The Queen Mary 2; the greatest ocean liner of our time.
A luxury British American vessel that serves as the flagship for Cunard Line.
A veritable luxury hotel on the water, a symbol of opulence and wealth.
But what if she floundered?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking What if the Queen Mary 2 Sank?
Before we dive into this video, I want to ask you guys to let me know if you have ever
been on a boat?
I for one love me a good vessel!
I think there is pirate blood in me somewhere…I can feel it.
The Queen Mary 2 gets her name from the RMS Queen Mary, a 1936 ocean liner famed for her
prestige as well as her role in World War 2 – indeed it is said that Sir Winston Churchill
came up with the D Day plan of attack while in a bathtub onboard.
While the original RMS Queen Mary is now permemantly docked in Long Beach, California, her replacement
splits time between transporting passengers across the Atlantic, and cruising around the
Caribbean.
The Queen Mary 2 is currently the most luxurious ship in the world.
With capacity for 2691 passengers and 1292 officers and crew, she is also pretty sizable,
although a lot smaller than the Symphony of The Seas, a Royal Caribbean boat that can
host nearly 9000 people! Blimey.
The Queen Mary 2 has 18 decks, fifteen restaurants and bars including a Veuve Cliquot Champagne
bar, 5 swimming pools, a spa, a theatre and the largest floating library in the world.
When Queen Mary 2 was built, she cost a whopping 460 million pounds, which at the time was
equivalent to 900 million US dollars.
She then received a refurbishment worth 90 million pounds in 2016, so if she were sunk,
it would literally be money down the drain.
Not only is the Queen Mary 2 luxurious, she is pretty big too!
At 149, 215 gross tonnage, she is 1,131 feet, or 345 metres compared to the Empire State,
which is 443 metres, or 1454 feet.
It would take a pretty hard knock to sink her, that is for sure.
.
Of course if the gargantuan Queen Mary 2 did sink, it would be the biggest peace-time maritime
disaster since the sinking of the Titanic.
As many of us know, the death toll on that fateful night was unprecedented; 1,503 of
2,224 people aboard.
Thankfully, the horrifying events of April 16th 1912 meant the introduction of the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was passed.
As a result of increased safety measures and advances of modern technology, there is little
to no chance of the Queen Mary 2 running into the same kind of trouble – the only ways
she could flounder would be as a result of gross negligence or via some kind of torpedo
from an act of war or terror.
Should the Queen Mary 2 begin to sink, in theory passengers and crew would have a reasonable
shot at survival.
These days there are always enough lifeboats on board for everyone.
Also, evacuation drills are well practiced, and SOS communications much quicker.
Of course, if the boat was hit badly enough, time may be against crew when evacuating the
boats safely.
If we learned anything from the titanic, no ship is unsinkable.
If water started to infiltrate the Queen Mary in a serious enough way, the extra weight
would be enough to sink the vessel.
The Titanic sank reasonably slowly in 2 hours and 40 minutes, but this was relative to the
damage and weight of the boat.
The best thing the Queen Mary could hope for if she were to sink would be time.
Depending on what time of year the Queen Mary 2 met with bad fortune would depend on how
the evacuated passengers fared – in the winter months, the vessel is used for Caribbean
cruises and in the summer, for transatlantic crossings.
For this reason, hyperthermia is less likely to be an issue for lifeboat passengers, or
those unfortunate enough to end up in the sea.
That being said, the oceans are wild beasts and any number of things, from bad weather
to predatory sea life, could pose risks.
While I imagine a rescue ship would be swifter to respond these days, if a vessel as huge
as the Queen Mary sank, it is almost certain there would be a death toll, especially if
the boat was torpedoed.
How many died would correlate to the initial damage and how quickly the boat sank.
It could range from a few dozen people to several thousand, we just can’t know.
What we do know is that the sinking of the worlds most expensive ship would make big
headlines, perhaps for months and beyond.
If the boat was sunk as a result of any kind of terror charge, you could bet the British
and American governments would be in full support of repercussions for those involved.
Eventually though, decades in to the future, the wounds would heal and the sunken boat
would likely be an area of tourist interest, depending on how accessible the wreck site
was.
Interestingly, The Queen Mary 2 and the Titanic do share a common ancestor.
The Queen Mary 2 is owned by Cunard Line, which was formed from a merger with the White
Star Line – the company behind the Titanic.
While we probably don’t need to worry about the Queen Mary 2 foundering any time soon,
In 2017 it was reported that the original Queen Mary is in need of urgent repairs to
stop her sinking.
It is estimated that the 83 year old vessel is in need of 23 million dollar repairs.
If she sank, it truly would be the end of an era.
So…that is what would happen if the Queen Mary 2 sank….
Hopefully it never happens.
In our modern day, it really shouldn’t, but if it did, it would be a disaster of the
grandest scale.
Let me know what you think would happen if she sank in the comments section down below.
Also be sure to leave a thumbs up and hit that notification bell to stay up to date
with our channel.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video, but for now…stay
curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning!