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5th November 2006, 15:30 | #11 | |
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5th November 2006, 15:52 | #12 |
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Many thanks for the welcome Ken. The story of these two liners is such a good one that I've been trying for ages to get one of the broadcast networks to commission a documentary on it (entitled 'The Grey Ghosts'). BBC1, BBC2, C4, C5, and WGBH Boston all turned it down. I sent them a 5-page 'taster' and they weren't interested. PS. Did you see Russell Crowe's 'Master & Commander' last night? A tremendous film, even if the storyline was the same as one of the (much earlier) C.S. Forrester Hornblower books. Last edited by Simon W; 5th November 2006 at 15:56.. |
5th November 2006, 15:57 | #13 | |
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5th November 2006, 16:20 | #14 | |
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Queen Mary 2 is pretty spectacular size-wise but nowhere near a pretty as the original Queens. Cunard are launching a new ship next year (Queen Victoria, 90,000 tons). Her maiden voyage sold out in 24 hours and in January 2008 she is scheduled to cross the Atlantic in company with QE2. That will be quite a sight! |
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5th November 2006, 16:48 | #15 |
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Simon
The word in Southampton is and its probably just a myth but........... The Queen Victoria was going to be the new Mary and the Mary was originally going to be the Victoria. Cunard (P&O) needed a new flagship fast for the image and swapped names over. Is there any truth in that or is it an urban myth? |
5th November 2006, 18:05 | #16 | |
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As far as I know Cunard planned to build the Queen Victoria first and the Queen Mary 2 second. Then somewhere along the line they decided to reverse the construction schedule - i.e. build the 151,000-ton QM2 first and the 90,000-ton QV second. So they just swapped the order of building, not the names & sizes of the ships. QM2 was always going to be the bigger ship. The swap was probably governed by the availability of the two yards that were going to build the ships. QV is being built near Venice by the Marghera shipyard. QM2 was built by the French yard - Chantiers de L'Atlantique- who also built the most beautiful liner of them all, SS Normandie. Launched in 1935, Normandie was QM1's greatest rival. They had a running battle for the Blue Riband that lasted from 1936 until 1938. QM1 finally took the record away from Normandie in August '38 with a fastest crossing time of 3 days 21 hours (average speed 31.7 knots). She held it until 1952. (NB. 31.7 knots is 36.5 mph which is seriously fast for an 81,000-ton object!!) PS. I have just sent The Grey Ghosts taster to you by email. Hope you don't mind! NORMANDIE |
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