RMS Queen Mary 2
| RMS Queen Mary 2 | | Queen Mary 2 arriving at Ft. Lauderdale, January 28, 2004 |
| Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: | November 6, 2000 |
| Laid down: | July 4 2002 |
| Launched: | September 25, 2003 |
| Named: | January 8, 2004 |
| Maiden Voyage: | January 12, 2004 |
| Status: | in service |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Tonnage: | 151,400 gross tons |
| Displacement: | 76,000 tonnes (approx) |
| Length: | 345 m (1,132 ft) |
| Beam: | 41 m (135 ft) waterline, 45 m (147.5 ft) extreme (bridge wings) |
| Draft: | 10 m (32 ft 10 in) |
| Height: | 72 m (236.2 ft) keel to funnel (includes 17 passenger decks) |
| Power: | 117 MW (157,000 horsepower) CODAG |
| Propulsion: | Four 21.5 MW electric propulsor pods: 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing |
| Speed: | approximately 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,620 passengers, 1,253 officers and crew |
| Cost: | UK £460 million (approx US $800 million) |
The
RMS Queen Mary 2 (
QM2) is a
Cunard Line ocean liner named after the earlier Cunard liner
Queen Mary, which was in turn named after
Mary of Teck. At the time of her construction in 2003, the
QM2 was the longest, widest and tallest
passenger ship ever built, and at 151,400 gross tons, was also the largest. She lost that last distinction to
Royal Caribbean International's 158,000 gross ton
Freedom of the Seas in April 2006, but
QM2 remains the largest
ocean liner (as opposed to
cruise ship) ever built, and her height, length, and waterline breadth are unsurpassed by any other passenger ship.
QM2's luxuries include 15
restaurants and bars, five
swimming pools, a
casino, a
ballroom, and a
planetarium.
The
Queen Mary 2 is the current Cunard
flagship and makes regular
transatlantic crossings. The ship was constructed to complement the
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (
QE2) â€" the Cunard flagship from 1969 to 2004 - replacing it on the transatlantic route. The first
RMS Queen Mary sailed the
Atlantic from 1936 to 1967.
The prefix "RMS" on the
QM2 originally stood for "
Royal Mail Steamer", but now stands for "
Royal Mail Ship". The
QM2 is not a
steamship like her predecessors, but is powered by
gas turbines and
diesel engines that produce the power to drive her four electric podded propulsors. Also like her predecessors, she is a transatlantic
ocean liner, as opposed to a
cruise ship, though she is used for cruising purposes from time to time.
Concept and construction
|
Queen Mary 2 under construction, her radar mast in the right foreground |
The vision of a
21st century ocean liner â€" bigger than any that had gone before â€" started as the brainchild of
Carnival CEO
Micky Arison, who has stated that his company bought
Cunard to create
Queen Mary 2, not vice versa.
Cunard completed a design for a new class of 84,000-ton, 2000-passenger liners on
8 June,
1998, but upon comparing those specifications with
Carnival Cruise Lines' 100,000-ton
Destiny-class cruise ships and
Royal Caribbean's 137,200-ton
Voyager of the Seas, immediately enlarged them.
Six months later, on
10 December, Cunard released details of "Project Queen Mary", the project to develop a liner that would complement
Queen Elizabeth 2.
Harland and Wolff of
Northern Ireland,
Aker Kværner of
Norway,
Fincantieri of
Italy,
Meyer Werft of
Germany, and
Chantiers de l'Atlantique of
France were invited to bid on the project. If construction began immediately, the liner could be in service by 2002. But it was not until
6 November,
2000 that a contract was signed with Chantiers de l'Atlantique, a subsidiary of
Alstom. This was the same yard that built Cunard's one-time rivals, the
SS Normandie and
SS France of the
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.
Her
keel was laid down on
4 July 2002, in
Saint-Nazaire, France. Approximately 3000 craftsmen spent some 8 million working hours on the ship, and a total of 20,000 people were directly or indirectly involved in her design, construction, and fitting out. In total, 300,000 pieces of steel were assembled into 94 "blocks" off of the drydock, which were then stacked and welded together to complete the hull and superstructure.
[World Ship Society: Construction of the Largest Liner in the World] She is so much larger than those that Chantiers normally build that the shipyard treated her as "1.6 ships."
[Queen Mary 2; Maxtone-Graham, John]The
QM2 was launched on
21 March 2003 and began her sea trials on
25 September 2003, between Saint-Nazaire and the off-shore islands of
Ile d'Yeu and Belle-Ile. The final stages of construction were marred by a fatal accident on
15 November 2003, when a gangway collapsed under a group of shipyard workers and their relatives who had been invited to visit the vessel. About 30 people on the gangway fell over 15 m (50 ft); 22 were injured and 16, including a child, were killed.
Construction was completed on schedule. Due to the size of the ship, the luxury of materials, and the fact that, due to her nature as an ocean liner, she required 40% more steel than a standard cruise ship, the final cost ended up being approximately $300,000 US per berth - nearly double that of ships such as
Voyager of the Seas,
Grand Princess, or
Carnival Conquest.
[The History, Construction and Design of Queen Mary 2]Cunard took delivery in
Southampton, England on
26 December 2003. On
8 January 2004, the liner was named
Queen Mary 2 by her namesake's granddaughter,
Queen Elizabeth II.
Service history
On
12 January 2004, the
Queen Mary 2 set sail on her
maiden voyage from
Southampton,
England to
Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the
United States, carrying 2,620 passengers under tight security due to
terrorist threats.
During the
XXVIII Olympics the
QM2 sailed to
Athens and docked at
Piraeus for two weeks for use as a hotel-ship, serving British Prime Minister
Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, French President
Jacques Chirac, former US president
George Bush, and the
US Olympic men's basketball team.
[QM2 will be floating fortress] [Dream Team beats Spain but tension builds (link inactive as of June 28, 06)]One 2005 transatlantic crossing saw the
QM2 carrying, in a locked steamer trunk, the first US copy of
J. K. Rowling's book
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, autographed by the author. This marked the first time a best-selling book had been transported to its international launch aboard an ocean liner.
[World's most famous ocean liner carries first J.K. Rowling-signed US copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince]In January 2006 the
QM2 embarked on a circumnavigation of
South America. Upon departure from Fort Lauderdale one of her
propeller pods was damaged when it struck a channel wall, forcing the ship to sail at a slower speed, which resulted in Commodore Warwick's decision to skip several calls on its voyage to
Rio de Janeiro. Many of its passengers threatened to stage a
sit-in protest because of the missed calls, before Cunard offered to refund the voyage costs. The
QM2 will continue to run on reduced speed and several itinerary changes will be necessary until repairs have been completed in summer 2006. When back in Europe in June, the
QM2 will pay a visit to dry dock, where the damaged propeller pod will be unseated, repaired, and reassembled.
[News.Telegraph: Cunard foils QM2 mutiny with full refund offer] |
Queen Mary 2 visits the original Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA |
On
February 23 2006, after completing the journey around South America, the
QM2 met her namesake, the original
RMS Queen Mary, which is permanently docked at Long Beach, CA. Escorted by a flotilla of smaller ships, the two
Queens exchanged a "whistle salute" which was heard throughout the city of Long Beach. (see
here for a
podcast of the ships' meeting.)
Famous passengers and/or guests of the
QM2 include
Queen Elizabeth II,
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, jazz musician
Dave Brubeck, former US president
George Bush, French President
Jacques Chirac, comedian and actor
John Cleese, actor
Richard Dreyfuss, author and editor
Harold Evans, director
George Lucas, singer
Carly Simon, singer
Rod Stewart, NBC Today Show Host
Katie Couric, and financier
Donald Trump.
[Cunard news archive]On
10 January 2007, the
QM2 will start her first world cruise, circling the globe in 81 days. On
20 February she is to meet her fleet-mate, the
Queen Elizabeth 2, also on her 2007 world cruise, in
Sydney harbour.
[Queen Mary 2 world cruise itinerary] [Queen Elizabeth 2 world cruise itinerary] This will be the first time two Cunard
Queens have been together in Sydney since the original
Queen Mary and
Queen Elizabeth served as troop ships in 1941.
[Queen Elizabeth 1940-1973]A running mate is currently planned, to be known as the
MS Queen Victoria and entering service in 2007.
Exterior
|
The hybrid Constanzi stern of Queen Mary 2 |
The
Queen Mary 2s principal architect was Carnival's house designer, Stephen Payne, a self-admitted ocean liner aficionado. While the primary reference point for the vessel's design was undoubtedly that of her running mate, the Queen Elizebeth 2
, her exterior lines also show hints of her predecessor, the Queen Mary
, in the curved forward bridge screen, and the tower-like ends of the bridge screen that rise to the bridge wings. In fact, the ship's design pays homage to a number of classic ocean liners. The forward whaleback is reminiscent of many CGT liners, particularly the Normandie
and the France
. The two slender after-stacks are a further direct reference to the France
.
Also, similar to previous liners like the SS Rotterdam
there is a continuous wrap-around promenade deck on Deck 7, which passes behind the bridge screen to allow passengers to completely circumnavigate the deck while being protected from the strong wind generated by the ship being at full speed. Like many other ships, the flanking promenades are created by the need to step the superstructure in to allow for space for lifeboats. By SOLAS standards the lifeboats should have been lower on the ship's hull, but for the sake of the QM2s appearance, as well as to avoid the danger of large North Atlantic waves damaging the boats in a storm, Payne convinced SOLAS officials to exempt the
QM2 from this requirement.
One aspect of the
QM2 that has been slightly criticised is the counter of her stern. Payne's intent was to make the ship's stern profile similar to that of the
QE2, with a spoon shape, but the mounting of the
propeller pods required a flat transom. The compromise was a Constanzi stern â€" a combination of a more traditional cruiser stern with a contemporary box-like
transom stern. The design of the stern has ironically been criticized from two diametrically opposed perspectives by liner buffs. Some feel that nothing but a traditional cruiser stern would be suitable for a true ocean liner, whereas others feel that his choice of stern represents a purely visual conceit that detracts from the quintessentially functional nature of a liner. In fact, Payne has specifically said that he would not resort to adding any non-functional elements to the
QM2s design purely to make her appear more "liner-like". It can indeed be argued that the stern satisfies a mixture of functional and aesthetic requirements: A Constanzi stern provides the transom required for azimuthal pod propulsors, yet provides better seaholding characteristics in a following swell than a standard transom stern. The stern design, too, has been seen by some as a homage to earlier (especially Italian-built) liners such as the SS Eugenio C.
and the SS Oceanic
.
Apart from the stern, the vessel as completed does exhibit one other subtle element of what some consider to be visual fakery: Three thick black lines that wrap around either edge of her bridge screen. The purpose of these seem to be to recall quite effectively the appearance of the crossovers of the forward decks on the original Queen Mary
.
The somewhat squat appearance of the smokestack reflects a fairly late alteration to the vessel's design. Originally the funnel's proportions would approximately have matched those of the stack fitted to the Queen Elizabeth 2
after that vessel's re-engining. However, the original design would not allow the QM2
to fit under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. (Even as eventually built, the QM2s shortened smokestack has barely 3m (9.75ft) clearance under that bridge.) This makes the
QM2 the second major British liner to have her design adapted in order to fit under a bridge at her primary foreign port of call: The top section of the radar mast on the
SS Canberra could
cantilever astern in order to fit under the
Sydney Harbour Bridge.
As the
QM2 is too large to dock in most ports, passengers are ferried to and from the ship in specially-built
tenders. While at sea these are stored in davits alongside the lifeboats. To transport passengers to shore the tenders will pull up to one of four loading stations, named Kensington, Chelsea, Knightbridge and Belgravia, which each have a large hull door that hydraulically opens outwards to form a boarding platform, complete with railings and decking.
|
One of the hull doors/boarding platforms |
Interior
Contrary to the traditional practice on ocean liners, the main public rooms of the
Queen Mary 2 are on the lowest public decks of the ship, with the passenger cabins stacked above. This allowed for larger rooms to be contained within the stronger hull, as well as for more passenger cabins to have private balconies - something highly demanded by ocean passengers in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Payne attempted to create a central axis to the two main public room decks (similar in fashion to the
Normandie), but a full vista is broken by various public rooms that span the width of the ship. The dining rooms were placed further aft, though not directly at the stern, as done on some cruise ships like Royal Caribbean's
Voyager of the Seas, where vibration from the propellers at full speed would cause discomfort to dining passengers.
Deck 2, the lowest passenger deck, contains the Illuminations theatre and planetarium, Royal Court Theatre, Grand Lobby, Empire Casino, Golden Lion Pub, and lower level of the Britannia Restaurant. Deck 3 holds the upper levels of Illuminations, the Royal Court and Britannia, as well as a shopping arcade, Veuve Cliquot champagne bar, the Chart Room, Sir Samuel's wine bar, the Queen's Room, and the G32 Nightclub. The other main public deck is Deck 7, on which are the Canyon Ranch Spa, Winter Garden, King's Court (a buffet dining area by day which is transformed into four themed restaurants in the evening), the Queen's Grill Lounge, and the Queen's Grill and Princess Grill restaurants for higher-fare passengers. The public rooms on Deck 8 include the
à la carte Todd English Restaurant, the largest library at sea (the record was previously held by
QE2), a book shop and part of the Canyon Ranch Spa. Also on Deck 8 is a large outdoor pool and terrace at the stern.
|
The Britannia Restaurant on board the Queen Mary 2 |
It has been argued that the separation of passengers into different restaurants based on the price of the cabin they booked (the Britannia as "standard" for regular cabins, the Princess Grill as "middle" for those in junior suites, and the Queen's Grill as "superior" for deluxe suite occupants) makes the
QM2 a ship divided into three classes, despite the fact that all other public rooms are used by all passengers equally. Though this situation is similar on the
QE2, it is further enhanced on the
QM2 by the fact that "Grill Passengers" (those dining in the Princess Grill or Queen's Grill) also have a private outdoor deck with its own whirlpool on Deck 11.
As the
QM2 was the first single-class ocean liner built since the immigrant ships of the early part of the 20th century (unlike her fleet-mate the
Queen Elizabeth 2, which was originally built for three classes, and in her early years operated partly as a single-class cruise ship and partly as a "classed" liner), the
QM2 could afford to have a clearer arrangement of staircases and passages that does not have to allow for doors and partitions being closed off when the ship is in a "classed" transatlantic mode.
However, due to the arrangement of the public rooms, there are some "kinks" in the design. For instance, as the Britannia Restaurant takes up the full width of the ship on two decks, a 'tween deck, called Deck 3L, was devised to allow passengers to walk from the Grand Lobby to the Queen's Room without traversing the dining room mid-meal. The deck consists of two corridors that run beneath the upper balcony of the Britannia on Deck 3, and above the main dining area on Deck 2. This is why the balcony of the Britannia has tiers that step up towards the hull. This arrangement is illustrated on the hull where there is a stack of three rows of windows in the area where the main restaurant sits - the two upper and lower rows illuminate the dining room, while the centre row serves Deck 3L. There is a similar arrangement through the Royal Court Theatre. As well, the passages that run on either side of Illuminations on Deck 3 ramp upwards to compensate for the change in deck elevation between the entrance to Illuminations and an elevator bank forward of the room.
[Queen Mary 2; Maxtone-Graham, John]More than 5000 specially-commissioned works of art are visible in the
QM2's public rooms, corridors, staterooms and lobbies, having been created by 128 artists from 16 different countries.
[The art of cruising in luxury] Two very notable pieces are Barbara Broekman's two-storey-high
tapestry in the Britannia Restaurant - an abstract depiction of an ocean liner, bridge, and New York skyline - and John McKenna's sheet bronze relief
mural in the Grand Lobby, inspired by the art deco mural in the main dining room of the original
Queen Mary.
[Queen Mary 2 Cunard]Power plant and propulsion system
|
The Queen Mary 2 in the Hamburg Harbour |
The
Queen Mary 2s power plant comprises both four 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 16V46C EnviroEngine
marine diesel engines generating a combined 67200kW, as well as two General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines which together provide a further 50000kW. Such a combined arrangement, known as CODAG (Combined Diesel And Gas turbine), provides for economical cruising at low speed combined with an ability to sustain much higher speeds when required, and has been common in naval vessels for some time. While QM2
is the first passenger ship to feature CODAG propulsion, she is not the first large passenger vessel to be powered by gas turbines as is sometimes mistakenly reported. That honour falls to the Finnish ferry Finnjet
of 1977.
Thrust is provided by four Rolls-Royce Mermaid podded propulsion units, each featuring one forward-facing low-vibration Kamewa propeller with separately bolted blades. (QM2
carries 8 spare blades on the foredeck, immediately forward of the bridge screen.) The forward pair is fixed, but the aft pair can rotate through 360°, obviating the need for a rudder. The QM2
is the first quadruple screw passenger ship completed since the SS France
in 1961.
As in most modern cruise ships, QM2s propulsion machinery is electrically decoupled from her
propeller shafts and her propulsion arrangement can therefore be more accurately be described as "CODAG-electric" (by analogy with
turbo-electric and
diesel-electric). The diesel engines and gas turbines drive
electrical generators, which provide the power to drive four 21500kW
Alstom electrical motors located inside the podded propulsors (and thus entirely outside the vessel's hull).
In a further break with tradition,
QM2's gas turbines are not housed along with her diesels in the
engine room deep in her hull, but instead reside in a thoroughly soundproofed enclosure directly underneath the funnel. This arrangement allowed the vessel's designers to supply the oxygen-hungry turbines with air intakes without having to run air ducts the entire height of the ship, which would have wasted valuable interior space.
* Due to a large advertising campaign by Cunard Line leading up to the maiden voyage of the
Queen Mary 2, the ship has already appeared often in international media coverage.
* The 2006
Wolfgang Petersen film
Poseidon was partially filmed on the
QM2; the original film,
The Poseidon Adventure, was filmed on the
Queen Mary. Though not actual interiors, some of the
QM2's rooms served as inspiration for sets on
Poseidon. (See
Poseidon: Sets)
* The ship also appeared in the second season of
The Apprentice as a reward for the men's team of Mosaic.
* On
Google Maps the
QM2 can be seen in two places: the port of
Lisbon (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=k&ll=38.69802900,-9.17292400&q=Portugal&spn=0.00188,0.005343), and at a pier in
Manhattan ([
1]).
*
News reports and picture from Maritime Matters*
Cunard*
Queen Mary 2 photo gallery*
Queen Mary 2 interior and exterior pictures*
Queen Mary 2 bridge cam*
Maiden voyage photo-log*
Passengers threaten mutiny on crippled "Queen Mary 2"*
RSA Cosmos: Planetarium Screen (equipped Queen Mary2) and Planetarium Projection System*
Rolls-Royce Mermaid azimuthing podded propulsor*
Unofficial web site w/forums for Cunard Ocean Liners aficionados*
Yahoo! Group exclusively for Queen Mary 2 buffs
