New York, New York - Queen Mary 2 Docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal (2019)

RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2) is a transatlantic ocean liner. She is the largest ocean liner ever built,[9] having served as the flagship of the Cunard Line since succeeding the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2004. As of 2019, Queen Mary 2 is the only passenger ship operating as an ocean liner, as opposed to a cruise ship. The new ship was named Queen Mary 2 by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 after the first RMS Queen Mary of 1936. Queen Mary was in turn named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. With the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ocean liner in line service between Southampton, England and New York City, United States, operating for a part of each year. The ship is also used for cruising, including an annual world cruise. She was designed by a team of British naval architects led by Stephen Payne, and was constructed in France by Chantiers de l'Atlantique. At the time of her construction, Queen Mary 2 was the longest, at 1,131.99 ft (345.03 m), and largest, with a gross tonnage of 148,528 GT, passenger ship ever built. She no longer holds these records after the construction of Royal Caribbean International's 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas (a cruise ship) in April 2006, but remains the largest ocean liner ever built. Queen Mary 2 was intended for routine crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, and was therefore designed differently from many other passenger ships. The liner's final cost was approximately $300,000 US per berth. Expenses were increased by the high quality of materials, and having been designed as an ocean liner, she required 40% more steel than a standard cruise ship. Queen Mary 2 has a maximum speed of just over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a cruising speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), much faster than a contemporary cruise ship. Instead of the diesel-electric configuration found on many ships, Queen Mary 2 uses integrated electric propulsion to achieve her top speed. Diesel engines, augmented by gas turbines, are used to generate electricity for electric motors for propulsion and for on-board use. Some of Queen Mary 2's facilities include fifteen restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre, and the first planetarium at sea. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is a cruise terminal in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The terminal is 180,000 square feet (17,000 m2) and sits on Buttermilk Channel, a tidal strait separating Brooklyn from Governors Island. It is located on land owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), leased by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), and operated by Metro Cruise Services. The terminal is one of three terminals for ocean-going cruise ships in the New York metropolitan area. Ships from Carnival Corporation (which owns the Cunard and Princess Cruises) call the terminal their home port. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is located at Red Hook Pier 12, on the south side of the Atlantic Basin at Pioneer and Imlay Streets. Vehicular access is through the main gate near the intersection of Bowne and Imlay Streets. The terminal was converted from a 1954 freight terminal and was earlier the site of the Atlantic Basin Iron Works. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal opened on April 15, 2006, following a $52 million investment by NYCEDC, with the arrival of the RMS Queen Mary 2. On July 15 and 16, 2017, a racing circuit in the port and supporting roads hosted the Formula E electric car racing series's ninth and tenth round in the 2016–17 Formula E season.