Qualla: Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen Elizabeth 2: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PaddyBriggs at English Wikipedia, Public domain. When the Queen launched her in September 1967 at John Brown's Clydebank yard, she paused and added two unscripted words: "the Second." Cunard had planned to call the ship simply Queen Elizabeth, in succession to the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth of 1938. The monarch's improvisation rewrote the ship's name in real time. Cunard improvised back, using a modern Arabic 2 rather than Roman numerals to suit the 1960s. The result was QE2 - flagship, troop carrier, record-breaker, and, in her improbable final act, a hotel in the Persian Gulf.

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Image: PaddyBriggs at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Queen Elizabeth 2: Born for an Atlantic That Was Disappearing

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarahhoa, CC BY-SA 2.0. By the late 1950s, the Boeing 707 had begun to take the transatlantic trade. Passenger numbers between liners and aircraft hit 50:50, and the curve was running only one way. Cunard's elderly Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, magnificent in their day, were burning coal and money. Th...

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Image: Sarahhoa | CC BY-SA 2.0

Queen Elizabeth 2: Style and Substance

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit © 2003 Todd VerBeek, CC BY-SA 4.0. QE2's interiors broke with the wood-panelled tradition of the old Cunarders. Designer Dennis Lennon, with Jon Bannenberg and Gaby Schreiber, used modular furniture, abstract art, and bold color. The Midships Lobby on Two Deck welcomed first-class passengers into a circular room w...

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Queen Elizabeth 2: Falklands

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris7990 (talk), Public domain. On 3 May 1982, one month into the Falklands War, the British government requisitioned QE2 as a troop carrier. Public lounges became dormitories. Fuel pipes were threaded through the ship to allow refuelling at sea. Two thousand sheets of hardboard covered the carpets. A quarter o...

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Image: Chris7990 (talk) | Public domain

Queen Elizabeth 2: Diesels and Records

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dashers, CC BY 3.0. Between October 1986 and April 1987 in Bremerhaven, QE2 was re-engined. Her steam turbines, which had carried her 2,622,858 miles in 18 years, came out. In their place went nine MAN diesel engines, each 120 tons, driving electric motors. The new system produced 130,000 horsepower...

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Image: Dashers | CC BY 3.0

Queen Elizabeth 2: The Long Goodbye in Dubai

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nealt, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cunard sold her to Dubai's Istithmar in June 2007 for 100 million dollars, in part because looming SOLAS regulations would have demanded ruinous structural changes. Her final voyage from Southampton to Dubai began on 11 November 2008. She arrived 26 November in a flotilla of 60 v...

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Image: Nealt | CC BY-SA 3.0