Two Queen Elizabeths on the high seas in seven years’ time

In the year 2014, there should be two large ships that are both called the Queen Elizabeth and that fly the British flag. The first one to enter service is the 92,000 gross ton Cunard Line cruise ship that was ordered last month from Fincantieri in Italy that will be delivered in 2010. Cunard Line has had a ship with the same name before: the first Queen Elizabeth was a turbine steamer that was completed in 1940 and served the company for 28 years. Four years after the new Cunard ship, the Royal Navy is scheduled to commission the 65,000 ton displacement aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. It is the first of two new fleet carriers on order for the British navy and the second unit, to be called HMS Prince of Wales, will enter service in 2016. Both will carry about 40 combat aircraft. There has been one warship called Queen Elizabeth in the Royal Navy in the past – this was a 33,000 ton displacement battleship built in 1915 and the lead ship in a class of five similar ships that carried eight 15 inch guns.