QE2

Queen Elizabeth 2 during her farewell tour in South Queensferry, Scotland, 2007.
History
Name:	Queen Elizabeth 2
Owner:	1969–1998: Cunard Steamship Company Ltd 1998–2008: Carnival Corporation & plc 2008–present: Istithmar, Dubai
Operator:	1969–2008: Cunard Line
Port of registry:	1969–2008 Southampton, United Kingdom 2008–present: Port Vila, Vanuatu
Route:	North Atlantic and Cruising during Cunard service
Ordered:	1964
Builder:	John Brown and Company (Upper Clyde Shipbuilders), Clydebank, Scotland
Cost:	£29,091,000 (£368Million at 2016 value).
Yard number:	736
Laid down:	5 July 1965
Launched:	20 September 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
Christened:	1967 by Queen Elizabeth ll
Completed:	26 November 1968 (Sea trials commenced)
Maiden voyage:	2 May 1969
In service:	1969–2008
Out of service:	27 November 2008
Identification:	IMO number: 6725418 1968–2009: Callsign: GBTT, British ON 336703 2009–present: Callsign: YJVW6, MMSI number: 576059000
Status:	Laid up in Port Rashid since 4 June 2009
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ocean liner/Cruise ship
Tonnage:	70,327 GT
Displacement:	48,923 (loaded)
Length:	963 ft (293.5 m)
Beam:	105 ft (32.0 m)
Height:	171 ft (52.1 m)
Draft:	32 ft (9.8 m)
Decks:	9
Installed power:	9 × MAN B&W 9L58/64 (9 × 10,625 kW)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric Two GEC propulsion motors (2 × 44 MW) Two five-bladed variable-pitch propellers
Speed:	34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) (max) 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph) (service) 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) (astern).
Capacity:	1,777 passengers 1,892 (all berths) passengers
Crew:	1,040

Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as QE2, is an ocean liner built for the Cunard Line which was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Designed in Cunard's then headquarters and regional offices in Liverpool and Southampton respectively, and built in Clydebank, Scotland, she was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners until the construction of the Queen Mary 2 was announced.

Before she was refitted with a diesel power plant in 1986/87, QE2 was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service. During almost forty years of service, Queen Elizabeth 2 undertook regular world cruises and later operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. QE2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. QE2 did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life. QE2 was never given a Royal Mail Ship designation, instead carrying the SS and later MV or MS prefixes in official documents.

QE2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008. She was acquired by Istithmar, the private equity arm of Dubai World, which planned to begin conversion of the vessel to a 500-room floating hotel moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. The 2008 financial crisis however intervened and the ship remains laid up at Port Rashid. Subsequent conversion plans were announced by Istithmar in 2012 and by the Oceanic Group in 2013 but these both stalled. As of January 2016 the ship remains laid up in Dubai while the port operator claimed that there were future plans for the ship and no intent to scrap her.