Queen Mary 2 is an amazing sight. Her length of more than a thousand feet and height of 200 feet above the water makes the first time viewer wonder just how anything that big could possibly move. However, the giant Cunard Line ship is one of the fastest passenger ships ever built, capable of doing more than 30 knots. (Most cruise ships max out at 25 knots). In addition, QM2 is very maneuverable, rarely needing the assistance of tug boats to dock or leave the pier.
Because she is such a unqiue physical object, people often wonder how she is operated. Like all ships, QM2 is driven from the bridge. This is a glass-enclosed space running across the front of the superstructure high up on Deck 12. Even with all of the computerized equipment and display screens, the room is remarkably spacious.
There is no large wooden wheel manned by a narled out sailor on QM2. Rather, the small wheel is generally unmanned at sea and the computer is doing the driving along a course input by the ship's navigator. When going into and out of port, the wheel is manned but most of the manuevering is done at a contriol console arrayed with dials and levers.
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch Captain Christopher Rynd take the ship out to sea. He litterally took a hands-on approach to the task. Standing at the control console, he looked like a master musician at the keyboard of a pipe organ. As his hands moved from one dial to the next, the giant ship smoothly left her berth, took to the channel and sailed out to sea.
Over the four years that the ship has been in service I have accumulated some inf0rmation about the bridge and taken several photos up there. To give people an idea of how it operates, I have written a piece about the bridge and linked it to my photographs. It is posted at: http://beyondships.com/QM2-Bridge.html I hope you find it interesting.
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