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The Queen Mary's famous radio callsign was GBTT

  The photo below was taken in 1943 as she departed from New York for the UK with 16,683 souls onboard, an all time record for any ship.

  This page is about the Wireless Telegraphy equipment fitted into R.M.S. Queen Mary, written by and for the Royal Navy.

  Much has been written about the Queen Mary (and of course the Queen Elizabeth) and there are some excellent and explicit websites too. However, all of this has been written by merchant mariners who either served in the Queens or who are devotees of the days of the big and ubiquitous liners gracefully crossing the Atlantic with the world's well-shod embarked as passengers, and when not doing that, running the gauntlet as troopships during WW2. I like to look for stories to tell you with a Royal Naval connection and this one is no exception.

  In the 1930's the Royal Naval Signal School was situated in HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Barracks at Portsmouth. In 1936 Signal School officers paid a visit to the Queen Mary in Southampton, and the following PDF file tells of their experiences. They produced a book called M.289 and gave it the caveat of Confidential.

  The Navy marvelled at the technical advances incorporated into the Queens, and Royal Sailors must have considered it futuristic and enviable. Personally, I can see ideas and devices used in their equipment which we in the R.N., didn't get until well into the 1960's.

  Of great interest is the aerial layout of this magnificent ship, the maintenance of which must have been a rigging nightmare, requiring many miles of aerial wire during her long sea life. The PDF file contains 4 pages detailing the aerial rig of the Queen Mary but below is a smaller complete version will show the array properly and you will be amazed at the number of separate aerials she had.

W/T Equipment of the R.M.S. Queen Mary