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Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit Browse our products on Amazon: This short film shows the launch of the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 on September 20th, 1967 and includes footage of the Queen herself at the launch (:59). At 1:10 a bottle is broken against the side of the ship and it slides down the ways. At 1:38, 1400 tons of chain are dragged behind the ship to slow its movement. At 2:05 it is moved by tug boats in the Clyde River. Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as QE2, is a floating hotel and retired ocean liner originally built for the Cunard Line, which operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. Since 18 April 2018, she has been operating as a floating hotel in Dubai. QE2 was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK to New York, United States and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. QE2 was designed in Cunard's offices in Liverpool and Southampton and built in Clydebank, Scotland. She was considered the last of the transatlantic ocean liners until Queen Mary 2 entered service. She was launched and named on 20 September 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II, using the same pair of gold scissors her mother and grandmother used to launch Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, respectively. On 19 November 1968, she left John Brown's fitting out berth. Several industrial disputes with the Clydebank workers, with their resultant delays and quality issues, forced Cunard to transfer the ship to Southampton, where Vosper Thorneycroft completed the installation and commissioning work, prior to the sea trials. Sea trials began on 26 November 1968 in the Irish Sea, proceeding to speed trials off the Isle of Arran. Cunard initially refused to accept the ship, as the sea trials identified that the ship suffered from a resonant vibration which was traced to a design flaw in the blades of the steam turbines. This delayed her being handed over to her new owners until 18 April 1969. She then departed on a “shakedown cruise“ to Las Palmas on 22 April 1969. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
