QE2's Hull Patches - what was each one from?

[Rob Lightbody]

This month's photo competition topic got me looking through my photos.

I saw this photo (attached) which clearly shows a large patch across 2 portholes of cabins on 5-deck. Can we link this patch to a QE2 Story that we've featured here?

[Peter Mugridge]

The patch itself seems to be dented; is this a part of the hull that is particularly vulnerable to being struck by debris in the water, I wonder?

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

The patch itself seems to be dented; is this a part of the hull that is particularly vulnerable to being struck by debris in the water, I wonder?

I have pictures with scratches and dents in the same sort of places. The crew put them down to the Moran tugs in New York, which have a tough job to do, pushing QE2 out of a fast flowing river.

[Peter Mugridge]

Interesting... that suggests Rob's patch might have been to simply repair accumulated bumps and dents over time?

[Oceanic]

Tugs seem the most likely culprit with the way the damage is concentrated on a particular area.

[Rob Lightbody]

It's not dents. It's a large rectangular patch.

[Lachlan]

I think the patch has a dent in it, too. Would Five Deck would be about prow height above the waterline for a tug?

I'd never noticed that the port holes have rivets around their periphery. Presumably there's a reinforcing ring on the inside to strengthen the aperture in the plating.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I'd never noticed that the port holes have rivets around their periphery. Presumably there's a reinforcing ring on the inside to strengthen the aperture in the plating.

It's only the lower ones. These are also the decks where deadlights get closed if there is a threat of a storm.

[Thomas Hypher]

It's only the lower ones. These are also the decks where deadlights get closed if there is a threat of a storm.

On Six Deck, the deadlights were permanently shut if I remember correctly for the storm reason but also general safety (they were underwater a lot of the time).

[Michael Gallagher]

Pier Collision - 1974

While in Cherbourg on 27 October 1974 bad weather delayed QE2’s scheduled departure time of 1800 hours. At 2200 hours there was a lull in the weather and it was agreed between the French pilot and Captain Hehir to take her out. It was when she leaving Cherbourg she was caught by a violent 70-mph gust of wind which ultimately drove the ship against the Normandie Quay.

Before that, one cable snapped, injuring two dockers, and then two lines became tangled in the propellers. The ship drifted helplessly for 50 yards broadside on before crashing into the jetty.

During the incident a gash was made in the ship’s side, portside aft in the area of the crew cabins. The gash measured 30-foot long by 2 inches deep and was approximately 15-feet above water level on Five Deck.

Two French dockers were injured and one had to have a leg amputated – only a desperate struggle by QE2’s Captain to hold the ship against the gale saved the men from being crushed to death.

12 Tourist Class and ten crew cabins and 12 were in the affected area and were damaged either by the indent or the cut in the fire sprinkler line which flooded them.

QE2 returned back to port for an examination of the damage by marine surveyors.

Cunard:

“Towards midnight the wind had abated and the ship sailed. As she was leaving port a gust estimated at between 40- and 60-mph hit the liner and she struck the pier. The hole in the ship’s side is about 15 feet above the waterline just below Number Five Deck”.

Repairs were undertaken by the French navy at a cost of £5,000.

There were 1,630 passengers on board and a number chose to abandon their trip and fly to New York instead. QE2’s subsequent departure from Cherbourg to New York was delayed 48 hours and the ship sailed on 30 October. The financial consequences of the delay would have an impact of £120,000. Cunard had originally blueprinted to lose £189,000 on the 27 October Atlantic crossing and the Paresky cruises (the period 27 October to 17 November) – when the £120,000 due to the delay was included then QE2 lost £309,000 in this period.


See also discussions on topics Crash with pier at Cherbourg 27/10/1074]and QE2 Repairs 27 to 31 October 1974

[Michael Gallagher]

Collision with Coral Reef - 1975

On 31 December 1975 QE2 was manoeuvring in the ‘swinging’ ground at Nassau prior to sailing. The seas were choppy and the wind was rough. As her bow turned, her underwater bulbous bow collided with a coral reef and was holed. Passengers reported a ‘jolt’ but there was no panic.

Damage was reported to be a six-foot fracture of the bow, with a jagged hole 18 inches to 20 inches in diameter, and plating was heavily indented.

On 2 January a temporary five-foot concrete patch was fitted by a diver when QE2 arrived as per her schedule at Port Everglades to land passengers prior to continuing her voyage to New York. QE2 remained in Port Everglades for 24 hours.

However, on the voyage to New York the temporary repairs started to leak and QE2 began to take on water again. Her speed was reduced to 15½ knots and Cunard had her diverted to Newport News in Norfolk, Virginia, for further inspection and repairs.

The 1,181 passengers were disembarked here and 500 were repatriated to New York on specially-chartered train (at a cost of £1,250) – a journey which was also beset with mechanical problems and delays.

QE2 was put into dry-dock for 48 hours where an eight-foot steel plate was welded into place.

QE2 eventually arrived in New York on 8 January and sailed that day on a revised nine-day (instead of 14) Caribbean cruise.

Captain Hehir was held responsible but on 28 January, the liner’s next call at the port, Staff captain Peter Jackson along with First Officers Sturge and Warwick and members of the ship’s sub-aqua diving club took a boat and set off to investigate the reef. To the exoneration of their Captain they found, by use of sextant readings and landmarks, that the reef had been incorrectly charted: instead of running practically straight it had two 50-foot headlands and on one of these, which projected from the charted line, was evidence of QE2’s collision. A marker buoy was also found to be incorrectly moored (being 130 feet away from its recorded position) and the two errors combined confounded the ship’s navigators’ assumption that the safe water that they had reason to expect was not there.

Permanent repairs were made to the bulbous bow in January 1977 at Bayonne (New Jersey) during a special repairs period.

See also discussions on topics:
31 December QE2 Collides with Coral Reef in Nassau
Repairs 4 to 7 January 1976
Repairs and refit 3 to 14 January 1977

[Michael Gallagher]

Bow Anchor Loss - 1976

On 28 November 1976 QE2, en route from Cherbourg for New York, ran into a really foul night of Atlantic weather. At 0120 hours the 12.5-ton bow anchor came adrift and ripped a hole in the bulbous bow on its way into the sea. Constant pumping evicted the incoming Atlantic water.

QE2 was diverted to Boston, where she arrived on 2 December, for repairs which involved fitting metal patches inside and out. The ship had to be tilted slightly by ballasting to enable workmen to repair the gash.

Work was completed in time to allow QE2 to sail on her Caribbean cruise on schedule (3 December) with the cruise passengers being brought to Boston from New York by plane and train.

[Michael Gallagher]

Aground - 1981

On 6 January 1981, during QE2’s New Years Cruise, she went aground for about an hour at the entrance to San Juan while entering the port. Strong winds outside the harbour had pushed the ship, which was carrying about 1,600 passengers, out of the Channel. Tugs refloated the ship and QE2 returned to port where divers established there had been no damage or holing but a buoy was wrapped around her rudder.

QE2 continued her voyage.

Alan Snelson remembers this event

[Michael Gallagher]

Collision with Breakwater - 1984


During the last leg of her 1984 World Cruise QE2 arrived in Piraeus for an overnight stay on 31 March. At 0044 hours on 1 April QE2 was blown onto the south breakwater head and suffered a large dent in the area of the mechanics accommodation.

Repairs were made when the ship called in Lisbon overnight (5 and 6 April).

[Michael Gallagher]

Collision with Quay - 1987

On 3 December 1987, when entering Tenerife, high winds pushed QE2 onto the quay wall which buckled one of her hull plates to a depth of nine inches. The ship was delayed in the port for 24 hours while a temporary replacement plate was patched over the damaged area before the ship continued with her cruise. The call at the Cape Verde Islands was cancelled.

Permanent repairs were made to the damaged hull plate during her visit to the Lloyd Werft Shipyard in July 1988 (23 – 31) when her propellers were replaced.