/The-Red-Baron-of-Bearsden.1778877.jp |website=Milngavie Herald |date=14 December 2006 |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-date=12 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212203103/http://www.milngavieherald.co.uk/milngavie-yesterday/The-Red-Baron-of-Bearsden.1778877.jp |url-status=dead }}</ref> The government offered Cunard a loan of £3&nbsp;million to complete Hull Number 534 and an additional £5&nbsp;million to build a second ship, if Cunard merged with White Star.<ref name=graham />

The merger took place on 10 May 1934, creating [[Cunard-White Star Limited]]. The merger was accomplished with Cunard owning about two-thirds of the capital.<ref name=gibbs /> Due to the surplus tonnage of the new combined Cunard White Star fleet many of the older liners were sent to the scrapyard; these included the ex-Cunard liner ''Mauretania'' and the ex-White Star liners ''{{RMS|Olympic|3=2}}'' and {{RMS|Homeric|1913|2}}. In 1936 the ex-White Star ''{{RMS|Majestic|1914|2}}'' was sold when Hull Number 534, now named ''{{RMS|Queen Mary|3=2}}'', replaced her in the express mail service.<ref name=graham /> ''Queen Mary'' reached {{convert|30.99|kn|km/h}} on her 1938 Blue Riband voyage.<ref name=kludas /> Cunard-White Star started construction on ''{{RMS|Queen Elizabeth|3=2}}'', and a smaller ship, the second ''{{RMS|Mauretania|1938|2}}'', joined the fleet and could also be used on the Atlantic run when one of the Queens was in drydock.<ref name=gibbs /> The ex-Cunard liner ''Berengaria'' was sold for scrap in 1938 after a series of fires.<ref name=graham />

[[File:RMS Queen Elizabeth at Southampton 1960 (1).jpg|thumb|right|''[[RMS Queen Elizabeth|Queen Elizabeth]]'' of 1939 (83,650 GRT)]]
During the [[Second World War]] the Queens carried over two million servicemen and were credited by Churchill as helping to shorten the war by a year.<ref name=graham /> All four of the large Cunard-White Star express liners, the two Queens, ''Aquitania'' and ''Mauretania'' survived, but many of the secondary ships were lost. Both {{RMS|Lancastria|3=2}} and {{RMS|Laconia|1921|2}} were sunk with heavy loss of life.<ref name=gibbs />

In 1947 Cunard purchased White Star's interest, and by 1949 the company had dropped the White Star name and was renamed "Cunard Line".<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i7yvCwAAQBAJ&q=cunard+white+star+1949&pg=PA292 | title=Cunard and the North Atlantic 1840–1973: A History of Shipping and Financial Management| isbn=9781349023905| last1=Hyde| first1=Francis E| date=18 June 1975| publisher=Springer}}</ref> Also in 1947 the company commissioned five freighters and two [[cargo liner]]s. ''{{RMS|Caronia|1947|2}}'', was completed in 1949 as a permanent cruise liner and ''Aquitania'' was retired the next year.<ref name=gibbs />