page_title: RMS Queen Elizabeth
section_title: Post-Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: RMS Queen Elizabeth / Post-Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: RMS Queen Elizabeth entering New York harbour in 1965, taken from the boat deck, early morning.
context_page_description: The RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. With Queen Mary she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France.
  While being constructed in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, the build was known as Hull 552. Launched on 27 September 1938, she was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, then Queen Consort to King George VI, who became the Queen Mother in 1952. With a design that improved upon that of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth was a slightly larger ship, the largest passenger liner ever built at that time and for 56 years thereafter. She also has the distinction of being the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage. She first entered service in February 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and it was not until October 1946 that she served in her intended role as an ocean liner.
  With the decline in popularity of the transatlantic route, both ships were replaced by the smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969. Queen Mary was retired from service on 9 December 1967, and was sold to the city of Long Beach, California.
context_section_description: Following the end of the Second World War, Queen Elizabeth was refitted and furnished as an ocean liner, while her running mate Queen Mary remained in her wartime role and grey appearance except for her funnels, which were repainted in the company's colours. For another year, her sibling did military service, returning troops and G.I. brides to the United States while Queen Elizabeth was overhauled at the Firth of Clyde Drydock, in Greenock, by the John Brown Shipyard.
  Six years of war service had never permitted the formal sea trials to take place, so they were now finally undertaken. Under the command of Commodore Sir James Bisset, the ship travelled to the Isle of Arran and her trials were carried out. On board was the ship's namesake, Queen Elizabeth, and her two daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. During the trials, Queen Elizabeth took the wheel for a brief time, and the two young princesses recorded the two measured runs with stopwatches that they had been given for the occasion. Bisset was under strict instructions from Sir Percy Bates, who was also aboard the trials, that all that was required from the ship was two measured runs of no more than 30 knots and that she was not permitted to attempt to attain a higher speed record than Queen Mary. Queen Elizabeth's engines were capable of driving her to speeds of over 32 knots. After her trials Queen Elizabeth finally entered passenger service, allowing Cunard White Star to launch the long-planned two-ship weekly service to New York. Despite specifications similar to those of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth never held the Blue Riband, for Cunard White Star chairman Sir Percy Bates asked that the two ships do not to try to compete against each other.
  The ship ran aground on a sandbank off Southampton on 14 April 1947, and was re-floated the following day. In 1955, during an annual overhaul at Southampton, England, Queen Elizabeth was fitted with underwater fin stabilisers to smooth the ride in rough seas. Two fins were fitted on each side of the hull. The fins were retractable into the hull to save fuel in smooth seas and for docking. On 29 July 1959, she was in a collision with the American freighter American Hunter in foggy conditions in New York Harbor and was holed above the waterline.
  Together with Queen Mary and in competition with the American liners SS United States and SS America, Queen Elizabeth dominated the transatlantic passenger trade until their fortunes began to decline with the advent of the faster and more economical jet airliner in the late 1950s. As passenger numbers declined, the liners became uneconomic to operate in the face of rising fuel and labour costs. For a short time, Queen Elizabeth—now under the command of Commodore Geoffrey Trippleton Marr—attempted a dual role in order to become more profitable; when not plying her usual transatlantic route, which she now alternated in her sailings with the French Line's SS France, the ship cruised between New York and Nassau. For this new tropical purpose, the ship received a major refit in 1965, with a new Lido deck added to her aft section, enhanced air conditioning, and an outdoor swimming pool. With these improvements, Cunard intended to keep the ship in operation until at least the mid-1970s. However, the strategy did not prove successful, owing to the ship's deep draught, which prevented her from entering various island ports, her width, which preventing her from using the Panama Canal, and also her high fuel costs.
  Cunard retired Queen Mary in 1967 and Queen Elizabeth by 1969, and replaced them with a single smaller ship, the more economical Queen Elizabeth 2.
caption: In New York Harbor approaching Manhattan, 1965
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