She was designed as a luxury ocean liner but would soon be used to further Britain’s efforts in World War Two - a future just on the horizon when the RMS Queen Elizabeth was launched in 1938.
The Cunard line’s huge luxury ocean-goer was built on the river Clyde to sail between Southhampton and New York, named after the Queen Consort (later the Queen Mother).
The lady herself was there to witness John Brown and Company launch the ship - the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage - on September 27, 1938, with princesses Elizabeth and Margaret by her side.
Unfortunately, her role as a luxury liner was short-lived - with the outbreak of the Second World War the following year, the Queen Elizabeth entered service in February 1940 as a troopship and didn’t return to her original role until October 1946.
The war also cut short plans for the King and Queen to visit and tour the ship and its engine in April 1940.
Still, the Queen Mother was able to see all 45,000 tonnes of her namesake enter the water via a Clydebank slipway - as did the hundreds of thousands of people who lined the banks of the Clyde to wave her off on this day decades ago.
