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QM2 - Odd 360 Maneuver South of Verrazano


steve1young
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QM2 left NY last night and I was following her progress via the Bridge Webcam and two ship tracking websites (links below). It was kind of fun to see her sail out of NY Harbor towards and under the Verrazano Bridge and out towards open sea. She was South of the bridge and just about even with the little Brooklyn peninsula of Seagate when she did the oddest thing. Honestly, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes and verified what I was seeing via two ship tracking websites AND the images from the Bridge Webcam, I never would have believed it.

She had been cruising at about 7.7kn, which is pretty standard for this major shipping lane, but then she slowed down significantly. Then she started slowly pivoting to Port. I could start to see more and more of south Brooklyn on the webcam as she was making the turn. I’m from NY, and I know these sites and the area well. She eventually completed a full 180 degrees, and slowly started back towards the Verrazano. I’m not joking. I could see the Verrazano on the webcam, looking North, with Staten Island to Port and Brooklyn to Starboard. And I was continually verifying all of this via both ship tracking websites.

She picked up a bit of steam as she headed North back towards the bridge, and then slowed down again. Then she slowly started pivoting to Port again. I could then see more and more of Staten Island on the webcam as she completed another full 180 degree pivot. She then continued on her way out of NY and out to sea.

Has anyone experienced the QM2 doing anything like this, let alone in the middle of one of the most heavily trafficked shipping lanes in the world? If the weather hadn’t been so lousy and overcast at the time, I might have suspected the maneuver was being covered by helicopter based cameras as part of a marketing video shoot.

You can even verify all of this by reviewing the ‘previous route tracking data’ on the Marine Traffic website. The whole maneuver was just bizarre, and I’m quite curious. Any ideas what this was about?

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:371681/mmsi:310627000/vessel:QUEEN%20MARY%202

http://www.***********/cruise-ship-tracker/cunard-cruise-line/queen-mary-2.php

http://www.***********/cruise-ship-webcams/cunard-cruise-line/queen-mary-2.php

 

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I was watching the ship sail toward and under the bridge like normal on the traffic sites and webcam.

Then after passing under the bridge I figured she would be exiting the narrows like normal.

Living along the Narrows I missed the whole event in person which would have been interesting to have viewed.

I never saw a vessel do a 180 here except the oil tankers or barges in the anchorage before the bridge.

Prayers to the crew members recovery.

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In I think 2009 we did a cruise around the British Isles for QM2's fifth anniversary. We called at Liverpool, and just before we reached the dock the Queen turned 180 degrees to come parallel to the pier. This was the Queen's first visit to Liverpool and cars lined both sides of the river for her arrival. In unison there was an amazing honking of car horns to celebrate the maneuver. Watching her do that is amazing even when you are on board

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Same thing happened to us a few years ago. Having dinner when my better half nite that we’d turned back to NY. Captain Wells came on to say we had a very poorly pax who needed hospitalisation. Back under the bridge we went, coastguard came out from NJ in a boat and picked up the poor fellow! Back under the bridge we went! I still think about him now and hope it turned out ok for him.

 

 

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Same on our last T/A from S'ton. About 40 minutes out she turned around and went back to the dock. The Captain later said that a crew member has slipped and broken an ankle and needed to be off-loaded. He also mentioned that that they picked up four passengers who had missed the boat and some luggage that hadn't made the transfer.

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