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RMS Queen Mary 2

RMS Queen Mary 2
Queen Mary 2 outbound from Southampton 2 Sept 2013.jpg
History
Name: Queen Mary 2
Namesake: Queen Mary
Owner: Carnival
Operator: Cunard Line
Port of registry:
Ordered: 6 November 2000
Builder: STX Europe Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire, France
Cost:
  • UK £460 million
  •  (700 million)
  •  (US$900 million)
Yard number: G32
Laid down: 4 July 2002
Launched: 21 March 2003
Christened:
Completed: 23 December 2003
Maiden voyage: 12 January 2004
Identification:
Status: In service
Designer: Stephen Payne
General characteristics
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 149,215 GT
Displacement: 79,287 tonnes
Length: 1,132 ft (345.03 m)
Beam:
  • 135 ft (41 m) waterline,
  • 147.5 ft (45.0 m) extreme (bridge wings)
Height: 236.2 ft (72.0 m) keel to (top of) funnel
Draught: 33.8 ft (10.3 m)
Decks:

14 passenger, 18 total decks

Installed power: 4 x Wärtsilä 16V 46C-CR / 16,800 kW (22,848 mHP), 2 x GE LM2500+ / 25,060 kW (34,082 mHP)
Propulsion:
  • Four 21.5 MW Rolls-Royce/Alstom "Mermaid" electric propulsion pods:
  •  2 fixed and 2 azimuthing
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Capacity: 2,695 passengers (after 2016 refit) 2,620 passengers (original design)
Crew: 1,253 officers and crew

14 passenger, 18 total decks

RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2) is a transatlantic ocean liner. She is the only major ocean liner built for Cunard Line since Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969, the vessel she succeeded as flagship of the Cunard Line.

The new ship was named Queen Mary 2 by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 after the first 1936 namesake ship RMS Queen Mary. Queen Mary was in turn named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. With the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ocean liner in line service between Southampton and New York, which operates for part of each year. The ship is also used for cruising, including an annual world cruise.

The ship was designed by a team of British naval architects led by Stephen Payne, and was constructed in France by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in 2003. At the time of her construction, Queen Mary 2 was the longest passenger ship ever built, and with her gross tonnage of 148,528 also the largest. She no longer holds this distinction after the construction of Royal Caribbean International's 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas in April 2006, but remains the largest ocean liner ever built.

Queen Mary 2 was intended for routine crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, and was therefore designed differently from many other passenger ships. The ship's final cost was approximately $300,000 US per berth. Expenses were increased by the high quality of materials, and having been designed as an ocean liner, she required 40% more steel than a standard cruise ship.Queen Mary 2 has a maximum speed of just over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a cruising speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), much faster than a contemporary cruise ship. Instead of the diesel-electric configuration found on many ships, Queen Mary 2 uses integrated electric propulsion to achieve her top speed. This uses gas turbines to augment the power generated from the ship's diesels.


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