These statistics are derived from NRP Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway, 5 vols, David & Charles, 1975-80. Cunard is covered in volume 1.
By December 1958 the question of a replacement for the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth had arisen. Originally the plan had been to build two new liners with the help of Government subsidies. A Government committee, under Lord Chandos, was set up to examine the economic viability of this. The result was that the Government provided a grant of £18 million towards the building of one 75,000 ton vessel, known as the 'Q3 Project', to be ready for service in 1966. There was opposition to the plan as more and more passengers were crossing the Atlantic by air and the operating costs of such large liners were rising and could not be offset by fare increases. In 1963 the scheme was altered to build a slightly smaller liner which could traverse the Panama and Suez canals and would primarily be used for cruising. The plan was agreed and the Government provided the loan. The contract for its building went to John Brown & Co. and the keel laying ceremony took place on 5 July 1965.
The delivery date for the Q4, as it had been codenamed, was May 1968. On 20 September the keel was launched by Queen Elizabeth II and the ship was named Queen Elizabeth 2. At this early stage four maiden voyages were scheduled for the ship. On 19 November the ship moved to drydock in Greenock before beginning trials. Due to continued technical problems the maiden voyage of the QE2, from Southampton to New York, did not take place until 2 May 1969. The first summer of service was highly profitable and Cunard were able to repay £2.5 million of the Government loan almost immediately.
The first dramatic incident of the ship's career occurred in January 1971. Whilst cruising in the Caribbean it received an SOS call from the French liner Antilles. It had run aground near Mustique and leaking fuel oil had caught fire inside the ship. By the time the QE2 arrived the French ship was an inferno. The passengers had already been taken ashore to Mustique in the lifeboats. The passengers boarded the QE2, and two other French ships that had come to assist, during the night. The Antilles capsized and sank the next day and the passengers were landed in Barbados.
Whilst travelling from New York to Southampton, on 17 May 1972, the captain received a message that there was a bomb on board and that it was timed to go off during the voyage. A search by crew members proved fruitless so a bomb disposal unit was flown out and parachuted into the sea close to the ship. The incident turned out to be a hoax but the FBI succeeded in arresting the culprit. The bomb disposal team were awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. By 1974 the cruising business had expanded and the QE2 was operating profitably. On 1 April that year, whilst on a cruise from New York to San Juan, a technical fault caused the propulsion machinery to shut down. The ship was disabled and it was not until 3 April that the Sea Venture, a Flagship Cruises vessel, arrived to assist. The passengers were transferred and tugs were hired to tow the QE2 back to Bermuda. Subsequent repairs meant that the Easter cruise had to be cancelled.
Over the next few years the QE2 reduced the amount of transatlantic crossings and took primarily to cruising. The outbreak of the Falklands War, on 2 April 1982, led to a change in the role of the QE2. On its return to Southampton, on 3 May, the ship was requisitioned by the Government for service as a troop transport. Conversion work began immediately with the addition of helicopter flight decks and a modern communications system. The 5th infantry brigade, comprising of the Scots and Welsh Guards and the Gurkhas, then boarded the ship and it set off for South Georgia on 12 May. It arrived on 27 May and disembarked the troops and then took on board the survivors of the HMS Ardent. It had become clear that the Argentinians were using air reconnaisance to try and locate the ship so it left the same day and headed north.
The QE2 returned to Southampton on 11 June and work began on restoring the ship for commercial service. Following its annual overhaul, in November 1983, the ship developed boiler problems which resulted in the cancellation of a cruise. The following year, in April, the ship suffered minor damage after colliding with a breakwater at the Piraeus, in Athens, but repairs were carried out quickly. In October an electrical fire caused a complete loss of power and delayed the QE2 for two days. On its return to Southampton it was decided that diesel engines would have to be fitted to the ship in order to increase efficiency. This was done by Lloyd Werfte at Bremerhaven and was expected to save the company £12 million a year in fuel costs. Nine diesel electric engines, new propellers and equipment to capture heat expelled by the engines were fitted. The passenger accommodation was also extensively improved. The work meant that the ship was out of service from November 1986 to April 1987. The QE2 then underwent trials in the North Sea and returned to commercial service. Despite being constantly in the eye of the world's press and the financial difficulties involved in running the ship it is still in service today. The QE2 is still successful and is the last of the great Cunarders built for the transatlantic service.
- Adapted from the Cunard Archives
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Monsters of the Sea: The Great Ocean Liners of Time
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