Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, or simply the 'QE2', is a retired Cunard ocean liner, owned by Nakheel, a division of Dubai World. She was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth (although accounts vary, ), and served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Built in Clydebank, Scotland, she was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners prior to the construction of the QM2. Before she was refitted with a diesel power plant in 1986, she was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service. During almost 40 years of service, the QE2 travelled the world and latterly operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. She retired from active service on 27 November 2008 to begin conversion to a floating hotel, and will eventually be moored at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.
Her last departure from her home port of Southampton took place on 11 November 2008. The ship will be more or less gutted during the transformation into a hotel, which is set to take around two years.
~General characteristics~
Tonnage: 70,327 gross tonnes
Displacement: 48,923 (loaded)
Length: 293.5 m (963 ft)
Beam: 32.03 m (105 ft)
Draft: 9.87 m (32 ft)
Height: 52.2 m (171 ft 4 in)
Power: 9 x 10,625 kW at 400 rpm
Propulsion: 9 MAN 9-cylinder medium speed turbo-charged diesel engines turning two five-bladed propellers
Speed: 32.5 knots (61 km/h), 20 knots (37 km/h) in reverse
Complement: 1,756 passengers
1,892 (all berths) passengers
1,015 officers and crew
Cost: £29,091,000
Nationality British
Owner: Nakheel
Operated By: Dubai World
Ordered: 1964
Laid down: July 5, 1965
Launched: September 20, 1967
Christened: September 20, 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
Maiden voyage: May 2, 1969
Fate: Retired
~CHARACTERISTICS~
The ship measures 70,327 gross tons and is 963 ft (294 m) long. With a top speed of 32.5 knots using her original steam turbine powerplant, rising to 34 knots when she was re-engined with a diesel electric powerplant, the Queen Elizabeth 2 is one of the fastest passenger ships afloat. Contrary to what commonly occurred in previous decades where shipping lines would construct ever larger flagships, the QE2 was built smaller than her predecessor RMS Queen Elizabeth, as Cunard realised passenger demand was no longer as great, fuel was increasingly expensive, and she needed the ability to pass through the Panama Canal. Her successor, Queen Mary 2, built some 40 years later, is approximately twice the size of QE2. The ship can carry approximately 1,700 passengers and 1,015 crew members, for a total of approximately 2,715 people on board.
The QE2 was not named after Queen Elizabeth II, who launched her in 1969, but after the previous Queen Elizabeth. Thus, as Roman numerals are always used for monarchs, the Arabic numeral "2" is used in the ship's name to distinguish her from the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Further, when Queen Elizabeth II launched the ship in 1967 she spoke the name as "Queen Elizabeth the Second"., however the ship is normally called "Queen Elizabeth Two," not "The Second", for the same reason.
~Crew accommodation~
The majority of crew are accommodated in mostly four, and some two, berth cabins, with showers and toilets at the end of the alleyway. These are located forward and aft on Decks 3, 4, and 5 as well as various points along 6 Deck, where the Crew Purser's Office is also located. Cabins in the aft end of the vessel are subject to severe noise and vibration owing to their proximity to the variable pitch propellers.
Accommodation is cramped, basic, lacking in privacy, as well as natural light, and is subject to inspection by Officers every five days. Unlike the passenger areas, crew accommodation has seen little renovation in the Queen Elizabeth 2's 40 years of service.
There are two crew bars, one nicknamed "The Pig & Whistle" ("The Pig" for short), and the other "Castaways".
Officers are accommodated in single cabins with private en suite bathrooms. These cabins are located on 1 Deck forward, and on Sports Deck.
~Media appearances~
The Queen Elizabeth 2 has been featured in a number of films and television shows.
The 1981 television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited used the aft decks of the QE2 for outdoor scenes aboard a fictional transatlantic liner.
In 1993, BBC filmed the double-length "Sea Fever" episode of Keeping Up Appearances on board the QE2.
A 1995 episode of Coronation Street was filmed on the QE2.
In the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, the parents of twins are shown meeting on the QE2.
The 2003 telefilm Attack on the Queen (Counterstrike in the U.S.), based on the novel by Richard P. Henrick of the same name, was filmed aboard the QE2. The film concerns the hijacking of the QE2 by Chinese terrorists during a summit between the U.S. and Chinese Presidents.
There is also a music album dedicated to the Queen Elizabeth 2, QE2 released by Mike Oldfield in 1980.
