Queen Elizabeth 2

On 4 September 2005, Queen Elizabeth 2 became the longest serving Cunarder, passing the 36 years 4 months and 2 days record of service of Scythia, who sailed from 1921 to 1957. Launched in 1967 (see this BBC article/video) at John Brown & Company (Wikipedia) she sailed for Cunard from 1969 until 2008 - only interrupted by her service as a troopship during the Falkland Island war in 1982. In 2008 QE2 left the Cunard fleet to become a floating hotel and 'retail and entertainment destination' in Dubai.

QE2 has undergone many refits transforming her from the very modern ship she was in 1969 (see here - QE2 space age ocean liner) to a ship closer resembling the cliché many passengers expect. Amongst these refits the most extensive was carried out between October 1987 and May 1987 Lloyd Werft when her steam power plant was replaced with a diesel electric setup. For more information on this refit visit the webpage of Rob Lightbody.

A plethora of information is available on the pages of Samuel Warwick, Chris' Cunard Page on QE2. Postcards and photos of QE2 are found at www.simplonpc.co.uk or on the webpage of Pam Massey. For a review of QE2 go to www.cruisepage.com. An excellent documentary about the building of QE2 is found at www.stv.tv - click on 'Contract 736 - documentary about the launch of the QE2'. There is also a nice video of QE2's crew available at YouTube.

The material used for the here presented clips was recorded during an Atlantic crossing aboard QE2 in the 1990ies (hence the low quality) and a visit to Istanbul in 1997. For various reasons only a limited number of rather short clips can be presented.