QE2 Refits and Repairs - The Prime Contractors

[CAP]

Although there is another topic which documents the individual scheduled refits/overhauls the purpose of this seperate one is to help identify who the prime contractors were for each activity.  I do  have some gaps in my records of who they where and am therefore looking to fill them in.

I realise my classification of prime contractor maybe slightly ambiguous therefore I have a few examples which may help as well as start the ball rolling...

1972 - Vosper Thorneycroft
1974 - Wilton Feyenoord, Rotterdam (see also strike https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,4595.msg48268.html#msg48268)
1984 - LLoyd Werft
1996 - A&P Shipyards

From 1999 through to 2007 all scheduled work was by Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven.  (Note: the 1972 & 1996 listed above were both carried out in dry-dock at Southampton and by the time of the latter Vospers' had gone out of business.

I am extremely grateful of any contribution to help fill in any missing information

[Lynda Bradford]

This topic was started by CAP with a view to compiling information on the Prime Contractors for QE2 refits where he asked members to contribute details.  This work links in with his My Cunard Projects -a hobby that is taking over!] where he has been developing a database of all Cunard ships as well as all ship movements for the modern day Queens (QE2 onwards). It was while working on this that he realised that gaps in his information related to refit/repair dates.

This links in with work I am doing on QE2 refit/repair topics so I asked CAP if I could use this topic to build the list (below) and we hope by doing this we are providing forum users with useful QE2 information.

[Lynda Bradford]

1960's and 1970's Refits and Repairs
Source: Lynda Bradford has worked on extracting repairs and refit details from information compiled by Michael Gallagher, Cunard Public Relations and Historian.  Forum member CAP has also contributed Prime Contractor information

1968
19–26 November 1968, Inchgreen Dry Dock, Greenock, Scotland, UK
Removal of launch gear and completion of the unfinished parts of the ship including around 100 incomplete cabins. 

30 November–17 December 1968 Inchgreen Dry Dock, Greenock, Scotland, UK
During preliminary sea trials it was discovered the fuel oil had contaminated the feed water system, because of a faulty non-return valve.  The ship was returned to Greenock dry docked for a lengthy cleaning and decontamination period. 
Captain: WE Warwick
Contractor/Place: Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS), Greenock
   
1969
Date: January to March 1969
Place: Southampton - work to repair the damaged turbines as well as finish outstanding work on the ship
Captain: Captain Warwick?   
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thorneycroft, Southampton contracted by UCS.  Plus 400 additional were men brought to Southampton from Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, Clydebank

Date: 1 - 15 November 1969 Dry Dock
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton

1970
Date: 6 April – 22 April 1970
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost: £248,290
Captains: W E Warwick and G E Smith

1971
Date:14 April – 8 May 1971
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost:
Captain: W E Warwick

Dry Dock: QE2 entered the Dry Dock on 17 April and left on 29 April before spending a further refit period alongside in Southampton.

1972
Date: 13 October – 7 November 1972
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost: £1.75 million ($4.5 million)
Captain: W J Law

1973
1973 December Southampton - No further details

1974
Repairs following breakdown and evacuation of ship
Date: 8 – 25 April 1974
Contractor/Place:
Bermuda: 8 – 11 April 1974
Todds Shipyard, New York: 13 April – 16 April 1974
Vosper Thorneycroft Southampton: 4 days of repairs 20/21 April – 25 April 1974
Cost: It was estimated that the breakdown and emergency plans had cost Cunard £700,000. The bill included the use of Sea Venture, chartering the aeroplanes, hiring the tugs and cancellation of the Easter cruise.

Date: 27-31 October, 1974 (Repair)
Contractor/Place: Cherbourg repairs following collision with pier

Date:3 - 21 December 1974 (Repair and Refit)
Contractor/Place: Wilton Fejenoord, Schiedam, Rotterdam

1975
Date: 28 October - 20 November, 1975 Annual overhaul
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thorneycroft Southampton

1976
Date:4 – 7 January 1976
Repairs following damage to ship when on 31 Dec 1975 QE2 collides with coral reef in Nassau
Contractor Place: Newport News
Cost:
Captain: M Hehir

Date: 25 July – 5 August 1976
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thorneycroft, Southampton
Cost:
Captain: M Heir

Date: 7– 25 November 1976
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thorneycroft, Southampton
Captains: R Arnott and L Portet

Date: 2-3 December, 1976
Contractor/Place: Boston (repairs)

1977
Date: 3 – 14 January 1977(repairs)
Contractor/Place: Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Bayonne, New Jersey, USA
Cost:
Captains: R Arnott and a Hutcheson

Date: 3 – 20 December 1977(overhaul and refit)
Contractor/Place: Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Bayonne, New Jersey, USA
Cost: £3.9 million ($5 million)
   Revenue         £1,097,847
   Capital         £2,443,370
   Damage         £387,787
Captains: R Arnott and L Portet

1978
Refit work during the 1978 World Cruise to address incomplete or unsatisfactory work from the December 1977 refit

Date:23 -25 April 1978
Contractor/Place:Southampton
Cost:£3.9 million
Captain: L Portet

Date: 3 November – 14 December
Contractor/Place: Southampton
Total Cost: £6.7 million
Captains: L Portet and D Ridley

1979
Date: 14-16 April 1979 (overhaul)
Contractor/Place: Southampton
Cost:
Captain:

Date:15 November – 21 December 1979 (refit)
Contractor/Place:Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Bayonne, New Jersey, USA
Total Cost: £5.9 million / $8 million
Captain: D Ridley

[Lynda Bradford]

1980's Refits and Repairs
Source: Lynda Bradford has worked on extracting details from information compiled by Michael Gallagher, Cunard Public Relations and Historian.  Forum member CAP has also contributed Prime Contractor information.

1980
Date: 16 November – 1 December 1980 (Refit)
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost: £5.8 million / $8 million
Captains: R Arnott and D Ridley

1981
Date: 10 – 24 November 1981 (Refit)
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost: £3.7 million / $8 million
Captains: R Arnott and D Ridley

1982 - Pre Falklands
Date: 4-12 May 1982 (Conversion)
Place/Contractor: Southampton
Total Cost:
Captain:Peter Jackson

1982 - Post Falklands
Date: 11 June – 13 August 1982
Contractor/Place: Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton
Total Cost: £7 million ($11.8 million)

1983
Date: 13 – 16 March 1983
Contractor/Place: Hong Kong
Total Cost: Mini refit: £205,920 plus boiler work £250,000
Captain: B Arnott

Date: 10 - 27 June 1983 (Repairs)
Contractor/Place: Southampton
Total Cost: £2.5 million (work and cancelled voyages)
Captain: Ridley

Date: 22 July – 2 August 1983 (Repairs)
Contractor/Place: Southampton
Total Cost: £1 million
Captain: Bob Arnott

Date: 27 November - 14 December, 1983 (Refit)
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven, West Germany
Total Cost: £4.6 million ($3.75 million)
Captains: D Ridley and K Stanley

1984
Date: 2-16 December 1984 (Refit)
Contractor/Place: Bremerhaven

1985
Date: 8/9 – 13 December 1985 (Overhaul)
Contractor/Place: Thew Engineering, Southampton
Total Cost: £1.6 million
Captain: L Portet

1986/1987
Date: 27 October 1986 – 25 April 1987  (Re-engining and Refit) 
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft Shipyard, Bremerhaven, West Germany
Total Cost: £100 million ($172 million) (DM321 million)

Date: 9-10 July 1987 (Repairs)
Contractor/Place: Thew Engineering, Southampton
Total Cost: £43,000
Captain: L Portet

1988
Date: 23 – 31 July 1988 (Repairs)
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft Shipyard, Bremerhaven, West Germany
Total Cost: 9,037,629 DM
Captains: A Bennell and D Carr

1989
Date: 13 – 18 November (Overhaul)
Contractor/Place: Thew Marine Ship Repair Group Southampton
Total Cost: £600,000
Captain:

[Lynda Bradford]

1990's Refits and Repairs
Source: Lynda Bradford has worked on extracting details from information compiled by Michael Gallagher, Cunard Public Relations and Historian.  Forum member CAP has also contributed Prime Contractor information

1990
Date: 2 - 16 December 1990 (annual refit)
Contractor/Place: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany
Total Cost: $22 million (DM 15 million)
Captains: R Warwick and R Woodall

1992
Date: 10 August – 2 October 1992 (Repair)
Contractor/Place: General Shipyard Company, Boston (10 August to 1 September) and Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (8 September to 2 October)
Cost:
Captain: Woodall

Date: 20 November - 12 December 1992 (overhaul and refit)
Contractor/Place: Blohm and Voss Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany.
Total Cost: £4.6 million ($20 million)
Captain:

1994
Date: 13 November – 17 December 1994 (Project Lifestyle refit)
Contractor/Place: Blohm & Voss Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany
Total Cost: £45 million ($72 million) (DM 50 million)
Captain: J Burton-Hall

1996
Date: 22 November – 12 December
Contractor/Place: A&P Appledore, Southampton
Total Cost: £12 million ($24 million)
Captains: J Burton-Hall and K Stanley

1998
Cunard decided to postpone the 1998 refit (and re-schedule for 1999) and use the 14-day period for two additional European cruises:

1999
Date: 12 November – 11 December 1999
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft GmBH Shipyard, Bremerhaven, Germany
Total Cost: £30 million (approximately $32 million)
Captain: P Wright

[Lynda Bradford]

2000's Refits and Repairs
Source: Lynda Bradford has worked on extracting details from information compiled by Michael Gallagher, Cunard Public Relations and Historian.  Forum member CAP has also contributed Prime Contractor information.

2001
Date: 20 November – 10 December 2001
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft GmBH Shipyard, Bremerhaven, Germany
Total Cost: $12 million
Captain: P Wright

2004
Date: 1 – 22 May 2004 (Refit)                  
Contractor/Place: Bremerhaven, Germany
Cost:
Captain:

2006
Date: 23 April – 8 May  2006 (Refit)
Contractor/Place: Lloyd Werft GmBH Shipyard, Bremerhaven, Germany
Total Cost: $15 million
Captain: I McNaught

2008
Date: 18 – 27 April 2008 (refit)
Place: Alongside in Southampton
Total Cost: £1.5 million
Captain: D Perkins

Post Retirement
2009
Date: 24 July – 22 August2009
Contractor/Place: DryDocks World, Dubai

[Lynda Bradford]

Last year I had worked on Changes to QE2 public areas and while doing this work I realised the importance of the refit and repairs details.  This year I started work on extracting details from information compiled by Michael Gallagher, Cunard PR Manager and Historian.  I have also spoken to CAP about using this topic on Prime Contractors as the ideal place for the refit and repairs dates list. 

Listed above is dates and prime contractor details for your information

There is a forum discussion topic on refits with general discussion and where Michael Gallagher has posted refit dates .  However the work we are doing in this topic  aims to enhance this information by giving the dates and Prime Contractors of all the repairs/refits by decade e.g. 60's 70's 80's etc. 

I am also working on producing a detailed topic on each refit/repair (work ongoing) and will add links from this topic when they are available. Where there is more discussion on the forum on a particular refit, I will try to link to this as well.

Work ongoing on this important QE2 refit/repair information and we are pleased to make it available on the QE2 Story - helping to keep the memory alive!

[CAP]

1983 - Bremerhaven Additional information

Of the £4.5million spent on this refit over £2million was earned by "British firms employing British Labour" as noted by Cunard.  Foster-Wheeler, Young-Austen-Young and Weir Pumps amongst those benefitting from the work. 

The intention of this refit was to commence stage 2 modifications, with stage 1 completing the year before.  The structural modifications at this time included the full enclosure of the aft-end Promenade deck adjacent to the swimming pool, and the addition of the two large cruise launches supplied by Watercraft, which would be mounted on the deck above the Lido.

On 25/11/83 Cunard reaffirmed that they had reluctantly accepted the task of fitting the Magradome could not be carried out by a UK yard.  This was also confirmed by British Shipbuilders.

[Lynda Bradford]

I have restarted the work on setting up topics on the QE2 Refits and Repairs topics. Planning the QE2 50 year conference took a lot of my time away from forum work last year, but I am pleased to be resuming this work. 

The Refit Work during the QE2 World Cruise to address incomplete work or problem areas can be seen on the Refit topic

[Lynda Bradford]

I have added refit information (curtesy of Michael Gallagher) on refit 3 November to 14 December 1978

See the background, the schedule and the affect the Southampton Union members actions had on the work schedule. 

Have a look at details of the technical work, including the boot topping, the new bulbous bow and boiler work. 

[Peter Mugridge]

Here is a picture of Blohm + Voss's headquarters yard, to the east of Bremerhaven in Hamburg.  The second picture is Bremerhaven itself as seen from a British Airways A321 at sunset.

[Lynda Bradford]

Thanks Peter, it's good to see these pictures. 

[pete cain]

I honestly think that Cunards problems were caused by only having 1 Queen, I am fully aware of why, but, she was so overworked..

[Michael Gallagher]

A list of dry dock / refits not including emergency or unscheduled repairs.

1969 – 1986   $85 million      Various: UK, USA, Germany, Holland

1987         $176 million      Bremerhaven

1990         $22 million      Hamburg

1992         $20 million      Hamburg

1994         $72 million      Hamburg

1996         $24 million      Southampton

1999         $32 million      Bremerhaven

2001         $12 million      Bremerhaven

2004         $27 million      Bremerhaven

2006         $15 million      Bremerhaven

         $485 million