Editing Queen Elizabeth 2 (section)

==Design==
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
[[File:QE2 bow.jpg|thumb|''Queen Elizabeth 2''{{'}}s long bow was typical of regular service ocean liners, which sailed at high speed to keep a schedule in any weather.]]
[[File:QEII forty.jpg|thumb|upright|''Queen Elizabeth 2'' back on the [[River Clyde]] for her 40th birthday in 2007]]

The interior and superstructure for the ''QE2'' was designed by [[James Gardner (designer)|James Gardner]]. The result was described by The Council of Industrial Design as that of a "very big yacht" and with a "look [that was] sleek, modern and purposeful".<ref>QE2 [http://maritime.elettra.co.uk/qe2/design/ Engineering and Design]</ref>

===Characteristics===
As built, ''QE2'' had a [[gross tonnage]] of {{GRT|65,863}}, was {{convert|963|ft|m|abbr=on}} long, and had a top speed of {{convert|32.5|knots}} with steam turbines; this was increased to {{convert|34|kn}} when the vessel was re-engined with the diesel-electric powerplant.<ref name="chrisqe2hist">{{cite web|url=https://www.chriscunard.com/qe2/qe2-history/|title=QE2 History|website=Chris' Cunard Page|access-date=5 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/1987_Refit/index.htm |title=QE2's Major 1986–1987 re-engining refit |access-date=5 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Chris Frame & Rachelle Cross |title=The QE2 Story |isbn=978-0-7524-5094-0 |publisher=The History Press, Stroud |year=2009 }}</ref>  At the time of retirement, the ship had a gross tonnage of 70,327.

===Hull===
The hull was of welded steel plates, which avoided the weight penalty of over ten million rivets and overlappeding of historic ship construction,<ref name=PayneP32/> and was fitted with a modern [[bulbous bow]].

===Superstructure===
Like both {{SS|Normandie|3=2}} and {{SS|France|1961|2}}, ''QE2'' had a flared [[stem (ship)|stem]] and clean [[forecastle]].

What was controversial at the time was that Cunard decided not to paint the funnel with the line's distinctive colour and pattern, something that had been done on all its merchant vessels since Cunard's first vessel, the {{RMS|Britannia}}, sailed in 1840. Instead, the funnel was painted white and black, with the Cunard orange-red appearing only on the inside of the wind scoop. This practice ended in 1983 when ''QE2'' returned from service in the [[Falklands War]], and the funnel was repainted in traditional Cunard orange and black, with black horizontal bands, known as "hands".

The original narrow funnel was rebuilt larger during her 1986 refurbishment in [[Bremerhaven]], using steel panels from the original,{{cn|date=June 2024}} when the ship was converted from steam to [[Diesel engine|diesel]] power.{{why|reason=Why was the funnel enlarged?  For aesthetic reasons?  Why would diesel power require larger funnels than steam?|date=June 2024}}

Large quantities of weight-saving aluminium were used in the framing and cladding of ''QE2''{{'}}s superstructure in place of steel. Reducing the draft of the ship lowered fuel consumption, but invited the electrochemical corrosion where the dissimilar metals are joined together, prevented by using a jointing compound. The low melting point of aluminium caused concern when ''QE2'' was serving as a troopship during the Falklands War, with some fearing that if the ship were struck by a missile her upper decks would collapse quickly due to fire.{{clarification needed|reason=Is this fear scientifically based?  A reliable citation, please.|date=June 2024}}

In 1972, the first penthouse suites were added in an aluminium structure on Signal Deck and Sports Deck (now "Sun Deck"), behind the ship's [[bridge (ship)|bridge]], and in 1977 this structure was expanded to include more suites with balconies, making ''QE2'' one of the first ships to offer private terraces to passengers since ''Normandie'' in the 1930s. Her balcony accommodation was expanded for the final time when her funnel was widened during the 1986/87 overhaul. 

''QE2''{{'}}s final structural changes included the reworking of the aft decks during the 1994 refit, following the removal of the [[magrodome]], and the addition of an undercover area on Sun Deck during the 2005 refit outfitted as the Funnel Bar.

===Interiors===
''Queen Elizabeth 2''{{'}}s interior configuration was originally designed for segregated two-class Atlantic crossings.  It was laid out in a horizontal fashion, similar to ''France'', where the spaces dedicated to the two classes were spread on specific decks, in contrast to the deck-spanning vertical class divisions of older liners. Where ''QE2'' differed from ''France'' in having only two classes of service, with  the upper deck dedicated to tourist class and the quarter deck beneath it to first-class. Each had its own main lounge.

Another modern variation was providing tourist class with a grand two-story main ballroom, called the Double Room (later the Grand Lounge), created by opening a well in the deck between what were to have been the second and third class lounges in the ship's original three class design. This too was unconventional in that it designated a grander space for tourist class passengers than first class, who gathered in the standard height Queen's Room. The First-class was given the theatre balcony on Boat Deck, and tourist class the orchestra level on Upper Deck.

Over the span of her thirty-nine-year seagoing career, ''QE2'' received a number of interior refits and alterations.

The year ''QE2'' entered service, 1969, [[Apollo 11]] landed on the Moon, the [[Concorde]] prototype was unveiled, and the [[Boeing 747]] first took flight. In keeping with those technology influenced times, Cunard abandoned the  [[Art Deco]] interiors of the previous ''Queens'' in favor of everyday modern materials like [[Laminate|laminates]], aluminium and [[Perspex]]. The public rooms featured glass, stainless steel, dark carpeting and sea green leather.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Cunard Queens: Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth 2 |last=Schwerdtner|first=Nils |publisher=Seaforth Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84832-010-9|pages=27–28}}</ref> Furniture was modular, and [[abstract art]] was used throughout public rooms and cabins.

[[Dennis Lennon]] was responsible for co-ordinating the interior design, assisted by [[Jon Bannenberg]] and [[Gaby Schreiber]]; his original designs only remained intact for three years.<ref name="scotsman.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/art/sixties-splendour-revived-as-exhibition-celebrates-qe2-formica-fest-1-4687051|title=Sixties splendour revived as exhibition celebrates QE2 Formica fest|website=www.scotsman.com|date=11 February 2018 |access-date=5 March 2019}}</ref>

The Midships Lobby on Two Deck, where first-class passengers boarded for transatlantic journeys and all passengers boarded for cruises, was a circular room with a sunken seating area in the centre with green leather-clad banquettes surrounded by a chrome railing. In the centre was a flared, white, trumpet-shaped, lighted column.

The Theatre Bar on Upper Deck featured red chairs, red drapes, a red egg crate fibreglass screen, and even a red baby [[grand piano]]. Some more traditional materials like wood veneer were used as highlights throughout the ship, especially in passenger corridors and staterooms. There was also an Observation Bar on Quarter Deck, a successor to its namesake, located in a similar location, on both previous ''Queens'', which offered views through large windows over the ship's bow. The ''QE2''{{'}}s 1972 refit plated over the windows and turned the room into galley space.

Almost all of the remaining original decor was replaced in the 1994 refit, with Cunard opting to use the line's traditional ocean liners as inspiration. The green velvet and leather Midships Bar became the [[Art Deco]] inspired Chart Room, receiving an original, custom-designed piano from ''Queen Mary''. The (by then) blue dominated Theatre Bar was transformed into the traditional [[Edwardian period|Edwardian]]-themed Golden Lion Pub.

Some original elements were retained, including the flared columns in the Queen's Room and Mid-Ships Lobby. The Queen's Room's indirect ceiling lighting was replaced with uplighters which reversed the original light airy effect by illuminating the lowered ceiling and leaving shadows in the ceiling's slot.

By the time of ''QE2's'' retirement, the ship's synagogue was the only room that had remained unaltered since 1969.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://members.tripod.com/~Tziper/today.htm | title=Queen Elizabeth 2: Today |publisher=Members.tripod.com |access-date=14 July 2010}}</ref> However it was reported that during ''QE2''{{'}}s 22 October five-night voyage, the synagogue was dismantled and removed from the ship before her final sailing to Dubai.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/ubb-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=004606 |title=Cruise Talk&nbsp;– Topic: QE2's Synagogue dismantled |publisher=Travelserver.net |access-date=14 July 2010}}</ref>

===Artwork and artefacts===
[[File:QE2 bell.jpg|thumb|''QE2'' bell on display on {{MS|Queen Elizabeth}}]]
The designers included numerous pieces of artwork within the public rooms of the ship, as well as maritime artefacts drawn from Cunard's long history of operating merchant vessels.

[[Althea Wynne]]'s sculpture of the ''White Horses'' of the Atlantic Ocean was installed in the Mauretania Restaurant.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/9082747/Althea-Wynne.html Althea Wynne (obituary)] in [[The Daily Telegraph]] dated 14 February 2012, online at telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2012</ref> Two bronze busts were installed—one of Sir [[Samuel Cunard]] outside the Yacht Club, and one of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in the Queen's Room. Four life-size statues of human forms—created by sculptor Janine Janet in marine materials like shell and coral, representing the four elements—were installed in the Princess Grill. A frieze designed by Brody Nevenshwander, depicting the words of [[T. S. Eliot]], Sir [[Francis Drake]], and [[John Masefield]], was in the Chart Room. The Midships Lobby housed a solid silver model of ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' made by Asprey of Bond Street in 1975, which was lost until a photograph found in 1997 led to the discovery of the model itself. It was placed on ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' in 1999.

Three custom-designed tapestries were commissioned from [[Helena Hernmarck]] for the ship's launch, depicting the Queen as well as the launch of the ship. These tapestries were originally hung in the Quarter Deck "D" Stairway, outside the Columbia Restaurant. They were originally made with golden threads, but much of this was lost when they were incorrectly cleaned during the 1987 refit. They were subsequently hung in the "E" stairway and later damaged in 2005.

There are numerous photographs, oils, and pastels of members of the [[British Royal Family|Royal Family]] throughout the vessel.

The ship also housed items from previous Cunard ships, including both a brass relief plaque with a fish motif from the first {{RMS|Mauretania|1906}} and an Art-Deco bas-relief titled ''Winged Horse and Clouds'' by Norman Foster from {{RMS|Queen Elizabeth}}. There were also a vast array of Cunard postcards, porcelain, flatware, boxes, linen, and [[Lines Bros]] Tri-ang Minic model ships. One of the key pieces was a replica of the [[figurehead]] from Cunard's first ship {{RMS|Britannia}}, carved from [[Quebec]] yellow pine by [[Cornwall|Cornish]] sculptor Charles Moore and presented to the ship by [[Lloyd's of London]].

On the Upper Deck sits the silver Boston Commemorative Cup, presented to ''Britannia'' by the City of Boston in 1840. This cup was lost for decades until it was found in a pawn shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On "2" Deck was a bronze entitled ''Spirit of the Atlantic'' that was designed by Barney Seale for the second {{RMS|Mauretania|1938}}. A large wooden plaque was presented to ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' by [[First Sea Lord]] Sir [[John Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse|John Fieldhouse]] to commemorate the ship's service as a Hired Military Transport (HMT) in the [[Falklands War]].

There was also an extensive collection of large-scale models of Cunard ships located throughout ''Queen Elizabeth 2''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magwa.co.uk/qe2/qe2prt01.htm |title=Interiors of QE2 following The Cunard Heritage Trail in part |publisher=Magwa.co.uk |access-date=10 May 2012}}</ref>

Over the years the ship's collection was added to. Among those items was a set of antique Japanese armour presented to ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' by the Governor of [[Kagoshima]], Japan, during her 1979 world cruise, as was a [[Josiah Wedgwood|Wedgwood]] vase presented to the ship by Lord Wedgwood.

Throughout the public areas were also silver plaques commemorating the visits of every member of the Royal Family, as well as other dignitaries such as South African president [[Nelson Mandela]].

Istithmar acquired most of these items from Cunard when it bought ''QE2''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://qe2thelastcrossing.blogspot.com/2008/10/qe2-heritage-trail.html |title=QE2 Heritage Trail |access-date=25 May 2010|date=28 October 2008 }}</ref>

===Crew accommodation===
The majority of the crew were accommodated in two- or four-berth cabins, with showers and toilets at the end of each alleyway.{{Citation needed|date=August 2012}} These were located forward and aft on decks three to six.{{Citation needed|date=August 2012}} At the time she entered service, the crew areas were a significant improvement over those aboard {{RMS|Queen Mary}} and {{RMS|Queen Elizabeth}}; however the ship's age and the lack of renovation of the crew area during her 40 years of service, in contrast to passenger areas, which were updated periodically, meant that this accommodation was considered basic by the end of her career. [[Licensed mariner|Officers]] were accommodated in single cabins with private in-suite bathrooms located on Sun Deck.<ref name="TheQE2Story" />

There were six crew bars, the main four were split into the Senior Rates Recreation Rooms on Deck 2 and the Junior Rates on Deck 3, with Deck and Engine Departments on the port side and Hotel on the starboard side of the ship. The Female crew recreation room was on Deck 1 next to their dedicated mess room. Over time the Deck & Engine Ratings Room became The Petty Officers Club and then the Fo'c'sle Club when the British Deck and Engine crew were changed to Filipino crew. The Hotel Senior Rates room became a crew gym. The Junior Rates Rooms on Deck 3 were the main crew bars and were called ''The Pig & Whistle''.<ref name="journey_book" /> ("The 2 deck Pig" and three deck pig, for short and a tradition aboard Cunard ships) and Castaways on the starboard side. After the expansion of female crew following the conversion to diesel power, the female-only recreation and mess room became a crew library and later the crew services office. The final bar on Deck 6 aft was small and in a former crew launderette so it was called the Dhobi Arms, a hang out for the Liverpool crew but was closed in the late '80s. A bar, dedicated for the officers, is located at the forward end of Boat Deck. Named ''The Officers Wardroom'', this area enjoyed forward-facing views and was often opened to passengers for cocktail parties hosted by the senior officers.<ref name="lightbody1" /> The crew mess was situated at the forward end of One Deck,<ref name="journey_book" /> adjacent to the crew services office.

===Machinery===
[[File:20-QE2 Re-engine.jpg|thumb|''Queen Elizabeth 2'' being re-engined at [[Bremerhaven]], November 1986]]
[[File:21-QE2 Re-engine.jpg|thumb|''Queen Elizabeth 2''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s original funnel, removed while being re-engined; some of its panels were recycled to create QE2's new funnel.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} Her old fixed-pitch propellors are visible in the lower left of the photo.]]

''Queen Elizabeth 2'' was originally fitted out with a [[steam turbine]] propulsion system using three Foster Wheeler E.S.D II boilers, which provided steam for the two Brown-[[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company|Parsons]] turbines. The turbines were rated with a maximum power output figure of {{convert|110000|shp}} (normally operating at {{cvt|94000|hp|disp=or}}) and coupled via double-reduction gearing to two six-bladed fixed-pitch [[propeller]]s.

The steam turbines were plagued with problems{{Citation needed|date=August 2012}} from the time the ship first entered service and, despite being technically advanced and fuel-efficient in 1968, her consumption of 600 tons of fuel oil every twenty-four hours was more than expected for such a ship by the 1980s. After seventeen years of service, the availability of spare parts was becoming difficult due to the outdated design of the boilers and turbines and the constant use of the machinery which was mainly due to Cunard's cost-saving deletion of the originally planned 4th boiler while the ship was still on the drawing board.

The shipping company decided that the options were to either do nothing for the remainder of the ship's life, re-configure the existing engines, or completely re-engine the vessel with a modern, more efficient and more reliable diesel-electric powerplant. Ultimately it was decided to replace the engines, as it was calculated that the savings in fuel costs and maintenance would pay for themselves over four years while giving the vessel a minimum of another twenty years of service, whereas the other options would only provide short-term relief.<ref name="Rob Lightbody">{{cite web| url=http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/1987_Refit/ |publisher=Rob Lightbody |title=QE2's Major 1986–1987 re-engining refit |access-date=8 February 2011}}</ref> Her steam turbines had taken her to a record-breaking{{citation needed|reason=Failed verification at the given citation.|date=June 2024}} total of 2,622,858 miles in 18 years.<ref name="The Cunarders">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecunarders.co.uk/QE2%20History.html |publisher=The Cunarders |title=QE2 History |access-date=23 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213081103/http://www.thecunarders.co.uk/QE2%20History.html |archive-date=13 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2024}}

During the ship's 1986 to 1987 refit, the steam turbines were removed and replaced with nine German [[MAN SE|MAN]] 9L58/64 nine-cylinder, medium-speed diesel engines, each weighing approximately 120 tons. Using a diesel-electric configuration, each engine drives a generator, each developing 10.5 MW of electrical power at 10,000 volts. This electrical plant, in addition to powering the ship's auxiliary and hotel services through transformers, drives the two main propulsion motors, one on each propeller shaft. These motors produce 44 MW each and are of synchronised salient-pole construction, nine metres in diameter and weighing more than 400 tons each.

The ship's service speed of {{convert|28.5|kn|km/h}} was now maintained using only seven of the diesel-electric sets. The maximum power output with the new engine configuration running increased to 130,000&nbsp;hp, which was greater than the previous system's 110,000&nbsp;hp. Using the same IBF-380 ([[Bunker C]]) fuel, the new configuration yielded a 35% fuel saving over the previous system. During the re-engining process, her funnel was modified into a wider one to accommodate the exhaust pipes for the nine MAN diesel engines.

During the refit, the original fixed-pitch propellers were replaced with [[variable-pitch propeller (marine)|variable-pitch propellers]]. The old steam propulsion system required astern turbines to move the ship backward or stop her moving forward. The pitch of the new variable pitch blades could simply be reversed, causing a reversal of propeller thrust while maintaining the same direction of propeller rotation, allowing the ship shorter stopping times and improved handling characteristics.

The new propellers were originally fitted with "Grim Wheels", named after their inventor, Dr. Ing Otto Grim.<ref name="Rob Lightbody"/> These were free-spinning propeller blades fitted behind the main propellers, with long vanes protruding from the centre hub. The Grim Wheels were designed to recover lost propeller thrust and reduce fuel consumption by 2.5 to 3%. After the trial of these wheels, when the ship was drydocked, the majority of the vanes on each wheel were discovered to have broken off. The wheels were removed and the project was abandoned.

Other machinery includes nine heat recovery boilers, coupled with two oil-fired boilers to produce steam for heating fuel, domestic water, swimming pools, laundry equipment, and galleys. Four flash evaporators and a reverse-osmosis unit desalinate seawater to produce 1000 tons of freshwater daily. There is also a sanitation system and sewage disposal plant, air conditioning plant, and an electro-hydraulic steering system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qe2.org.uk/engine.html |title=The engine room |publisher=QE2 |access-date=14 July 2010}}</ref>