THE QE2 makes its final voyage tomorrow, sailing from Southampton to its new home in Dubai where it will become a floating hotel.

The 963ft-long ship was launched by the Queen at the John Brown shipyard on the Clyde in Scotland in September 1967

The liner was named Queen Elizabeth 2 and not Queen Elizabeth II, as it was the second Queen Elizabeth ship to sail with Cunard

The first captain was Bill Warwick, who took the vessel on its maiden voyage to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, setting off on April 22 1969 after technical problems pushed back the date of the first sailing

105ft-wide and capable of carrying nearly 1,800 passengers, the QE2 crossed the Atlantic in just three days, 20 hours and 42 minutes at an average of 30.36 knots in June 1970

In January 1971 in the Caribbean, the QE2 helped in the rescue of hundreds of passengers from the French liner Antilles which had run aground and then caught fire and which later sank

In May 1982, the QE2 was requisitioned by the Government for service as a troop ship in the Falklands War, transporting Scots and Welsh Guards and Gurkhas to the South Atlantic

The ship returned in triumph to Southampton in June 1982 and went back into passenger service the following year

Capable of travelling backwards at 19 knots which is faster than some vessels can go forwards, the QE2 survived running aground off Massachusetts in the USA in 1992, with passengers having to be evacuated and the ship's bow and keel being damaged

In 1995, the ship was hit by a 95ft-high wave after running into Hurricane Luis in the Atlantic

In October 2003, one iconic transport symbol met another when Concorde flew over the QE2 in the Atlantic for the last time before the supersonic aircraft ceased passenger services

In 2004, the QE2 was replaced as Cunard's flagship by the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) which had been officially named by the Queen at Southampton in January of that year.

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