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RMS Queen Elizabeth

RMS Queen Elizabeth was a steam-powered ocean liner of the Cunard Steamship Company. She first entered service as a troopship for World War II, and later served in her intended role as an ocean liner until her retirement in 1968.


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Construction

The Queen Elizabeth was launched at the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank, Scotland, on September 27, 1938, and retired from service in 1968. Queen Elizabeth was the largest passenger steamship ever constructed and held the record for the largest passenger ship of any kind until being surpassed in 1996 by the Carnival Destiny. The ship was named for Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI of the United Kingdom and queen consort at the time it was built.

"The Breakout"

Having been launched only a year before the outbreak of World War II, the ship was still being fitted out at the start of the war. Because of her vulnerability to being bombed while still on the Clyde, it was decided that the ship should be moved. It was announced that she would sail for Southampton to complete fitting out. On March 3 1940, the Queen Elizabeth sailed - however, on opening his sealed orders, the ship's Master, Captain Townley, found he was to take the Queen Elizabeth to New York. At the time she was due in Southampton, the city was bombed by the Luftwaffe. On arrival in New York, the Queen Elizabeth found herself moored alongside her running mate Queen Mary and the Normandie, the only time all three of the world's biggest liners would be pictured together.

Troopship

Refitted for naval use in Singapore and Sydney, the Queen Elizabeth and its running mate, the Queen Mary, were used as troop transports during the war. Their high speeds allowed them to outrun hazards, foremostly German U-boats, allowing them to travel without a convoy. During its naval career, Queen Elizabeth carried more than 750,000 troops and sailed some 500,000 miles.

Liner

Following the end of the war, the Queen Elizabeth was able to be put to the use for which she was built; as part of Cunard's two ship, twice weekly service to New York. Together with the Queen Mary, and in competition with the SS United States, they dominated the transatlantic passenger trade until their fortunes began to decline with the advent of the faster and more economical jet airliner in the mid 1950s. For a short time, the Queen Elizabeth served a dual role; when not plying its usual transatlantic route, it operated as a cruise ship travelling between New York and Nassau. Cunard retired both ships by 1969 and replaced them with a single, smaller ship, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (the QE2). Although christened by Queen Elizabeth II, the QE2 was actually named after Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen consort of George VI of the United Kingdom, being the second ship to bear the name.

Final years

RMS Queen Elizabeth:The wreck of the Seawise University, the former Queen Elizabeth.
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The wreck of the Seawise University, the former Queen Elizabeth.

In 1968, the Queen Elizabeth was sold to a group of Philadelphia businessmen who intended to operate the ship as a hotel and tourist attraction (similar to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California) in Port Everglades, Florida. Losing money and forced to close after being declared a fire hazard, it was sold in 1970 to Hong Kong tycoon C.Y. Tung.

Tung, head of the Orient Overseas Line, intended to convert the ship into a university for the World Campus Afloat program (later reformed and renamed as Semester at Sea). Following tradition of the Orient Overseas Line, the ship was renamed Seawise University, as a play on Tung's initials.

However, during the conversion, the vessel was gutted by a fire that broke out at different places onboard, believed to be arson, and toppled in shallow water on January 9, 1972. The wreckage was scrapped on the spot in 1974-1975, before the project could ever be truly realised.

The wreck was featured in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, and was portrayed in the film as a covert base of operations for the British secret service.

Timeline

References

Categories


Clyde built ships | Education in Hong Kong | History of Hong Kong | Ocean liners | Passenger ships of the United Kingdom | Ship fires | Ships of Scotland | Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean | Steamships

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