Built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, as Hull 552,[5] she was launched on 27 September 1938 and named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI. Her design was an improvement of that of Queen Mary, resulting in a vessel 12 feet longer and several thousand tons greater GRT, making her the largest passenger liner ever built for a record 56 years. She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946.
With the decline in popularity of the transatlantic route, both ships were replaced by the smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2, which made her maiden voyage in 1969. Queen Mary was retired from service on 9 December 1967, and sold to the city of Long Beach, California. Queen Elizabeth was retired after her final crossing to New York, on 8 December 1968.[6] She was moved to Port Everglades, Florida, and converted to a tourist attraction, which opened in February 1969. The business was unsuccessful, and closed in August 1970. Finally, the ship was sold to Hong Kong businessman Tung Chao-yung, who intended to convert her into a floating university cruise ship called Seawise University. In 1972, whilst she was undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbour, a fire broke out aboard under unexplained circumstances, and the vessel was capsized by the water used to fight the fire. The following year the wreck was deemed an obstruction to shipping in the area, and in 1974 and 1975 was partially scrapped on site.[7]
Design and construction
Queen Elizabeth under construction at Clydebank
On the day RMS Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage, Cunard's chairman, Sir Percy Bates, informed his ship designers, headed by George Paterson, that it was time to start designing the planned second ship.[8] The official contract between Cunard and government financiers was signed on 6 October 1936.[9]
The new ship improved upon the design of Queen Mary[10] with sufficient changes, including a reduction in the number of boilers to twelve instead of Queen Mary's twenty-four, that the designers could discard one funnel and increase deck, cargo and passenger space. The two funnels were self-supporting and braced internally to give a cleaner-looking appearance. With the forward well deck omitted, a more refined hull shape was achieved, and a sharper, raked bow was added for a third bow-anchor point.[10] She was to be twelve feet longer and 4,000 tons greater displacement than the Queen Mary.[11][9]
Scale models of Queen Mary (foreground) and Queen Elizabeth (background) created by John Brown & Company, on display at the Glasgow Museum of Transport.
Queen Elizabeth was built on slipway four at John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, Great Britain. During her construction she was more commonly known by her shipyard number, Hull 552.[12] The interiors were designed by a team of artists headed by the architect George Grey Wornum.[13] The staircases, foyers and entrances were constructed by H.H. Martyn & Co..[14] Cunard's plan was for the ship to be launched in September 1938, with fitting-out intended to be complete for her to enter service in the spring of 1940.[9]Queen Elizabeth herself performed the launching ceremony on 27 September 1938.[10] Supposedly, the liner started to slide into the water before the Queen could officially launch her, and acting sharply, she managed to smash a bottle of Australian red over the ship’s bow just before it slid out of reach.[15] The liner was then docked for fitting out.[9][10] It was announced that on 23 August 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were to visit the ship and tour the engine room and that 24 April 1940 was to be the proposed date of her maiden voyage. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, these two events were postponed and Cunard's plans were cancelled.[9]
Queen Elizabeth sat at the fitting-out dock at the shipyard in her Cunard colours until 2 November 1939, when the Ministry of Shipping issued special licences to declare her seaworthy. On 29 December the engines were tested for the first time, running from 0900 to 1600 with the propellers disconnected to monitor her oil and steam operating temperatures and pressures. Two months later Cunard received a letter from Winston Churchill,[16] then First Lord of the Admiralty, ordering the ship to leave Clydeside as soon as possible and "to keep away from the British Isles as long as the order was in force".[citation needed]
Second World War
At the start of the Second World War, it was decided that Queen Elizabeth was so vital to the war effort that she must not have her movements tracked by German spies operating in the Clydebank area. An elaborate ruse suggested to any German observers that she would sail to Southampton to complete her fitting-out.[16] Another factor prompting the ship’s departure was the necessity to clear the fitting-out berth at the shipyard for the battleship HMSDuke of York,[16] for final fitting-out, as only it could accommodate the King George V-class battleships.
Normandie, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth at New York Harbor in 1940
One major factor that limited the ship's departure date was that there were only two spring tides that year high enough for Queen Elizabeth to leave the Clydebank shipyard,[16] known also by German intelligence. A minimal crew of four hundred were assigned for the trip; most were transferred from Aquitania and told that this would be a short coastal voyage to Southampton,[16] but to pack for six months.[17] Parts were shipped to Southampton, and preparations were made to move the ship into the King George V Graving Dock when she arrived.[16] The names of Brown's shipyard employees were booked to local hotels in Southampton, and Captain John Townley, who had previously commanded Aquitania on one voyage and several of Cunard's smaller vessels, was appointed as her first master.
By the beginning of March 1940, Queen Elizabeth was ready to move; the ship had been fuelled, and adjustments to her compass were made, along with some final testing of equipment. The Cunard colours were painted over with battleship grey, and on the morning of 3 March, the ship quietly left her moorings in the Clyde and proceeded out of the river, where she was met by a King's Messenger,[16] who presented sealed orders directly to the captain.
Queen Elizabeth painted in wartime grey, having just transported troops to the Middle East in 1942RMS Queen Elizabeth as a troopship during World War II
They were to take the ship directly to New York, in the neutral United States, not to stop or even slow to drop off the Southampton harbour pilot who had embarked on at Clydebank, and to maintain strict radio silence. Later that day, when she was due to arrive at Southampton, the city was bombed by the Luftwaffe.[16]
Queen Elizabeth zigzagged across the Atlantic to elude German U-boats and took six days to reach New York at an average speed of 26 knots. There she found herself moored alongside both Queen Mary and the French Line's Normandie, the only time the world's three largest ocean liners were ever berthed together.[16] Captain Townley received two telegrams on his arrival, one from his wife, and the other from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth thanking him for the vessel's safe delivery. The ship was then secured so that no one could board her without prior permission, including port officials.[16]
Queen Elizabeth left the port of New York on 13 November 1940, for Singapore to receive her troopship conversion.[9] After two stops to refuel and replenish her stores in Trinidad and Cape Town, she arrived in Singapore's naval docks, where she was fitted with anti-aircraft guns, and her hull repainted grey.[citation needed]
Queen Elizabeth left Singapore on 11 February, and on 23 February 1942, secretly arrived in Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. She underwent refit work in drydock adding accommodation and armaments, and three hundred naval ratings quickly painted the hull.[18] In mid-March, carrying 8,000 American soldiers, Queen Elizabeth began a 7,700-mile voyage from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia.[19] She then carried Australian troops to theatres of operation in Asia and Africa.[20] After 1942, the two Queens were relocated to the North Atlantic for the transportation of American troops to Europe.[20] Their high speeds allowed them to outrun hazards, principally German U-boats, usually allowing them to travel outside a convoy and without escort.[17] Nevertheless, Queen Elizabeth was the target of U-704, which fired four torpedoes at her on 9 November 1942.[21] The commander, Horst Wilhelm Kessler, heard a detonation[21] and Nazi radio propaganda claimed she was sunk.[22] In reality, one of the torpedoes detonated prematurely and the ship was unharmed.[23]
During her war service Queen Elizabeth carried more than 750,000 troops, and sailed some 500,000 miles (800,000km).[9]
Following the end of the Second World War, Queen Elizabeth was refitted and furnished as an ocean liner,[9] while her running mate Queen Mary remained in her wartime role and grey appearance except for her funnels, which were repainted in the company's colours. For another year, her sibling did military service, returning troops and G.I. brides to the United States while Queen Elizabeth was overhauled at the Firth of Clyde Drydock, in Greenock, by the John Brown Shipyard.
RMS Queen Elizabeth
Six years of war service had never permitted the formal sea trials to take place, so they were now finally undertaken. Under the command of Commodore Sir James Bisset, the ship travelled to the Isle of Arran to carry them out. On board was the ship's namesake, Queen Elizabeth, and her two daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.[9] During the trials, Queen Elizabeth took the wheel for a brief time, and the two young princesses recorded the two measured runs with stopwatches that they had been given for the occasion. Bisset was under strict instructions from Sir Percy Bates, who was also aboard the trials, that all that was required from the ship was two measured runs of no more than 30 knots and that she was not permitted to attempt to attain a higher speed record than Queen Mary.[24]Queen Elizabeth's engines were capable of driving her to speeds of over 32 knots.[24] After her trials Queen Elizabeth finally entered passenger service, allowing Cunard White Star to launch the long-planned two-ship weekly service to New York.[25] Despite specifications similar to those of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth never held the Blue Riband, for Cunard White Star chairman Sir Percy Bates asked that the two ships not to compete against each other.[24]
The ship ran aground on a sandbank off Southampton on 14 April 1947, and was re-floated the following day.[9]
In 1955, during an annual overhaul at Southampton, England, Queen Elizabeth was fitted with underwater fin stabilisers to smooth the ride in rough seas. Two retractable fins were fitted on each side of the hull, allowing fuel savings in smooth seas and during docking.[26] On 29 July 1959, she was in a collision with the American freighter American Hunter in foggy conditions in New York Harbor and was holed above the waterline.[27]
Together with Queen Mary and in competition with the American liners SSUnited States and SSAmerica, Queen Elizabeth dominated the transatlantic passenger trade until their fortunes began to decline with the advent of the faster and more economical jet airliner in the late 1950s.[17] As passenger numbers declined, the liners became uneconomic to operate in the face of rising fuel and labour costs. For a short time the Queen Elizabeth, then under the command of Commodore Geoffrey Trippleton Marr, attempted a dual role of alternating her usual transatlantic route with cruising between New York and Nassau.[9] For this new tropical excursion the ship received a major refit in 1965, with a new Lido deck added to her aft section, enhanced air conditioning, and an outdoor swimming pool. With these improvements, Cunard intended to keep the ship in operation until at least the mid-1970s.[28] However, the strategy did not prove successful, owing to the ship's deep draught, which prevented her from entering various island ports, and high fuel costs. She was also too wide for transiting the Panama Canal, limiting travel to the Pacific.
Cunard retired Queen Mary in 1967 and Queen Elizabeth upon her final Atlantic crossing to New York on 5 November 1968.[6] The two liners were replaced with the new, smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2.
Final years
RMS Queen Elizabeth at Southampton in 1968Queen Elizabeth docked at Southampton in 1967Queen Elizabeth leaving New York during her last voyage, 1968
In late 1968, Queen Elizabeth was sold to the Elizabeth Corporation, with 15% of the company controlled by a group of Philadelphia businessmen and 85% retained by Cunard. The new company intended to operate the ship as a hotel and tourist attraction in Port Everglades, Florida, similar to the planned use of Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.[9]Elizabeth, as she was now called, arrived in Port Everglades on 8 December 1968 and opened to tourists in February 1969, well before Queen Mary, which opened two years later, in 1971. The vessel was sold to Queen Ltd of Port Everglades on 19 July 1969.[6] However, Queen Elizabeth's retirement in Florida was not to last. The climate of southern Florida was much harder on the ship than the climate of southern California was on Queen Mary. There was some talk of permanently flooding the bilge and allowing Queen Elizabeth to rest on the bed of the Intracoastal Waterway in Ft. Lauderdale harbour (Port Everglades) and remain open, but the ship was forced to close in August 1970, after losing money and being declared a fire hazard.[29] The vessel was sold at auction in 1970 to Hong Kong tycoon Tung Chao Yung.[9]
Tung, the head of the Orient Overseas Line, intended to convert the vessel into a university for the World Campus Afloat program (later reformed and renamed as Semester at Sea). Following the tradition of the Orient Overseas Line, the ship was renamed Seawise University.[9]
The ship was under Hong Kong ownership, and sailed for Hong Kong on 10 February 1971.[6] This was ill-advised, as the ship's engines and boilers were in poor condition after several years of neglect. The retired Commodore Marr and a former chief engineer of the ship were hired by Tung as advisors for the journey to Hong Kong. Marr recommended that Seawise University be towed to the New Territories, but Tung and his crew were convinced that they could get there using just the aft engines and boilers. The planned several-week trip turned into months as the crew battled with boiler issues and a fire. An unplanned lengthy mid-voyage stopover allowed the new owners to fly spare parts out to the ship and carry out repairs before resuming course, arriving in Hong Kong Harbour in July 1971.
Seawise University on fire
With the £5million conversion nearing completion, the vessel caught fire on 9 January 1972.[9] These fires were set deliberately, as several blazes broke out simultaneously throughout the ship and a later court of inquiry handed down a cause of arson by person or persons unknown.[30] The fact that Tung had acquired the vessel for $3.5million, and had insured it for $8million, led some to speculate that the inferno was part of a fraud to collect on the insurance claim. Others speculated that the fires were the result of a conflict between Tung, a Chinese Nationalist, and Communist-dominated ship construction unions.[31]
The ship rolled on its side from the water sprayed on her by fireboats, then settled on the bottom of Victoria Harbour.[32] The vessel was finally declared a shipping hazard and dismantled for scrap between December 1974[33] and 1975. Portions of the hull that were not salvaged, as well as the keel, boilers and engines, remained at the bottom of the harbour, and the area was marked as "Foul" on local sea charts, warning ships not to try to anchor there. It is estimated that around 40–50% of the wreck was still on the seabed. In the late 1990s, the last remains of the wreck were buried during land reclamation for the construction of Container Terminal 9.[34] The position of the wreck is 22°19′43″N114°06′44″E / 22.32861°N 114.11222°E / 22.32861; 114.11222.[35]
1972: The wreck of Seawise University, ex-Queen Elizabeth, in Victoria Harbour, Hong KongThe wreck of Seawise University after the fire
After the fire, Tung had one of the liner's anchors and the metal letters "Q" and "E" from the name on the bow placed in front of the office building at Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, California, which had been intended as the headquarters of the Seawise University venture;[36][37] they later went on display with commemorative plaques in the lobby of Wall Street Plaza, 88 Pine Street, New York City. Two of the ship's fire warning system brass plaques were recovered by a dredger, and were displayed at The Aberdeen Boat Club in Hong Kong in an exhibit about the ship. The charred remnants of her last ensign were cut from the flagpole and framed in 1972, and still adorn the wall of the officers' mess of marine police HQ in Hong Kong. Parker Pen Company produced a special edition of 5,000 pens made from material recovered from the wreck, each in a presentation box; today these are highly collectible.[38]
Following the demise of Queen Elizabeth, the largest passenger ship in active service became the 66,343 GRT SSFrance, which was longer but with less tonnage than the Cunard liner. Queen Elizabeth held the record of largest passenger ship ever built until the 101,353 GT Carnival Destiny (later Carnival Sunshine) was launched in 1996. To date, Queen Elizabeth still holds the record as the largest passenger ship for the longest period of time: 56 years.[citation needed]
In fiction
In 1959, the ship made an appearance in the British satirical comedy film The Mouse That Roared, starring Peter Sellers and Jean Seberg. While a troupe of invading men from "Grand Fenwick", a fictional European micro-nation, cross the Atlantic to 'war' with the United States, they meet and pass the far larger Queen Elizabeth, and learn that the port of New York is closed due to an air raid drill.[39]
Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British passenger ship converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was then laid up until converted and since 18 April 2018 has been operating as a floating hotel in Dubai.
RMS Queen Mary is a retired British ocean liner that operated primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, she was subsequently joined by RMS Queen Elizabeth in Cunard's two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York. These "Queens" were the British response to the express superliners built by German, Italian, and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Tung Chao-yung or C. Y. Tung, also known as Tung Hao-yun, simplified Chinese: 董浩云; traditional Chinese: 董浩雲; pinyin: Dǒng Hàoyún), was a Chinese shipping magnate and the founder of the Orient Overseas Line. He was the father of Tung Chee-hwa, the first chief executive of Hong Kong.
An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes. The Queen Mary 2 is the only ocean liner still in service to this day.
A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been eliminated.
RMS Caronia was a 34,183 gross register tons (GRT) passenger ship of the Cunard Line. Launched on 30 October 1947, she served with Cunard until 1967. She was nicknamed the "Green Goddess" after her light green hull livery. She was one of the first "dual-purpose" ships, built both for 2-class transatlantic crossings and all 1st-class cruising. After leaving Cunard she was briefly Caribia in 1969, after which she was laid up in New York until 1974, when she was sold for scrap. While being towed to Taiwan for scrapping, she was caught in a storm on 12 August. After her tow lines were cut, she repeatedly crashed on the rocky breakwater outside Apra Harbor, Guam and broke into three sections.
RMS Aquitania was an ocean liner of the Cunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950. She was designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on 21 April 1913 and sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 30 May 1914. She was given the title of Royal Mail Ship (RMS) like many other Cunard ocean liners since she carried the royal mail on many of her voyages. Aquitania was the third in Cunard Line's grand trio of express liners, preceded by RMS Mauretania and RMS Lusitania, and was the last surviving four-funnelled ocean liner. Shortly after Aquitania entered service, the First World War broke out, during which she was first converted into an auxiliary cruiser before being used as a troop transport and a hospital ship, notably as part of the Dardanelles Campaign.
RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson on the River Tyne, England for the Cunard Line, launched on the afternoon of 20 September 1906. She was the world's largest ship until the launch of RMS Olympic in 1910. Mauretania captured the eastbound Blue Riband on the maiden return voyage in December 1907, then claimed the westbound Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1909 season. She held both speed records for 20 years.
SS Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days, and remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.
RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner that was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England, and was completed in May 1939. She was one of the first ships built for the newly formed Cunard-White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard and White Star Line. On the withdrawal of the first Mauretania in 1935, to prevent a rival company using the name and to keep it available for the new liner, arrangements were made for the Red Funnel paddle steamer Queen to be renamed Mauretania in the interim.
RMS Majestic was a British ocean liner working on the White Star Line’s North Atlantic run, originally launched in 1914 as the Hamburg America Liner SS Bismarck. At 56,551 gross register tons, she was the largest ship ever operated by the White Star Line under its own flag and the largest ship in the world until completion of SS Normandie in 1935.
MS Queen Victoria (QV) is a Vista-class cruise ship operated by the Cunard Line and is named after the former British monarch Queen Victoria. The vessel is of the same basic design as other Vista-class cruise ships, including Queen Elizabeth. At 90,049 gross tonnage (GT) she is the smallest of Cunard's ships in operation. Her facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre.
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft. It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and it can last from a few hours to many days.
MV Georgic was the last ship built for the White Star Line before its merger with the Cunard Line. Built at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, she was the running mate and younger sister of MV Britannic. Like Britannic, Georgic was a motorship, and not a steamer, fitted with a diesel powerplant. At the time of her launch in 1931, she was the largest British motorship.
RMS Saxonia was a British passenger liner built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Scotland for the Cunard Steamship Company for their Liverpool-Montreal service. She was the first of four almost identical sister ships built by Browns between 1954 and 1957 for UK-Montreal service. The first two of these ships, Saxonia and Ivernia were extensively rebuilt in 1962/3 as dual purpose liner/cruise ships. They were renamed Carmania and Franconia respectively and painted in the same green cruising livery as the Caronia. Carmania continued transatlantic crossings and cruises until September 1967 when she closed out Cunard's Montreal service. She and her sister had been painted white at the end of 1966 and from 1968 Carmania sailed as a full time cruise ship until withdrawal after arriving at Southampton on 31 October 1971. In August 1973 she was bought by the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed SS Leonid Sobinov. The ship was scrapped in 1999.
RMS Sylvania was an ocean liner built in 1957 by John Brown & Company, in Glasgow, Scotland for Cunard. She was the last Cunard vessel built specifically for transatlantic crossings. The ship was later heavily rebuilt as a cruise ship, and sailed under the names SS Fairwind, SS Sitmar Fairwind, SS Dawn Princess and SS Albatros before being scrapped in 2004. She was renamed SS Genoa for her last voyage.
RMS Carinthia was an ocean liner built in 1956 as one of the four Saxonia-class ships. She sailed for Cunard Line from her completion until 1968 when she was sold to Sitmar Line, rebuilt into a full-time cruise ship and renamed SS Fairsea. She sailed with Sitmar until 1988, when Sitmar was sold to P&O. She was renamed SS Fair Princess and sailed for Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises until 2000. She was then sold to China Sea Cruises and renamed SS China Sea Discovery. In 2005 or 2006 she was scrapped at Alang, India.
The Maritime history of Scotland involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of Scotland.
RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is a British ocean liner. She has served as the flagship of the Cunard Line since January 2004, and as of 2024, is the only active, purpose-built ocean liner still in service. Queen Mary 2 sails regular transatlantic crossings between Southampton and New York City, in addition to short cruises and an annual world voyage.
Captain John Treasure Jones was a British naval officer who became a well-known media figure in the mid-1960s following his appointment as the last master of the Cunard liner, RMS Queen Mary. He has been described as one of the 20th century's most distinguished mariners, in war and in peacetime. His forebears were men of the sea, who had captained sailing ships, and he elected to follow in their tradition.
References
↑ Pride of the North Atlantic, A Maritime Trilogy, David F. Hutchings. Waterfront 2003
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