The New Cunard Queen Elizabeth 2 Press Guide (circa 1969)

[Lynda Bradford]

The New Cunard Queen Elizabeth 2 Press Guide, which  was probably produced to give the press information on the new Cunarder in the lead up to her Maiden Voyage. 

This Press Release gives valuable information on the QE2 at the time when she went into service, which I think will be of interest to forum members.  I have photographed the pages and will post the contents over the next week or two.   

The contents are as follows:

1. Statistics
2. Concept of QE2
3. Hull Design
4. Safety
5. Shipyard Planning
6.Main and Auxiliary Machinery
7. Bridge Equipment
8. Radio Communications
9. Hotel Organisation
10. Kitchen Planning
11. Interior Design
12. External Trim
13. Special Services
14. Biographies

The first section Statistics, details information we have seen before, but it is good to be reminded and also to see information like,  for safety the ship has a vast area of incombustible material -  two million square feet of Marinite.   asbestos onboard. Information on the Aluminium superstructure details that there is eleven hundred tons of aluminium, including some of the biggest aluminium sheets produced in Britain, measuring 48 feet by 11 feet. 

There are lots of snippets of information in these two pages.  Have a look and hopefully you will be looking forward to the next content item that I will post tomorrow. 

[Lynda Bradford]

Today have a look at the next two sections.

Section 2: Concept of QE2 "The most notable ship this or any other country has produced"

This section gives details on the Design Team The concept of QE2 as a resort hotel that could follow the sun and dock in ports not possible for her predecessors.  The section also mentions that five hundred sub-contractors from firms from all parts of the British Isles were involved in the building of the ship and also briefly mentions Cunard's MerchandisingPlan for the ship.  See more information in QE2 Merchandising in the 1960's topic

[Lynda Bradford]

Section 3: Hull Design

An interesting section to read with information on the years of planning for a large liner that would have intensive weight and space saving. 

The paragraph on the aluminium superstructure informs that "in order to reduce the centre of gravity of the ship about 750 tons of steel were added to the double bottom structure and shell, mainly by increased thickness of plating and by closer spaced floors and longitudinals......" 

The forum topic on Steel Aluminium Transition Joint may be of interest to readers.

Another area where there was considerable weight saving was the decision to have twin propellers.  These propellers were the first set of three sets of propellers on QE2 over her service life.  QE2's Propellers topic
 

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Wonderful documentation, Lynda -- thank you for uploading it!

I like the way you are following tradition (and present-day JK Rowling) by uploading it section by section, day by day. Looking forward to the next instalment!

[June Ingram]

Yes, wonderful to see all of this information ! Many thanks, Lynda !

And great to have something to look forward to day by day ! 

[Lynda Bradford]

Thanks Isabelle and June, I am glad you are enjoying the daily instalments of the Press Release.

The next section in the contents list is Safety followed by Shipyard Planning.  However if I had been editing this document, I would have put Shipyard Planning after the Concept and Hull Design sections as I think the content links in these three sections.  I also feel that the Main and Auxiliary Machinery follows on from Safety where there is mention of the control rooms. 

For the above reasons, today I have attached Section 5: Shipyard Planning:

The ship's builders, John Brown's Shipyard, Clydebank were awarded the contract for QE2 on 30 December 1964.  This topic 50 years ago (written in 2014) gives a detailed account of the events of 1964 that led to the contract being awarded.

The Shipyard Planning section of the document mentions the considerable program of planning including the model testing, which was carried out.  There is an excellent British Pathe video of the detailed work carried out at the shipyard's test tank.

This section does not go into too much detail of the shipyard planning but it does give a feel for the work so that anyone interested in the role of the shipyard in the planning process could be researched further.  I thought it was interesting that in the forum topic, Who does what (Cunard and John Brown's) that one of our members gave information about her Uncle, John McCallum, Chief Ship Designer of QE2 at John Brown's shipyard, but there is no mention of him in books on the building of QE2.  But he is mentioned in the forum and that is the value of the QE2 Story. 

But that's enough from me -  see attached the section on Shipyard Planning and I hope you will look forward to the next sections on Safety and Main and Auxiliary Machinery over the weekend.

[Lynda Bradford]

Safety:

Safety Control - on the subject of the Safety Control Room there is mention that  “the centre of safety precautions is the Safety Control Room. 

Here is an excellent picture of this room in the Brian Price's photo collection topic.



You can see the desk in the centre of the room, which carries an illuminated master plan of the ship.

Fire regulations - mention is made of the two main methods of meeting the international prevention rules.  i.e. 1. Construct the vessel with incombustible materials as far as is practicable 2. fit an automatic sprinkler system and have less restrictions of incombustible materials.  QE2 was built to meet both requirements. 

The forum topic Fire Precautions topic has an attachment written by Dan Wallace on the subject of Fire precautions.  Very interesting read. 

Fire Prevention - information on detectors and systems in place to prevent fire spreading.  In relation to stairways: "All stairways are built as tower stairways. i.e. they are continuous through the various decks and are surrounded by incombustible bulkheads with remotely controlled fire doors fitted as required.  This design of stairway is to reduce the risk of fire spread by stairs”

Mention is made that the need to have incombustible materials was a challenge to the ship builder, the manufacturers and the designers. 

Emergency Precautions gives information on emergency communications system, the fact that the ship is divided into 15 compartments which can be made watertight with electro hydraulic doors and more. 

I hope you continue to enjoy reading this PR document from 1960’s

[Lynda Bradford]

I have taken some time to do some work on Section 6: Main and Auxiliary Machinery, which gives information, not only on the machinery but also on the suppliers for these areas of the ship. 

As we already have a topic on the suppliers, for the build of the ship I took time to extract the information and make a list that I have added to A ship of many parts but for the full information I recommend that you read the pages I have attached, especially if you have an interest in machinery and engineering. 

When posting about the information in the Press Guide,  I have tried to link to other topics on the forum that may be of interest  to you and to also highlight how the forum has developed as an information resource, through the input of knowledge from forum members. 

But there is also the opportunity for you to search using the easy to use search facility. 
These instructions may help if you have not previously searched on the forum

The Technical Matters topic board may be of interest to those who have an interest in all things technical . Also of interest are the topics on QE2’s Boilers and Steam Turbines and QE2’s Computer Ferranti Angus 400

I have attached the seven pages on the Main and Auxiliary machinery, which I hope you enjoy.

[June Ingram]

Many thanks, Lynda, for posting the next installment and doing all the cross referencing ! That will be most useful ! 

[Lynda Bradford]

I hope you have all enjoyed reading the eight pages of the Main and Auxiliary machinery section.  I have just about recovered from copying all the details of the suppliers for the suppliers topic. 

Section 7: Bridge Equipment:  I know that many of us had the opportunity to visit the Bridge later in the ship's life, but this section of the publication refers to the bridge's technology in 1969.  It would be fantastic if any of our members who worked on the Bridge or visited the bridge in the early years of the ship could comment. 

Extract from the publication:

"In the wheelhouse there are three consoles - a pilotage console, a radar console, and a console controlling equipment within the ship"

Information on the pilotage console includes ...... "occupies the central third of the width of the wheelhouse.  It incorporates seven functions - bow thruster controls, whistle controls, engine room telegraphs, VHF radio telephone system, secondary steering controls and the gyro repeater, loud speaking intercom systems to fore and aft docking positions, an AEI Escort 654 Radar equipped with a 12 inch scanner and 13 inch display." 

The publication give some really information on the radar console including the Decca Navigator mark 12 plus a system making use of existing polar orbiting satellites of the US Navy Navigation Satellite System.  It would be good if any navigators on the forum could comment on these navigation systems that must have been very high tech in 1969.

I found a couple of web pages that may be relevant. 

Museum of Maritime Navigation
and
The Wikipedia page on the Decca Navigator System

The  Brian Price photos made available to the forum include some Bridge Photos, including some photos of Bridge equipment



Information on the equipment in the chart room may also be of interest plus information on the equipment on the  Bridge Wings. 



Photo: Brian Price collection

I hope you enjoy read the section on Bridge Equipment.  Looking forward to reading your discussions on this important part of the ship. 

[Lynda Bradford]

Section 8: Radio Communications:

Extract from document

“QE2 will incorporate a hat-trick of firsts in ship-to-shore communication”

"An improved telephone service for passengers achieved by the use of ..

Notch Aerials - little black boxes developed by the British Aircraft Corporation for supersonic jets

The revolutionary Lincompex system designed by the GPO.  Research and engineered and produced by GEC

Automatic self-tuning transmitter developed by International Marine Radio Company"

It is important to remember that the information in this publication was for the purpose of promoting the ship. 

For first hand accounts from Radio Operators, have a look at the topic
The Radio Room topic where forum members have posted a wealth of  information.  If the  radio room and it’s equipment is of interest to you this topic is a must read. 


I have listed the equipment as noted in the Radio Communications page of the publication on the Ship of Many Parts topic

[June Ingram]

Awesome, Lynda ! Many thanks ! 

[Lynda Bradford]

Section 9: Hotel Organisation

Extracts of information on Hotel Department

The creation of a Hotel Department was a new concept, that had been tried with success in 1968 on the Carmania and Franconia.   The Hotel Manager was in charge of catering, pursers office and entertainment.

Pursers office:

The Officers of the new Department were to be known as Hotel Officers and all would wear the straight gold stripes interspersed with white, formerly worn by pursers. 

The Hotel Manager (and his deputy) were required to go through 15 months of intensive training. 
The manager wears gold straight lace stripe with white facings each side.  He is in control of three Departments, catering, reception and accounts, plus entertainment.  See the document for more information. 


There is a mention of catering for the 900 crew.  There are three crew cafeterias, one for the senior ratings, one for the general ratings and one for female staff. 

The document also mentions that in addition to the responsibility for food the catering section is also responsible for administration of the swimming pool, gymnasium, Turkish and sauna baths.  Laundry and dry cleaning will be managed by the catering service.  It looks like having a complete laundry and dry cleaning service on the ship was a new initiative. 

Reception and Accounts:

As well as the Purser’s  Office responsibilities they also deal with onboard shops, the hairdressing and photography services, which were operated by concessionaires. 

The ship’s accountant, who ranks as a senior first hotel officer deals, with crew “pay matters” bar accounts and safe deposit facilities for passenger’s valuables. 

Banking facilities were provided by The Midland Bank, who had their own branch onboard ship and their own staff. 

The Printing Shop was responsible for printing daily menus on the inside of specially designed menu covers,  printing the daily programme and printing the special QE2 edition of the Daily Telegraph. 

Two members of this (Reception and Accounts) section are in a category never employed before “they are “girls” who work full time on the data preparation for the ship Ferranti Angus 400 computer”.  I found it rather amusing that in 1969 the writer of the publication could refer to women as “girls” By today’s standards we would call this patronising, but I guess they had never heard of being politically correct in the late 1960’s. 

The document lists the benefits of the computer system, including stock control. 

Entertainment Director:

The document gives an overview of the responsibilities of the Cruise Director to ensuring that there is a range of activities to suit all tastes.  Interesting comment that the Cruise Director supervises the ship’s orchestra or 22 musicians.  At that time the orchestra was supplied to Cunard by Geraldo. also “Many famous entertainers will be booked to appear onboard Queen Elizabeth 2 under arrangements with Bernard Delfont.” 


Catering: there is a full page on catering requirements - lots of food and drink.