Cunard - Queen Elizabeth 2
She has circled the globe 24 times, sailed more than 5,000,000 nautical miles and shows no sign of losing her appeal. As QE2 approaches her 40th birthday, we look at the remarkable history of this much-loved ocean liner.
Approaching her 40th birthday, Queen Elizabeth 2 is well beyond any reasonable life span for a ship by a decade or more. She's faced more than her share of adversity and has probably undergone more refits and onboard refurbishments than any other ship. She has fought and won publicity wars and a national war with barely a mark on her enviable reputation.
Throughout those 40 years, QE2 has remained an icon of what ocean travel is all about. Arguably, she is the benchmark against which all other ships are judged. The very elegance of her design is ageless and reminiscent of the golden age of the great liners, yet she easily offers all the facilities and passenger amenities to rival the very latest new builds.
Orient Line's Oriana and P&O's Belfast-built Canberra were used as prototypes for the design team working the new Cunarder, initially codenamed Q3 and finally Q4. With a government subsidy of 18 million, the design work took many years and culminated in a ship that would cleverly embody the traditional transatlantic class formula in an open-ship plan and seamlessly switch to cruising when required. Her design incorporated a number of significant innovations that made her unique and set the pattern that other ships subsequently followed.
On December 30, 1964, Cunard finally awarded the contract for her construction to the Upper Clyde Shipbuilding firm of John Brown and Company. She was known only as job number 736 and her keel was ceremoniously laid on July 5, 1965.
Her name was kept secret until the day she was christened and launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on September 20, 1967. Her Majesty used the same pair of golden scissors used by her grandmother, Queen Mary, in 1936 when she launched RMS Queen Mary and her mother Queen Elizabeth, when she launched RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1940 - both ships were also constructed by John Brown and Company.
QE2 has successfully weathered the storms of adverse publicity and the elements. Her old-fashioned, oil-fired steam engines were a problem from the very start, causing a number of engine failures that were eventually solved when her old engines were removed and replaced with nine diesel units installed during a comprehensive overhaul in 1986, carried out in Germany. It's interesting to note that this refit cost Cunard over 100 million, compared to QE2's initial cost of 30 million.
In 1972, QE2 was the victim of a mid-Atlantic ransom demand, when her captain was informed that a bomb had been planted on board and timed to go off during the voyage. A search of the vessel by the crew found nothing. However, a trained bomb disposal unit was flown in and parachuted into the sea, but again nothing was found. The ransom demand was a hoax and an FBI investigation resulted in the arrest of the hoax caller. Hollywood couldn't resist the compelling coverage of the event and subsequently produced the movie Juggernaut, dramatising these events.
When Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, QE2 was requisitioned by the British Government for service as a troop transport and carried some 3500 troops from the Scots and Welsh Guards and Gurkhas. Being a marked ship and a premier target for the Argentine Air Force, QE2 discharged her troops at South Georgia and on the same day sailed for the 14-day voyage home to Britain.
Storms are not uncommon in the North Atlantic and are usually encountered without publicity, but in September 1995, during a westbound crossing from Southampton, QE2 felt the effects of nature's fury when she made contact with Hurricane Luis. A storm certificate was issued by Captain Warwick to passengers, which recorded that they had sailed through winds of 130 miles an hour and had been buffeted by 40-foot waves, with one 90-foot wave hitting the ship at 2am on September 11, 1995. QE2 weathered the storm but was forced to reduce her speed to a mere 5 knots, and not unexpectedly, required some repairs after her delayed arrival at New York.
One Cunard advertisement reads, "QE2 is a legendary liner adored the world over". She seems to be gifted with that unique ageless quality of youthfulness. She has circled the globe 25 times, sailed more than 5,000,000 nautical miles and shows no sign of losing her appeal.
So what is the future for Queen Elizabeth 2? Refits and refurbishments have retained her exclusivity, but the arduous effects of the elements will eventually take their toll. One thing of which we can be certain, Queen Elizabeth 2 is the last of her type - an exceptional ship.
Written by Rob Henderson