| 1930 December Monday, 1 Keel laid at John Brown & Company Ltd, Clydebank | 1931 December Tuesday, 1 Depression causes construction to cease | 1934 September Wednesday, 26 Launch of yard number 534 by Her Majesty Queen Mary | 1936 March Tuesday, 24 Sails from the Clyde after eighteen months fitting-out |
| 1936 May Wednesday, 27 Maiden Voyage from Southampton to New York | 1936 June Monday, 1 Maiden arrival into New York harbour | 1938 August Monday, 15 Wins Blue Riband for fastest Atlantic crossing | 1939 August Wednesday, 30 Final peace-time voyage to New York |
| 1940 March Friday, 1 Officially requistioned as a troop ship | 1940 May Sunday, 5 Begins wartime life as a troop ship | 1942 October Friday, 2 Rams and sinks cruiser HMS Curacoa, 331 lives lost | 1943 July Sunday, 25 Boards 16,683 troops and crew, the most ever |
| 1945 August Wednesday, 29 Funnels repainted in Cunard red and black colours | 1946 September Tuesday, 24 Commences final voyage as a troop ship | 1946 September Friday, 27 Demobilized from wartime service at Southampton | 1947 July Thursday, 31 Peacetime maiden voyage following ten-month refit |
| 1952 July Friday, 4 Blue Riband held since 1938 lost to SS United States | 1958 January Sunday, 26 Dry-docked to have stabilisers fitted | 1958 March Tuesday, 25 Work on fitting stabilisers completed | 1958 October Saturday, 4 BOAC starts transatlantic jet airliner service |
| 1967 May Monday, 8 Captain receives orders that she is to be sold | 1967 July Thursday, 27 City of Long Beach buys the ship for $3.45 million | 1967 September Friday, 22 Last eastbound transatlantic voyage from New York | 1967 September Monday, 25 Passes Queen Elizabeth at sea for the last time ever |
| 1967 October Tuesday, 31 Final voyage including her 1,002 North Atlantic crossing | 1967 November Sunday, 19 Rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South America | 1967 December Monday, 11 Removed from the British Registry of merchant ships | 1967 December Monday, 11 Official retirement to Long Beach, California |
| 1971 December Saturday, 11 The Museum of the Sea opens to visitors | 1972 November Thursday, 2 The first 150 hotel rooms are opened | 1986 May Tuesday, 27 Marks 50th anniversary of her maiden voyage | 1988 March Tuesday, 29 Disney takes over lease of the Queen Mary |
| 1992 September Wednesday, 30 Disney ends lease of the Queen Mary | 1992 December Thursday, 31 The Queen Mary closes to the public | 1993 February Friday, 5 RMS Foundation Inc takes over lease | 1993 February Friday, 26 The Queen Mary re-opens to the public |
| 1993 March Friday, 5 The Hotel Queen Mary re-opens | 1993 May Wednesday, 12 Last captain, John Treasure Jones, dies aged 87 | 2007 December Sunday, 9 40th anniversary of her arrival in Long Beach | 2011 May Friday, 27 Marks 75th anniversary of her maiden voyage |