Editing Queen Elizabeth 2 (section)

===Early career===
[[File:Queen Elizabeth 2_IMO 6725418_P_Cuxhaven_08-1973.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Queen Elizabeth 2'' in [[Cuxhaven]], [[West Germany]], in 1973|left]]
''Queen Elizabeth 2''{{'}}s maiden voyage, from Southampton to New York, commenced on 2 May 1969,<ref name=QE2History /> taking 4 days, 16 hours, and 35 minutes, at an average speed of 28.02 knots.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=26 October 2011|title=Harbor Whistles Greet a Stately Queen Designed for the Modern Age; 150 Vessels in Harbor Greet the Queen Elizabeth 2|work=The New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/05/08/88990994.pdf|first=George|last=Horne|date=8 May 1969}}</ref> Upon her arrival to New York Harbour, she was greeted by two [[Royal Air Force]] [[Hawker Siddeley Harrier|Harrier]] jets that hovered on each side of the ship. The Harriers were in New York City at the time competing in the [[Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Bedlow |first=Robert |date=8 May 1969 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-new-york-welcome-for/165026588/ |title=New York Welcome For QE2 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |access-date=9 February 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=16 January 2017 |url=https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/goring/103432/the-day-i-won-race-to-fly-from-london-to-new-york.html |title=The day I won race to fly from London to New York |work=Henley Standard |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref>

In 1971, she participated in the rescue of some 500 passengers from the burning [[Compagnie Générale Transatlantique|French Line]] ship {{SS|Antilles|3=2}}.<ref name="chrisqe2hist" /><ref name=QE2History />
Later that year on 5 March ''QE2'' was disabled for four hours when jellyfish were sucked into and blocked her seawater intakes.<ref name=PayneP36/>

On 17 May 1972, while travelling from New York to Southampton, she was the subject of a [[bomb threat]].<ref name=TheQE2Story/> She was searched by her crew, and a combined [[Special Air Service]] and [[Special Boat Service]] team which [[parachute]]d into the sea to conduct a search of the ship. No bomb was found, but the [[hoaxer]] was arrested by the [[FBI]].<ref name="chrisqe2hist"/>

The following year ''QE2'' undertook two chartered cruises through the Mediterranean to Israel in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the state's founding. The ship's Columbia Restaurant was koshered for Passover, and Jewish passengers were able to celebrate [[Passover]] on the ship. According to the book "The Angel" by [[Uri Bar-Joseph]], [[Muammar Gaddafi]] ordered a submarine to torpedo her during one of the chartered cruises in retaliation for Israel's downing of [[Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114|Libyan Flight 114]], but [[Anwar Sadat]] intervened secretly to foil the attack.

She continued the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life, crossing on an opposite and symbiotic summer schedule with the [[French Line|CGT]]'s famous {{SS|France|1960}} between 1961 and 1974. Upon the withdrawal of competing SS ''France'' from service in 1974, ''QE2'' became the largest operational passenger ship in the world for a few years, until the ''France'' was returned to service as {{SS|Norway}} in 1980.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

[[File:qe2.750pix.jpg|thumb|QE2 in Southampton, 1976]]
On 23 July 1976 while the ship was 80 miles off the Scilly Isles on a transatlantic voyage, a flexible coupling drive connecting the starboard main engine high-pressure rotor and the reduction gearbox ruptured. This allowed lubricating oil under pressure to enter into the main engine room where it ignited, creating a severe fire. It took 20 minutes to bring the fire under control. Reduced to two boilers, ''QE2'' limped back to Southampton. Damage from the fire resulted in a replacement boiler having to be fitted by dry-docking the ship and cutting an access hole in her side.<ref name="PayneP36" />

By 1978 ''QE2'' was breaking even with an occupancy of 65%, generating revenues of greater than £30&nbsp;million per year against which had to be deducted an annual fuel cost of £5&nbsp;million and a monthly crew cost of £225,000. With it costing £80,000 a day for her to sit idle in port, her owners made every attempt to keep her at sea and full of passengers. As a result, as much maintenance as possible was undertaken while at sea. However, she needed all three of her boilers to be in service if she was to maintain her transatlantic schedule. With limited ability to maintain her boilers, reliability was becoming a serious issue.<ref>Payne. Page 37.</ref>

Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, the ship was testing a new ablative anti-fouling type paint for the Admiralty which was only available in blue. When they finally made the paint available in different colours they returned ''QE2'' anti-fouling paint to the traditional red colour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php?topic=8118.msg92582#msg92582%7CQE2|title=QE2 Refit and Repairs: 3 November to 14 December 1978|website=www.theqe2story.com}}</ref>