- It is not actually named after Queen Elizabeth II, but after the wife of King George VI. This is why the ship is called Queen Elizabeth 2 and not Queen Elizabeth II.
- The ship's vital statistics: length: 963 feet, weight: 70,327 (the rudder alone weighs 80 tons, equivalent to 10 double-decker Buses, and a draught of 32 feet, seven feet less than her predecessors, which would allow her to visit ports they couldn't, and compete with a new generation of cruise ships. She could accommodate 1,892 passengers and 1,040 crew.
- Her top speed was 32.5 knots and she could also sail backwards faster than most cruise ships could sail forwards, at 19 knots. In June 1970, the QE2 crossed the Atlantic in a record time of three days, 20 hours and 42 minutes.
- Other notable voyages included a transit of the Panama Canal in 1975, when QE2 became the biggest ship to go through, with less than a foot to spare. The QE2 was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service until she was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986/1987. In 1995, she set sail on her 1,000th voyage, a crossing from New York to Southampton. On her 40th anniversary she sailed around Britain, a kind of lap of honour.
- During the 40 years of regular service, the ship circumnavigated the globe 25 times and crossed the Atlantic 801 times. Altogether that was 175,290 hours, or 20 years, at sea. Around 2.5 million passengers travelled on her, the equivalent of a city the size of Budapest. One notable passenger was Queen Elizabeth II, who in 1990 became the first reigning monarch to go on a voyage on a commercial liner with passengers.
- What was on board? A shopping arcade with 11 boutiques, including a branch of Harrods, five restaurants, two cafes, three swimming pools, a 481-seat cinema, a hospital, a casino, the largest library on the seas, with over 6,000 titles, and the only synagogue at sea.
- She cost £29 million to build, well above the original budget, possibly because, allegedly, shipworkers were allegedly stealing from the ship faster than the yard could build her.
- In May 1982, the QE2 was requisitioned for the Falklands War as a troop transport. This was said to have given then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sleepless nights, possibly because the large amounts of aluminium used in the cladding to save weight had a relatively low melting point which would have caused catastrophe had the ship been hit by a missile. Thankfully she wasn't and returned safely to Southampton in September 1982.
- A woman named Beatrice Muller, from New Jersey, lived on board the ship for 14 years, going on every voyage and using it as a £3,500 a month retirement home where she could dance, play bridge and have every meal cooked for her.
- The QE2 retired from service in 2008. A company in Dubai bought her with plans to turn her into a floating hotel, but the plans were scuppered by the 2008 financial crisis. She languished in dry dock until a Dubai-based construction company announced it had been contracted to refurbish the ship in 2017. The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018.
New!
Closing the Circle
A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.
Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader.
Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.
The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.
Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.
Available from:
Amazon (Paperback)
A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.
Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader.
Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.
The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.
Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.
Available from:
Amazon (Paperback)
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