Rosie,
The stern anchor would only normally be used occasionally. To secure the stern to stop it from swinging, or to assist holding the ship fast in very difficult conditions. The main anchors at the bow are used to actually hold the ship in place in normal use without use of the stern anchor at all.
The stern anchor is therefore a secondary one, and so no need to worry about one each side.
Plenty of ships don't even have a stern anchor at all.
QE2's was very neatly and discreetly fitted, another touch of genius by the designers!
Thanks Andytooo,
I very much agree about the neat and discreet fitting, and of course - the genius of the designers
The question of potential for extra versatility came into my mind, simply because QE2 is a ship that was expected to take passengers to some places (albeit rare, say on the world cruises) where the ability to anchor was essential, yet difficult.
I wondered too, how many anchor ports of call that QE2 made - that were then discounted after the maiden visit, purely for technical reasons due to the anchoring 'stuff'! (off topic, perhaps - nevertheless interesting)
Queen Elizabeth definitely struggled with some of her anchorages, and maybe that was why QE2 got three in the first place.
