QEII has had a colourful history – not least for its involvement in the 1982 Falklands conflict.
Three helicopter pads were installed for the campaign, and on May 12 it left Southampton with 3,000 troops and 650 crew volunteers.
Other notable moments in its 30-year life include a bomb threat in 1972 when RAF Nimrods parachuted a bomb disposal team into the Atlantic. No bombs were found.
In the same year, it was 36hrs late arriving in Southampton following the worst North Atlantic storms in history while in 1974 it suffered a 30-inch gash after breaking free from its moorings in Cherbourg during a gale.
It suffered further damage in 1992 when it struck an uncharted rock just off the North American coast and was out of action for over three months.
The ship has also been targeted by terrorists. In 1974, Egypt said a plan has been hatched the previous year to torpedo QEII while in 1976 three men were arrested after police foiled an IRA bomb attempt.
QEII set off on its first world cruise – a journey of 38,000 miles – in 1975 and in 1986 it left New York for the last time as a steamship, ending a 146-year cruising tradition. Its transatlantic crossing on May 2 was QEII’s 1,160thvoyage.