QE2 3 Class Configuration

I have long been puzzled by what the QE2 might have looked like had she been completed as originally planned as a 3 class ship.

For the observant today there are still clues in the very utilitarian A staircase (Tourist Class), the much grander D staircase (First Class) and the inbetween G (Cabin Class) all with their associated lobbies.

I now have part of the answer, thanks to a wonderful book I have managed to lay my hands on, Philip Dawson's British Superliners of the Sixties.

While the information is not complete, it does have some indication of how a 3 class QE2 would have looked (for those not as enthralled by this detail, the first ship commissioned to replace the ageing Queen Mary, the 'Q3' was a 3 class ship designed with the Trans Atlantic trade in mind, fortunately this was abandoned and replaced by the Q4, a transatlantic and cruise liner combined, which became the QE2).

When launched, the plan for the QE2 was still for a 3 class Trans-Atlantic ship, going to one class for cruising. However, delays in construction and a re-think led to her completion as a two class ship - the intermediate cabin class eliminated, leaving first and tourist.

While the lower part of the ship - with associated stairwells and lobbies could not be changed, the upper decks could - and were. The original First Class Quarter deck remained as originally planned, while the Upper (Cabin Class) and Boat (Tourist Class) decks were redesigned.

The biggest single change was the creation of the Double Room, by combining the Upper Deck Cabin Class lounge with the Boat Deck Tourist Class Lounge. Other significant changes included the elimination of the Port Tourist Class Promenade deck and the Starboard Cabin Class one on Upper deck.

The combination of cabin & tourist also enabled the elimination of corridors to serve the First Class Teenagers room and the movement of Cabin & Tourist Class Teenagers rooms to the boat deck - leaving the space for where the Casino is now.

The original Tourist Class Observation Lounge (served by the A (Tourist Class) Staircase) now became the Observation Lounge. As for dining arrangements, the 'combined' Tourist/Cabin class dining room became what is now the Mauretania restaurant.

On the Builders Drawings released post the combination of the two classes there are still hints at the old 3 class configuration. For example, the Forward entrance to the (now Mauretania) dining room is described as 'Tourists Entrance' Similarly the aft section of the boat deck is described as 'Tourist's Deck', while One Deck aft is 'Cabin Class Deck' along with the 'Cabin Class Pool' (first class being one deck up on Quarter Deck). As for Accomodation, One deck is mainly first class, with a few Cabin Class cabins aft, Two deck again first class with some Cabin Class Aft and some Tourist Forward, as is Three Deck. Four Deck is all 'Cabin or Tourist Class'. while 5 deck is all Tourist Class. Hence, the original Queen Mary plan of First Class in the middle & on top, Tourist at the front and Cabin at the rear had been maintained.

Fortunately for all concerned she was never completed like that, and almost certainly as a consequence is with us yet.

Peter