The Life of RMS Queen Elizabeth/Seawise University #history #ship #oceanliner #cunard #shipwreck
Fort Lauderdale PortFrance CountryHong Kong CountryUnited Kingdom CountryUnited States CountryCunard Line Cruise LineNew York City PortSouthampton Port
Launched: 27 September 1938 Completed: 2 March 1940 Maiden voyage: 16 October 1946 Out of service: 9 January 1972 Fate: Caught fire & capsized, wreck partially dismantled between 1974–75, rest buried under land reclamation RMS Queen Elizabeth was a British ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Along with her sister Queen Mary, she provided a weekly transatlantic service between Southampton in the United Kingdom & New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France. Built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Scotland, as Hull 552, she was launched on 27 September 1938 & named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI. Her design was an improvement of that of Queen Mary, resulting in a vessel 12 feet (3.7 m) longer & several thousand tons greater GRT, making her the largest passenger liner ever built for a record 56 years. Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mother) herself performed the launching ceremony on 27 September 1938. She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War & did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946. With the decline in popularity of the transatlantic route, both ships were replaced by the smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2, which made her maiden voyage in 1969. Queen Mary was retired from service on 9 December 1967 & sold to the city of Long Beach, California. Queen Elizabeth was retired after her final crossing to New York, on 8 December 1968. She was moved to Port Everglades, Florida & converted to a tourist attraction, which opened in February 1969. The business was unsuccessful & closed in August 1970. Finally, the ship was sold to Hong Kong businessman Tung Chao-yung, who intended to convert her into a floating university cruise ship, Seawise University. In 1972, while she was undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbour, a fire broke out aboard under unexplained circumstances & the vessel was capsized by the water used to fight the fire. The following year, the wreck was deemed an obstruction to shipping in the area & in 1974 & 1975 was partially scrapped on site. The remains of her hull were subsequently buried under reclaimed land used to build the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals. The wreck was featured in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, as a covert headquarters for MI6.