On Sunday, February 4, 2007, The Queen Mary 2 steamed into San Francisco Bay. It was the most-hyped San Francisco maritime event in recent history and brought out a huge crowd of sailboats, powerboats, and shoreside onlookers. It may be the most crowded the bay has ever been on a day in February. The ship was surely impressive, but the sideshow of the spectators was at least as interesting.
The 1132-foot Ocean Liner Queen Mary 2 is the largest passenger ship afloat, as measured by length, beam, and draft, although her displacement of 148,528 gross tons was surpassed in 2006 by Freedom of the Seas. She was built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in 2004; the design was led by Stephen Payne of Carnival Corp.. She is owned by the Cunard Line and is based at Southampton, England.
The Queen Mary 2 carries 2,592 guests with a crew of 1,253. She is powered by a 157,000-horsepower electric power plant, comprising four diesel engines and two gas turbines, which provide electric power to AC motors in four 20-megawatt propulsion pods.
For more information on the Queen Mary 2:
- San Francisco Chronicle article on the arrival of the QM2
- Official QM2 website
- Wikipedia article on the QM2