RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 — historic photograph

Cunard Steamship Company Ltd

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2

British ocean liner

1969 John Brown and Company (Upper Clyde… 65,863 GRT 963 ft Notable Vessel Museum Ship
65,863GRT
Tonnage
963ft
Length
105ft
Beam
34knots
Speed
1,777passengers
Passengers
1,040crew
Crew

Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British ocean liner. Built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde in Scotland for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated as a transatlantic liner and cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was laid up until converted into a floating hotel in Dubai.

Queen Elizabeth 2 plied the route from her home port of Southampton, United Kingdom, to New York, United States. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until she was succeeded by Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed in Cunard's offices in Liverpool and Southampton and built in Clydebank, Scotland. She was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986–87.

Queen Elizabeth 2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008, and was acquired by 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. Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the ship was laid up at Dubai Drydocks and later Mina Rashid. Subsequent conversion plans were announced in 2012 and then again by the Oceanic Group in 2013, but both plans stalled.

The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018 and today operates as a floating hotel in Dubai, managed since 2024 by French hotel chain Accor.

Text: Wikipedia — Queen Elizabeth 2, CC BY-SA 4.0

Tonnage
(1968): 65,863 GRT, 37,218 NRT
Length
963 ft
Beam
105 ft
Draught
32 ft
Speed
34 knots max
Passengers
1,777 passengers
Crew
1,040
Builder
John Brown and Company (Upper Clyde Shipbuilders), Clydebank, Scotland
Yard number
736
Launched
20 September 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
Maiden voyage
2 May 1969
In service
1969–2008
Out of service
27 November 2008
Owner
1969–1971: Cunard Steamship Company Ltd; 1971–1998: Trafalgar House
Port of registry
1969–2008: Southampton, United Kingdom
Propulsion
Two Brown-Pametrada Steam Turbines (original design)
Status
Floating hotel & museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai
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