RMS Queen Mary 2 (aka QM2) is the ‘flagship’ transatlantic liner operated by the Cunard Line. Ordered on 6 November 2000 and designed by a team of naval architects led by Briton Stephen Payne; she was built at St. Nazaire, France by Chantiers de l’Atlantique. The keel was laid on 4 July 2002 and she was launched on 21 March 2003
The naming ceremony took place on 8 January 2004, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II named the ship Queen Mary in honour of her great grandmother. (The original RMS Queen Mary was launched in 1936). Her title RMS (Royal Mail Ship) was conferred on her by the UK’s mail service “Royal Mail” when she entered service in recognition of Cunard’s history as a transatlantic mail carrier
Queen Mary 2 is not a steamship as her many predecessors were, but is powered by four diesel engines and two gas turbines as an ‘integrated propulsion system’. She is the only ocean liner in regular service between Southampton, England and New York City
When built, she was the largest passenger ship ever constructed having a displacement of 79,287 tonnes and a gross tonnage of 149,215 tonnes (a distinction now held by Royal Caribbean’s “Freedom of the Seas” at 154,407 gross tonnes). Queen Mary 2 is 1,132 feet (345 metres) long and has a waterline beam of 135 feet (41.14 metres). She cost £460 million
