On a misty day the QE2 sits at anchor in front of the Forth Bridge on final farewell visit to Scotland before retirement from Cunard operations. She is destined to become a floating hotel in Dubai. Centre right of the photo is Inchgarvie on which the centre cantilever span of the bridge is founded.
The ship boasts some impressive facts. The most successful ocean liner ever. The fastest, furthest travelled and most famous ocean liner in the world. She is the longest serving Cunard ship ever (a feat achieved in 2005) and, with a service to Cunard spanning five decades, she has earned her retirement.
She has carried 2.5 million passengers and travelled nearly 6 million nautical miles. She will, at the end of service, have crossed the Atlantic 806 times.
One of the swiftest liners afloat and able to reverse faster than many cruise ships can go forward. Forward speed 34 knots (63 km/h/39 mph), 20 knots (37 km/h/23 mph) going astern (figures recorded during sea trials immediately after powerplant replacement).
Link The Forth Bridge and the QE2 are two true Scottish-built icons that will never be seen together again. Here are two of the last pictures ever taken together:
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For a closer look at this beautiful ship and more information:
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Later that evening she left Edinburgh for the last time:
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It might surprise some to discover that the QE2 is not named after Queen Elizabeth II. It gets its "2" from being the second ship to be named Queen Elizabeth. The original RMS Queen Elizabeth
Link was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth_Bowes-Lyon...that's the Queen Mother to me and thee)
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Another Queen Elizabeth: HMS Queen Elizabeth - a Queen Elizabeth-class Super Dreadnought battleship
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Link some 86 years previously was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
With me so far? Good. Well there's more coming: Another HMS Queen Elizabeth is on the agenda. The first of the Royal Navy's two new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers is scheduled to enter service in 2014. She will be the second ship to be called HMS Queen Elizabeth
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Islands of the Forth:
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