The SS United States still waits to be restored in Philadelphia after being withdrawn from transatlantic service in 1969
The latest P&O "superliner" Britannia has been officially named by the Queen
but what happens after cruise liners are past their sell-by date?
In their heyday ocean liners were the most advanced and
luxurious forms of transport. The largest moving objects ever created by
humans, they elegantly carried everyone from immigrants to
politicians and film stars.
But like all good things, their lifespan must come to and end.
For many, the future is bleak - the scrap yard and the possibility of ending
up as razor blades beckons.
A select few, though, have escaped the scrap yard's blow torch.
The rusting hulk
Rust in peace: The SS United States has spent more years laid up than she did in service
SS United States - flagship of the United States Line - won the
Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing on her maiden voyage in 1952
- a record the ship holds to this day.
However, like her rival Cunard ships - the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth -
she could not compete with the fast and cheap commercial jet aircraft
that soared overhead. After just 17 years at sea, she was withdrawn
from service in 1969.
Sold in 1978, she went through a succession of owners and is now a
gently rusting hulk, moored at a pier in Philadelphia, her former glories
almost forgotten.
But there is hope the ship's future could still be bright. As of 2010 the ship
has been owned by the non-profit SS United States Conservancy,
which aims to restore her and convert her into a museum and retail/office
development.
Susan Gibbs, its executive director, is the granddaughter of William Francis
Gibbs, the naval architect who designed the ship.
"Despite the peeling paint and forlorn appearance, the ship is
structurally very sound," she said.
In her heyday the SS United States was the most technologically advanced ocean liner afloat
The Hotel
The Queen Mary and her sister ship the Queen Elizabeth provided a twice weekly transatlantic service for Cunard between the 1940s and 1960s
One of the world's most famous transatlantic liners, the RMS Queen Mary
had a glittering career.
She won the Blue Riband, counted Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Winston Churchill
among her passengers and carried thousands of troops across the globe during
World War Two.
Some 200,000 spectators gathered at the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank
for the christening
of "Hull 534", when the Queen Mary was launched in 1934.
As well as the largest and fastest
liner of her time, she was the last word in ocean-going luxury and
Art Deco interior design.
But times changed. In 1967, after 1,001 Atlantic crossings in 31 years,
she was retired
by operators Cunard. That was not the end of the line for
the "grand old lady" of the seas though.
The City of Long Beach, California, purchased the ship and converted her into a
floating hotel and maritime museum in 1967.
The Queen Mary was sold to the City of Long Beach, California for $3,450,000 in 1967, and is pictured here with Cunard's RMS Queen Mary 2
The liner remains a popular attraction, a long way from the cold waters of the
North Atlantic and even further from her beginnings at the John Brown Shipyard.
In retirement she has provided the backdrop for many film and
TV productions, including Assault on a Queen and Poseidon Adventure.
The multi-purpose attraction
The SS Rotterdam was the flagship of the Holland America
Line and became known as "La Grande Dame" during her seagoing years
The sleek design of the grey painted SS Rotterdam was ultra-modern
when she entered service in 1959 and would go on to inspire the generation
of cruise ships that followed.
In the 1990s, under the ownership of Premier Cruises,
the ship was renamed The Rembrandt. Her future looked
bleak when Premier Cruises went bankrupt in 2000, however.
After a long period of inactivity in the Bahamas, the Rembrandt escaped scrapping -
the fate of so many of her generation of liners - when the City of Rotterdam granted
the ship a permanent berth.
Returning to her original name and undergoing an extensive restoration,
she eased back into her old home port in 2010 to a
heroine's welcome and began a new life as a museum, hotel, and training centre.
The SS Rotterdam was built in the city from which she took her name, and is now
permanently moored there as a hotel, visitor attraction and college
The liner in limbo
The QE2 replaced the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in 1968 and went on to serve
as a troop-carrying ship in the Falklands War
The beloved flagship of British merchant shipping, the Clyde-built Queen
Elizabeth II was retired in 2008 after almost 40 years.
Sold with the promise of a peaceful retirement after conversion into a
luxury hotel in Dubai, the project appears still not to have begun seven years later.
The QE2 replaced the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth on the
North Atlantic route in 1969.
The 293.5m (963ft) long Cunard flagship carried almost 2.5m passengers and
completed more than 800 Atlantic crossings.
She retired in 2008 and was sold for £50m to the United Arab Emirates real
estate developer Nakheel, leaving Southampton for the last time on
11 November 2008.
Plans have been produced to moor the QE2 on the Thames in London
Plans have stalled and a variety of alternative proposals have been floated, including
mooring the ship permanently on the River Thames in London, where she would
John Chillingworth, managing director of London QE2, is confident the London plan is the most viable
option for the liner. He explained that work is ongoing to get the ship back to
UK, as a 500-room floating hotel and entertainment venue that would provide a
working example of "the last great British-built liner".
"QE2 is unique and has a fantastic heritage that is linked to many
British people and their families," he said.
For the time being at least the QE2 languishes in obscurity in
Dubai awaiting her fate. But as others have proved - there might still be life in the old liner yet.
RMS Queen Mary, Cunard Line
- 81,237 gross tonnes
- Built at John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank
- Launched on 26 September 1934
- Speed of 28.5 knots
SS Rotterdam, Holland America Line
- 39,674 gross tonnes
- Built at the Rotterdam Drydock Company mij
- Launched 14 September 1958
- Speed of 21 knots
SS United States, United States Line
- 53,329 gross tonnes
- Built at the Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia
- Launched in 1951
- Speed of 38.32 knots (top speed)
Queen Elizabeth 2, Cunard Line
- 70,327 gross tonnes
- Built at John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank
- Launched on 20 September 1967
- Speed of 32 knots
