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The QE2 will be Cunard's only big cruise ship on the transatlantic route |
1967: Historic cruise liner takes to the waves |
England have
The Queen has launched the new Cunard cruise liner named after her, the Queen Elizabeth 2, at a ceremony on the Clydebank.
Tens of thousands of people crowded the river's banks as the Queen appeared on a platform high against the bow of the 963 ft (293.5 metres) long liner, with Prince Philip and Princess Margaret by her side.
In clear tones, she pronounced: "I name this ship Queen Elizabeth the Second. May God bless her and all who sail in her."
She then pressed the launching button, and a bottle of champagne shattered against the huge bows of the ship.
After a pause, the ship began her journey down into the water. She began slowly, but soon gathered speed, hitting 22mph (34.4 kph) before she entered the water stern-first.
Luxury cruiser
A two-foot (0.6m) high wave rose up and travelled across the Clyde, announcing the arrival of Cunard's latest - and probably last - great luxury cruise ship to be built here.
Her launch comes just a few days after Cunard's other great liner, the Queen Mary, made her last transatlantic crossing to New York.
The 58,000-ton QE2 is now Cunard's only big cruise ship.
Since the early 1950s, when cruise liners carried over a million passengers a year across the Atlantic, sea traffic has almost halved to around 600,000 journeys.
By contrast, the airlines are now carrying over five million people each year.
Changing direction
Shipping companies like Cunard are increasingly turning to the pleasure cruise market as their main source of income.
The new QE2 will be fitted out with just this market in mind, with big deck spaces and four swimming pools.
There are nearly 1,000 cabins, restaurants on the upper decks with sea views, cocktail bars, night clubs and a theatre.
Themammothliners, like the original Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary, were built for speed rather than luxury, and in using them for long, leisurely cruises Cunard has been losing money fast.
The company is hoping to reverse that trend with its first giant cruise ship to be targeted exclusively at the leisure market.
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