RMS Queen Mary.

 Queen Mary arriving at Southampton on the 11th of August 1945. She berthed at 2.00pm. The Police Band played a musical welcome and the Mayor and other local dignitaries went on board to officially welcome her.

Queen Mary had been used as a troopship during the war, carrying up to 10,000 troops at a time from the United States to the battlefields of Europe. After the German surrender in May 1945 she was used for the repatriation of GI brides to the US. Because the docks at Southampton had been so badly damaged by German bombs, Mary had been sailing to and from Gourock on the River Clyde.

This photograph is of her final return to Southampton. Thousands gathered on the Isle of Wight, at Southsea and all along Southampton Water. All the tugs and ships in the docks blasted their horns to welcome her back.