Word has reached me that, sadly, Tom Kameen has died aged 99.
Cunard’s QE2 design team was headed by Chief Naval Architect Dan Wallace (1916-1979) and Technical Director Tom Kameen (1916-2014). The former was responsible for the overall design and construction of the Q4 and, the latter, for the mechanical operations – including everything from the engine room to the galley, the plumbing and the air conditioning. Working with Cunard’s directorate, their initial job was to establish the optimum size, capacity and speed of the new liner. Wallace had begun his career as an apprentice draughtsman at John Brown’s shipyard in 1931 and the first ship on which he worked there was the Queen Mary. In 1951, he joined Cunard as their Assistant Naval Architect, later succeeding Robert K. Wood as Chief Naval Architect in 1964.
Kameen had started his apprenticeship at Cammell Laird’s yard in Birkenhead in 1932, joining Cunard four years later as an engineer officer. In this role, he served aboard Aquitania, Berengaria and Queen Mary. During the latter stages of the Second World War, he was stationed in New York, serving the Ministry of War Transport there, before returning to Cunard in 1945 as the line’s Assistant Superintendent Engineer in Southampton. He became the Technical Director in 1963.
After QE2 entered service Wallace and Kameen headed up a new Cunard Technical Department and their next project was the Cunard Ambassador and Cunard Adventurer. The services of Wallace and Kameen were terminated when Trafalgar House bought Cunard in 1971.
