Cunard's Queen Elizabeth Completes First Sea Trials

[mercedes]

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth completed her first set of sea trials last week. Under cloudy skies, the newest addition to the Cunard fleet quietly slipped out of the shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy with around 300 shipyard employees, contractors, Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding Inspectors, Lloyds Register and Cunard representatives on board. During the trials the ship underwent a series of tests and ran through a series of controlled navigation maneuvers including stability and incline tests.

After three days at sea, Queen Elizabeth entered a drydock in Trieste and water began draining from the dock. Once this was completed, workers from Fincantieri began preparing the exterior of the hull for the final coat of paint. Queen Elizabeth will remain in drydock until the end of the month at which time she will leave for her second, and hopefully, final set of sea trials. If all goes as planned, the ship will then be handed over to Cunard and her new captain and crew.

Commenting on the sea trials Queen Elizabeth's Chief Engineer, Colin Black said:

"The Bridge Navigation went very well, and the SOLAS Steering test was very impressive with full service speed and hard steering to 35 Degrees to port then starboard. This was repeated several times to test all conditions of steering operation with a speed of 21.7 knots. Then the forced roll at 9 degrees was impressive that it only took a few seconds for the fins to stabilize the vessel. It was good to see all six engines running at one time with all of them performing to expectations. The propulsion was tested with excellent results under load increase and decrease demands."

Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to depart on her Maiden Voyage on 12 October 2010.