The Queen Elizabeth 2 is the Cunard Line's pride and joy, single-handedly working the transatlantic service during the summer, and going on cruises in the winter. She was born in the late 1960's as a modern successor to the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. Like the Queen Mary, her name was kept secret until the launch. Rumors of the day had it that her name would not be in the Cunard -ia tradition, but to the tune of Queen Mary II, Britannia, Great Britain, William Shakespeare, and Winston Churchill. As it turned out, she would be named Queen Elizabeth 2, to honor the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, retired in 1968. This is why her name ends in 2, and not II, because of her naming after the previous Queen Elizabeth, instead of after the sitting British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen Elizabeth 2 (commonly called the QE2)
left for her sea trials on November 26, 1968. However, she had
serious turbine problems, as well as other embarrassing defects.
Cunard refused to accept her in such a state, and she returned to her
builders to repairs to be made. On The Cunard Line finally accepted her on April 18. Her final cost was £83 million, with £3 million of that coming from losses due to her problems. She finally made her maiden voyage on May 2, 1969. One thing that is interesting to note is that when the Queen
Elizabeth 2 went into service, she originally had a very The Cunard Line was bought by Trafalgar House
Investments in 1971. At the time, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was
losing £500,000 per In 1973, while the Queen Elizabeth 2 was
chartered for a cruise from New York to Israel for Israel's 25th
anniversary, Arab terrorists threatened to blow the Queen Elizabeth 2
to smithereens. The reports were in fact serious enough that crew
members were given an extra £50 as a "danger fee". As a
result The problems didn't end there, either. On April
1, 1974, the Queen Elizabeth 2 broke down at sea due to boiler
problems. After two Besides all these problems, there were economic
problems to further plague the Queen Elizabeth 2. In order to
save the mid-winter positioning voyage, her annual overhauls were moved When the Queen Elizabeth 2 was built, no one
ever thought that she would ever be seized by the government for military
service. The unthinkable happened in May 1982, and the Queen
Elizabeth 2, along with the Canberra, was seized for trooping
for the conflict in the Falklands. There were no friendly airstrips
for the British to After the Falklands, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was
refitted to her magnificent commercial self, and resumed her normal
schedule. However, her steam turbine engines again started to act
up. Instead of just repairing them this time, Cunard decided to take
At this time, she not only got new engines, but also a new funnel to spew exhausts made from those engines. Her new funnel was of similar design to her old one, with the black uptake surrounded by another color. Like the previous funnel after 1982, this one was painted in Cunard red-and-black. However, this new funnel was wider and more elliptical than the old one. In my opinion, this new funnel looks much better than the old funnel. However, the Queen Elizabeth 2 still had
problems, but of a different variety. In August 1992, she ran
aground in the Vineyard Sound off of Massachusetts. The funny thing
about it, though, is that the QE2 was supposed to be able to travel
through this area without problems. An investigation showed that the
"squat effect" was the reason. What happens is that when
large ships travel at high speed, they push the surrounding water away,
which digs a hole for the ships to sail through In December 1994, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was extensively refitted. She was renovated, and in the process brought up to current standards of safety and passenger accommodation. In 1996, she was refitted again, though less extensively. The Queen Elizabeth 2 has been through good times and bad, but she continues to sail. Hopefully she will be with us for many years to come...
Queen Elizabeth 2 Vital Statistics: Gross tonnage: 65,863 (1969), 67,107 (1977), 70,327 (1994) Length: 963 feet Width: 105 feet Draft: 32 feet Machinery: Steam turbines geared to twin screw, later changed to diesel-electric Speed: 28.5 knots Capacity: 564 First and 1,141 Tourist, 1,400 Single-Class for cruising (1969); 604 First and 1,223 Tourist, 1,740 Single-Class for cruising (1972); 1,820 Single-Class for all sailings (1976) Built: John Brown & Company Limited, Clydebank, Scotland, 1965-1969 Demise: N/A Thanks to the Liners List member who allowed us to use the images of the QE2 that he took on his trip freely. (If this is you, tell me so I can give you credit by name) The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc. |
|
She was built by the Clydebank yards of John Brown and
Company, with the first keel plates laid on June 5, 1965. She
was launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on September 20,
1967. Incidentally, this event happened two days before the Queen
Mary made her last departure from New York City.
January 2, 1969, the Queen
Elizabeth 2 entered Southampton. However, problems were again
encountered, and Cunard again refused her. With great embarrassment,
her maiden voyages (five had been scheduled as "maiden"
sailings) were cancelled, and she was sent back to the Clydebank. This would
not be the last time that the Queen Elizabeth 2 would encounter
technical problems.
non-conventional funnel. Unlike all other Cunard liners, the Queen
Elizabeth 2 did not sport an elliptical funnel, painted
red-and-black. The funnel that the QE2 originally used had a
thin black uptake going straight up. Around about half of it going
about three-fourths of the way up was a white covering. The funnel
was painted white instead of red-and-black because the traditional color
was not believed to fit in with the modern design of the ship. In
1982, after she returned from the Falklands, her funnel was changed to the
traditional Cunard red-and-black.
year. In 1972, she was the subject of a bomb
threat while on a transatlantic sailing. The perpetrators also
demanded $350,000 in cash from Cunard's New York office. In order
to remedy the situation on board the QE2, Royal Air Force bomb
experts were parachuted into the sea and lifted aboard the liner, eighteen
minutes before the bombs were supposed to go off. Thankfully, it was
an empty threat (there was no bomb), but the passengers and crew were
quite frightened as a result of the whole event.
of these rumors, the security on board was extremely high, and she
was escorted by military planes and ships while in the
Mediterranean. Though Cunard's efforts to protect their passengers
were certainly commendable, they also managed to scare off many potential
passengers. When she reached Israel, she was only half full.
It was later learned that the President of Libya actually wanted to have a
Libyan submarine put a torpedo in her side. It was only through the
intervention of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat that prevented this.
days of waiting, the Norwegian cruise ship Sea
Venture picked up the QE2's passengers and brought them to
shore. By April 7, the QE2 was towed to Bermuda, and was
temporarily repaired. In December 1975, she damaged her hull off
Nassau on coral reefs. As a result, she had to go to Newport News
with many unhappy passengers in order to be urgently dry-docked. On
July 23, 1976, an engine room fire sent her back to Southampton.
Furthermore, that September, she was tossed around in a fierce Atlantic
storm, with resulting damages.
from Southampton to New York. These positioning voyages were quite
costly to the company. Furthermore, her port calls have been reduced
to cut costs, which means an average of eight hours in New York, and no
overnight stays.
use to land their troops defend the Falklands from
Argentina, so the two ships had to work to bring the troops into the war
zone. As it would be extremely embarrassing to the British to have
the ship bearing their Queen's name be sunk in this conflict, the QE2
and the Canberra worked differently than most troopers did.
The Queen Elizabeth 2 took her troops to South Georgia (1,500 miles
away from the Falklands), and then from there, transferred them to the Canberra
to take them into the war zone. The Falklands conflict eventually
ended, but for her efforts, the QE2 was given a plaque.
drastic measures to correct the problem. They sent her to
Bremerhaven, and had the turbines ripped out and replaced with
diesel-electric engines. While the refitting cost Cunard $162
million, it was the right move economically. A new ship of similar
capacity would have cost Cunard $400 million. So, with her new
engines, she went back to sailing.
in the water. At the
time of the grounding, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was traveling at high
speed, and the effect was larger than expected. After repairs were
made, she was returned to service.
