QE2's Speed !

[Rob Lightbody]

With just two propellers any talk of 40+ knots is nuts, but her 87 system was definitely designed to allow her to easily reach 30 knots.

The motors were the largest and most powerful ever put into a ship, capable of over 44. megawatts each,
 http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/1987_Refit/index.htm

[Greg Rudd]

The " speed " of QE2 was one of my best souvenir during my only little cruise .

From : Bilbao to Le Verdon and from Le Verdon to Guernsey we " hit " the famous 30 Knots , of course in the night .

Yes the QE2 was the fastet Liner with " Diesel " propulsion .

The Finnjet was a little faster , but have a completily other propulsion system .

But in the past another " Liner " was very fast !

Not the United States (Big U) with the all time record 

This ship came from the otherside of the Channel 

Yes " my " Ship , the s/s FRANCE

Build for a average of 30 Knots for the North Atlantic route ! During the test end November 1961 the speed maxi was : 35.5 Knots

Some times the ship have a speed day of : 31 or 32 or 33 Knots from New York to Le Havre 

And i'm not forget the " battle " of the Blue Ribbond from : rms QUEEN MARY & s/s NORMANDIE 

Lets not forget there was another British Ship that could snap at the heels of the QE2 in the right conditions  when she was a steamer, namely the SS Oriana which apparently did 30+ for a day or two on her last P&O voyage in 1986.

[June Ingram]

With just two propellers any talk of 40+ knots is nuts, but her 87 system was definitely designed to allow her to easily reach 30 knots.

The motors were the largest and most powerful ever put into a ship, capable of over 44. megawatts each,
 http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/1987_Refit/index.htm

"Captain Bob" Arnott writes in his book that on one of QE2's speed trials prior to going into service, she easily reached 31.87 knots.

[cunardqueen]

From the Eastbound Voyage after the new engines in May 1987...
Guess the new ships can only dream of such things..

[June Ingram]

Hi Myles -

Thanks for your posting. 

Yes indeed, the new ships can only dream of such things !!

June   

[Chris Shaftoe]

Somewhere between the backend of 72 and the front end of 74, we had a medical emergency with a passenger who needed to be in New York after suffering a heart attack. We pulled out all the stops and hammered across the Atlantic at - and I can't confirm this - 36knots! Down in the boiler room you could really feel the pressure and the power, as if she was absolutely in her element a really stretching her legs.

We shouldn't forget the liner United States. We berthed alongside her a few times and a sorry sight she was having been already decommissioned. Rumour had it that she would do 40+ knots, but her engines even at that time were said to be classified top secret.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

My brother reports that he read this in a brochure on board QM2 :

’Within Cunard there are interesting arguments about which ship is faster: the Queen Elizabeth 2 or the QM2. Advocates for both ships are right. The QE2’s maximum speed was 2 knots faster than the equivalent maximum speed of he QM2. However, the QM2’s average cruising speed is 2 knots faster than the QE2 cruising speed.’

I am trying to work out what this means... and whether it is comparing apples and oranges...?

[Peter Mugridge]

I think it's apples and oranges; if they're quoting an average cruising speed it'll need to be calculated ( weighted ) to take into account the distance between stops as well - if one of them is on one stop every day and the other is on one stop every two days, the one on every two days will produce a straight average speed that is higher even if both were doing exactly the same speed between the ports.

What really counts is the average speed between Southampton and New York non stop, and we all know which of the two wins on that count. 

[Twynkle]

Holy Nougat - are you about?
It would be really interesting to know more

[Rob Lightbody]

My brother reports that he read this in a brochure on board QM2 :

I am trying to work out what this means... and whether it is comparing apples and oranges...?

That's complete nonsense.

QE2's service speed, her normal speed, was 28.5 knots, designed to do that speed for days at a time.  QM2 simply wasn't. Ask Stephen Payne. Both QE2's maximum speed and service speed was higher.

[Louis De Sousa]

QE2 was faster end of discussion

[June Ingram]

QE2 was faster end of discussion

Agreed !

[holynougat]

I spent around 4 years on QE2 and 5 years on QM2 as a Deck Officer - QE2 was faster, for sure.
QM2's service speed was basically her top speed, whereas QE2's service speed was significantly lower than her top speed. I say 'was' for QM2, because she is now slower than she was when she entered service due to load restrictions on the DG's.
QE2 was just as fast at the end as she was when converted to Diesel.
The whole service speed thing is a bit of a con anyway - very few ships go around at a set speed, service speed gives the impression that it is somehow the most efficient speed, whereas it seldom is.
My current command apparently has a service speed of 17.0 Knots - simply put - it does not.

[Rob Lightbody]

I spent around 4 years on QE2 and 5 years on QM2 as a Deck Officer - QE2 was faster, for sure.
QM2's service speed was basically her top speed, whereas QE2's service speed was significantly lower than her top speed. I say 'was' for QM2, because she is now slower than she was when she entered service due to load restrictions on the DG's.
QE2 was just as fast at the end as she was when converted to Diesel.
The whole service speed thing is a bit of a con anyway - very few ships go around at a set speed, service speed gives the impression that it is somehow the most efficient speed, whereas it seldom is.
My current command apparently has a service speed of 17.0 Knots - simply put - it does not.

Thanks for pitching up at just the right moment!  I love your technical insights.

There's a couple of pics on my own website about QE2's refit to illustrate.  QE2's most frequent speeds, and how much power was needed to do that...  http://www.roblightbody.com/qe2-1987-rebirth.html

[Twynkle]

Hello and Thank you HN!

Comparing the speed of similar ships seems to be an interesting exercise - was QE2 always subject to the same questions?
Although, surely, unless you have totally identical ships with identical loads, sailing in the same space, same weather and sea conditions, same fuel load etc, with radio contact between Bridge and ECR etc of each, there wouldn't be any way the comparison could be true, would there? (Bit like FI - really requires same car for everyone)