IT was the pride of the Clyde and a by-world for luxury and elegance which ruled the waves for decades.

And though half a century has passed since the QE2 first breached the water, the iconic liner's legacy continues to make waves. 

Launched 50 years ago from the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank, today the cruise ship sits forlorn in a port in Dubai after plans to turn it into a floating hotel foundered during the financial crisis. 

Yet there are still those who hold the former Cunard flagship with great affection and even awe for her status as arguably the finest ship ever produced by the great yards of the upper Clyde.

After almost 70 years, the QE2 was the last of the great liners to be launched from Scotland's industrial heartland, and was part of the British design renaissance of the Sixties. 

Shipyard history expert and author Ian Johnston said the ship was a "style icon".

He added: "She became a favourite with cruising people all over the world. Her reputation was well-earned. She was an unusual and stylish ship, very handsome and with the best of British design.

"She also had a long history of service during which her reputation grew."

"People came to realise she was a leader in design terms, bringing together the best of British design excellence.

"She embodied what was the best of British at the time and she stood the test of time in that respect."

More than 30,000 people lined the streets of Clydebank on 20 September 1967 as the Queen and Prince Philip made their way to the launch at John Brown's shipyard.

The ship was known to the yard as No 736 and to the Cunard as Q4.
It was not until the Queen spoke that people discovered what the new liner was to be called. 

Peter Kemp, who was a 19-year-old apprentice at the time, said: "The Queen announced the name and then there was a long pause.
"It seemed a long time before the ship actually moved. Somebody cried out 'give it a shove'.

"One of the gaffers with a bowler hat jumped up and gave it a kiddy-on shove and then the thing moved off down the river."

Mr Kemp added: "The chains were rattling and the dust was flying about and everything. It was an amazing sight."

In more than three decades of service, the QE2 became a destination rather than a carrier, carrying about 2.5 million passengers including the Queen, Nelson Mandela, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

The liner also served the UK in a different way during the Falklands War in 1982.

Mr Johnston says that in 1967 no-one foresaw the boom in cruise ships which has meant more are being built now that at any other point in history.

He says: “It is ironic that the Clyde yards that produced this beautiful ship is no longer in the market to build these liners.

“The sad thing is that none of the great shipbuilders of the Clyde survived into the era when they could have capitalised on the boom because that was their expertise, fitting out luxury ships and passengers ships was one of the things they did so well on the Clyde.

“It would have been very nice to think we could have been building some of these great cruise liners that are being built in Germany and Italy and Finland.”