QE2 had two powerplants during her 40-year career. The ship was built in the 1960s with a steam
turbine plant. This was replaced in a massive refit during the 1980s with a diesel powerplant.
QE2 was always a fast ship. But the steam turbines that she started her service career
with, were unreliable. There just wasn’t enough redundancy.
So when Cunard decided to re-engine the ship, they made sure that wasn’t going to be a problem again.
The new diesel powerplant made QE2 even more powerful than before. In fact,
she achieved a maximum speed of 34 knots during her 1987 sea trials,
which makes her the fastest modern merchant ship!
Fun fact: ships these days aren’t built with speed as a priority. As long as they
can maintain a minimum speed, there isn’t much need to be able to go fast. Cruise ships tend
to have relaxed itineraries. Even the only currently operating transatlantic liner,
QM2, can’t match QE2’s speed, even with her gas turbines switched on.
When QE2 was reengined in the 1980s, Cunard replaced the steam
turbine system with an entirely new, modern, diesel electric powerplant,
which included new engines, propulsion motors, propellers, and other machinery.
Over 4,700 tons of scrap was removed as part of this process. To get it all out,
they actually removed the funnel and lifted it out the top of the ship!
QE2’s engine rooms had been designed for big, round, steam turbine engines. The
new powerplant contained nine, medium speed MAN B&W diesel electric engines. Each one of
these nine-cylinder engines was about the size of a London Double Decker bus.
The new layout had four engines in the forward room and five in the aft. This
allowed for an amazing view from above. In older ships, reciprocating or turbine
engines directly drove the propellers. QE2’s diesels didn’t. Instead,
they created electricity. Each engine could produce 10.5MW of power. Times
that by 9 engines and you get 94.5MW – enough to power Southampton, well in 1987 at least.
Around 9MW went to supply hotel services. This powered all the lights, lifts, kitchens,
cabins and so on. When QE2 was docked, just one of the nine engines could supply the 9MW of
hotel service power, though in reality they’d keep more than one fired up for redundancy.
Before we look at the propulsion motors that drive the ship, did you know we have a new
range of merch in our store? Our new Seas the Day range will be perfect for your next cruise. You’ll
find a link to the store in the description below and every sale helps us keep the channel going.
Most of QE2’s power was used to drive the ship, using two giant propulsion motors.
Built by GEC England, each propulsion motor was about the size of two double decker busses,
and weighed 400 tons! They were rated at 44MW, making them the most powerful marine
motors ever built at the time. There were two motors – one for each propeller shaft.
QE2’s propeller shafts were 70m long, and each connected to five bladed variable
pitch propellers. The propeller shafts ran at 72rpm when entering and exiting ports,
and 144rpm the rest of the time, regardless of the speed required.
So, with the shafts running at a consistent rpm, how did QE2 speed up or slow down?
Well, the variable pitch propeller blades meant that speed was controlled by the angle
set on the blades. This meant QE2 could quickly increase and decrease speed. The
most interesting part was when they needed to go in reverse. This was achieved not by
running the propeller shaft backwards, but by adjusting the propeller pitch,
and gave QE2 a stopping distance of 3 minutes, 38 seconds when cruising at over 30 knots!
QE2 also had two bow thrusters, used to help manoeuvre the ship in port. They
had their own drive motors, and electricity for these was also provided by the diesels.
These days, most modern cruise ships have three of four bow thrusters,
making them far more manoeuvrable than QE2,
though QE2 had more stabilisers than modern ships – four Denny Brown units – while most crise ships
only have two. The extra pair were useful in the rough Atlantic QE2 was built for.
In addition to the engines and motors,
QE2 had an advanced system of energy recapture to help reduce costs.
Heat recovery boilers were attached to each diesel exhaust pipe. Heat from the engines was
used to generate steam for kitchens, central heating, water heating for showers, steam for
the commercial laundry and other hotel services. There were also two gas fired boilers for backup.
The engines also powered the huge, refrigerated areas where fresh produce was stored,
as well as providing power to run seven air conditioner compressors,
186 pumps and 178 industrial scale air ventilation fans throughout the ship.
QE2’s diesel powerplant served the ship from 1987 to 2008. When the ship arrived in Dubai,
she remained powered up with at least one diesel engine running until 2012. Since 2012,
these giant engines have been silent, with the ship now powered by land-side
electricity. However, they remain installed aboard the static hotel QE2 to this day.
Thanks for watching and I hope you found this video interesting. Thanks
again for watching and until next time, I hope to “Sea” you on board!