QE2 and Inchgreen Dry Dock
A total of seven tugs escorted QE2 (with Prince Charles on board) her to Greenock and drydocking on 19 November 1968.
Upon arrival in Greenock QE2 lost some more paint as she gave a slight lurch to starboard and a few feet of orange paint was scraped away when her starboard side came into contact with the dock entrance.
The pilot, Captain Peter Thomson, explained the second mishap:
“She leaned on a knuckle – normal maneouvre to bring her round to make her entry”.
QE2 entered the Inchgreen Drydock that evening. Cunard would later call the departure from the yard and the drydocking “a significant achievement” for the yard.
Until 1964 there was no dry-dock on the Clyde capable of accommodating the large passenger ships built on the river. Cunarders such as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth had to go elsewhere for dry docking before their trials.
Captain Warwick:
“She behaved like a great ship – she came under her own power, ably assisted by the tugs.
“It was her first time on her engine, and she went like a daisy. I was most agreeably surprised. There were no flaps, and everything went very well.”
The following information could now be confirmed for QE2:
Official Number 336703
Gross Tonnage 65,862.91 tons
Net Tonnage 38,243.54 tons
While in dry dock the remains of her launch gear was removed, her bottom plates were cleaned and painted and inspections were carried out on her underwater hull. Each day hundreds of workmen were transported from Glasgow and Clydebank to Greenock.
QE2’s preliminary sea trials commenced two days later than planned due to severe gales; the delay confusing the onboard situation even more with the labour on board being inadequately organised which would result in little being achieved in terms of finishing during the trials.
At 1700 hours on Tuesday 26 November 1968 QE2 left the dry-dock in Greenock for preliminary sea trials which would allow a normal working-up procedure of the gearing.
On 27 November, she was off the Isle of Arran for the measured mile where she achieved 164 revolutions per minute with speeds in excess of 29 knots. Cunard’s Director of Engineering Tom Kameen reported later that these trials had been successful with a top speed of 29.5 – about 34 miles an hour – being achieved with a maximum speed of 31 knots being expected.
Captain Warwick:
“She turned at speed and barely heeled. It was easier than handling a motor car doing 34 miles an hours on a sharp bend”.
On the third run over a measured mile QE2 did 28.32 knots as she raced almost silently past watching boats 100 yards away before she turned at speed over a remarkably short distance.
Clyde Captain Willie McCulloach:
“I’ve never seen a trials ship manoeuvre like that. She turned like a speedboat”.
The trial had to be abandoned on the morning of 30 November when oil fuel contaminated the feed water system because of a faulty non-return valve. The oil fuel spill occurred in the aft boiler room during a run on the measured mile at 84,000 shp and immediate steps were taken to prevent fire and locate the source of the oil leak, which appeared to come from a drain pipe on the top side of a saturated steam relief valve.
Initially three tugs were despatched from Greenock to assist QE2 but she returned to port under her own power with the tugs acting as escorts.
Sir Basil advised reporters from his home that he thought there was every chance that the trouble would be cured in time for the ship to continue her shakedown trials on 10 December as scheduled.
At a stroke, delivery was delayed by one week while the trouble was located and put right. This required a lengthy period of cleaning out in dry dock and forced Cunard to cancel the charity cruise. Cunard took these events in its stride and agreed that final acceptance trials would be conducted on a 10-day trip to the west coast of Africa, where the air conditioning plant would also be tested.
On 30 November QE2 was again dry-docked for lengthy cleaning and decontamination of the whole of the ship’s main and / or auxiliary steam circulating systems. In all 42 valves were returned to the manufacturer for stripping and re-assembly.
A shipyard statement advised:
“Although the cause of this halt is only minor, the work of decontamination is time-consuming and will occupy up to two weeks, delaying the resumption of the technical trials until about 16 / 18 December. In the light of the otherwise successful trials programme so far, these resumed technical trials should not occupy more than 48 hours”.
Cleaning completed, she left for a second trial in the Irish Sea on 17 December 1968 for three days of trials which had been delayed by two days as high winds had prevented QE2
