by John Maxtone-Graham, Photography by Harvey Lloyd
In conjunction with Cunard, this is the official book on this masterpiece of shipbuilding. From the very outset Queen Mary 2 was destined to astonish, boasting every maritime superlative, save two. She is the longest (1,136 feet, 346 meters, four city blocks long) broadest (147 foot, 45 meter beam), tallest (203 feet, 62 meters above the waterline or as tall as the Statue of Liberty), passenger vessel ever launched and separates her from every other vessel afloat. A record 76,000 tons displacement and an unprecedented gross tonnage of 150,000, her power plant falls short of Blue Ribband record-breakers, her draft is shallower than her famous namesake’s, however she can tear along at 30 knots in the glorious tradition of her predecessor Queens. QM2, to use her popular nickname, is a record breaker, she cost 800 million and is the most expensive and ambitious passenger vessel of all time. Her public rooms include a planetarium, ballroom, a spa and ten dining rooms. Twenty-six hundred passengers are accommodated in a splendid variety of suites and cabins. Not merely a cruise ship, the fourth Queen is a true ocean liner able to cross the Atlantic in all weather at high speed sustaining Cunard’s celebrated heritage. This book documents the creation of this remarkable vessel from keel laying to christening with stunning color photographs and paintings, details of her design, construction, engines, lavish interiors, sea trials and christening. It also contains archival images that invite the reader to compare her significance with a flotilla of historic predecessors. Also an eight-page gatefold shows a detailed cutaway of her extraordinary interiors. This is a book for the ocean liner history buff, the seasoned sea voyager as well as the armchair traveler.
Publication date: May 2004. Hardcover.
200 color photographs, 208 pages.
13 1/4 X 9 3/4.
