Editing RMS Queen Elizabeth (section)

==Final years==
[[File:RMS Queen Elizabeth Southampton.jpg|thumb|RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' at [[Southampton]] in 1968]]
[[File:RMS Queen Elizabeth at Southampton 1967 (4).jpg|thumb|left|''Queen Elizabeth'' docked at [[Southampton]] in 1967]]
[[File:Postcard Stevens with RMS Queen Elizabeth.jpg|thumb|''Queen Elizabeth'' leaving [[New York City|New York]] during her last voyage, 1968]]
In late 1968, ''Queen Elizabeth'' was sold to the Elizabeth Corporation, with 15% of the company controlled by a group of Philadelphia businessmen and 85% retained by Cunard. The new company intended to operate the ship as a hotel and tourist attraction in [[Port Everglades]], Florida, similar to the planned use of ''Queen Mary'' in [[Long Beach, California]].<ref name=qe/> ''Elizabeth'', as she was now called, arrived in Port Everglades on 8 December 1968 and opened to tourists in February 1969, well before ''Queen Mary'', which opened two years later, in 1971. The vessel was sold to Queen Ltd of Port Everglades on 19 July 1969.<ref name="auto"/> However, ''Queen Elizabeth's'' retirement in Florida was not to last. The climate of southern Florida was much harder on the ship than the climate of southern California was on ''Queen Mary''. There was some talk of permanently flooding the bilge and allowing ''Queen Elizabeth'' to rest on the bed of the Intracoastal Waterway in Ft. Lauderdale harbour (Port Everglades) and remain open, but the ship was forced to close in August 1970, after losing money and being declared a fire hazard.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29134425/journal_and_courier/ |title='Queen' Fire Hazard' |agency=Associated Press |page=9 |date=13 November 1969 |newspaper=Journal and Courier |location=Lafayette, IN |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The vessel was sold at auction in 1970 to Hong Kong tycoon [[Tung Chao Yung]].<ref name=qe/>

Tung, the head of the [[Orient Overseas Container Line|Orient Overseas Line]], intended to convert the vessel into a university for the [[Semester at Sea|World Campus Afloat]] program (later reformed and renamed as Semester at Sea). Following the tradition of the Orient Overseas Line, the ship was renamed ''Seawise University''.<ref name=qe/>

The ship was under Hong Kong ownership, and sailed for Hong Kong on 10 February 1971.<ref name="auto"/> This was ill-advised, as the ship's engines and boilers were in poor condition after several years of neglect. The retired Commodore Marr and a former chief engineer of the ship were hired by Tung as advisors for the journey to Hong Kong. Marr recommended that ''Seawise University'' be towed to the [[New Territories]], but Tung and his crew were convinced that they could get there using just the aft engines and boilers. The planned several-week trip turned into months as the crew battled with boiler issues and a fire. An unplanned lengthy mid-voyage stopover allowed the new owners to fly spare parts out to the ship and carry out repairs before resuming course, arriving in Hong Kong Harbour in July 1971.

[[File:Queen Elizabeth on fire as Seawise University.gif|left|thumb|''Seawise University'' on fire]]

With the £5&nbsp;million conversion nearing completion, the vessel caught fire on 9 January 1972.<ref name=qe/> These fires were set deliberately, as several blazes broke out simultaneously throughout the ship and a later court of inquiry handed down a cause of arson by person or persons unknown.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1347&dat=19720110&id=JYITAAAAIBAJ&pg=5917,2544569 |title=Arson Suspected as Blaze Destroys Queen Elizabeth |date=10 January 1972 |access-date=17 May 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The fact that Tung had acquired the vessel for $3.5&nbsp;million, and had insured it for $8&nbsp;million, led some to speculate that the inferno was part of a fraud to collect on the insurance claim. Others speculated that the fires were the result of a conflict between Tung, a [[Chinese Nationalist]], and [[Communist]]-dominated ship construction unions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/On-This-Day--The-Queen-Elizabeth-Mysteriously-Sinks-In-a-Hong-Kong-Harbor.html |title=On This Day: The Queen Elizabeth Mysteriously Sinks in a Hong Kong Harbor |date=9 January 2011 |publisher=Findingdulcinea.com |access-date=17 May 2012 |archive-date=26 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226193350/http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/On-This-Day--The-Queen-Elizabeth-Mysteriously-Sinks-In-a-Hong-Kong-Harbor.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ship rolled on its side from the water sprayed on her by fireboats, then settled on the bottom of Victoria Harbour.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chriscunard.com/queen-elizabeth/ |title=Queen Elizabeth |publisher=Chriscunard.com |access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref> The vessel was finally declared a shipping hazard and dismantled for scrap between December 1974<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cunard - White Star Liner QUEEN ELIZABETH 1938 - 1972 |url=http://www.liverpoolships.org/the_cunard_white_star_liner_queen_elizabeth.html |website=www.liverpoolships.org}}</ref> and 1975. Portions of the hull that were not salvaged, as well as the keel, boilers and engines, remained at the bottom of the harbour, and the area was marked as "Foul" on local sea charts, warning ships not to try to anchor there. It is estimated that around 40–50% of the wreck was still on the seabed. In the late 1990s, the last remains of the wreck were buried during [[land reclamation]] for the construction of [[Container Terminal 9]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gwulo.com/RMS-Queen-Elizabeth-location-in-Hong-Kong |title=Sea queen to lie below CT9 |access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref> The position of the wreck is {{Coord|22|19|43|N|114|06|44|E|display=inline|type:landmark_region:HK}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/register/report/eiareport/eia_1832010/EIA/PDF/Vol%204%20Appendix/Chapter%209/Appendix%209_3.pdf |title=Providing Sufficient Water Depth for Kwai Tsing Container Basin and its Approach Channel Environmental Impact Assessment Report&nbsp;– Appendix 9.3 UK Hydrographic Office Data |access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Seawise University wreck.jpg|thumb|left|1972: The wreck of ''Seawise University'', ex-''Queen Elizabeth'', in [[Victoria Harbour]], Hong Kong]]
[[File:Seawise University (Queen Elizabeth)-jan1972-gc01.jpg|thumb|The wreck of ''Seawise University'' after the fire]]

After the fire, Tung had one of the liner's anchors and the metal letters "Q" and "E" from the name on the bow placed in front of the office building at [[Del Amo Fashion Center]] in [[Torrance, California|Torrance]], California, which had been intended as the headquarters of the Seawise University venture;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cruisetalkshow.com/id181.html |title=Queen Elizabeth |access-date=7 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714164039/http://www.cruisetalkshow.com/id181.html |publisher=cruisetalkshow.com |archive-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://linerlogbook.blogspot.com/2010/12/queen-elizabeth-in-torrance.html |title=The Captain's Table: The Queen Elizabeth in Torrance |first=Z. e |last=Whitlow |date=14 December 2010}}</ref> they later went on display with commemorative plaques in the lobby of [[Wall Street Plaza]] (88 Pine Street), New York City. Two of the ship's fire warning system brass plaques were recovered by a dredger, and were displayed at The Aberdeen Boat Club in Hong Kong in an exhibit about the ship. The charred remnants of her last ensign were cut from the flagpole and framed in 1972, and still adorn the wall of the officers' mess of marine police HQ in Hong Kong. [[Parker Pen Company]] produced a special edition of 5,000 pens made from material recovered from the wreck, each in a presentation box; today these are highly collectible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parker75.com/Reference/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth.htm |title=Parker 75 RMS Queen Elizabeth |publisher=Parker75.com |access-date=29 August 2020 }}</ref>

Following the demise of ''Queen Elizabeth'', the largest passenger ship in active service became the 66,343 GRT {{SS|France|1961|6}}, which was longer but with less tonnage than the Cunard liner. ''Queen Elizabeth'' held the record of largest passenger ship ever built until the 101,353 GT [[Carnival Destiny]] (later Carnival Sunshine) was launched in 1996. To date, ''Queen Elizabeth'' still holds the record as the largest passenger ship for the longest period of time: 56 years.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}