WHEN the Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest passenger ship, sailed into Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the end of its maiden transatlantic voyage, its sheer size was the big talking point. But equally impressive was the technology hidden beneath the waterline. Remarkably, the giant ship has no rudder to steer it. Yet it is so manoeuvrable that it was able to sail straight into harbour and dock without the aid of tugs.
Conventional ships are driven by propellers on shafts connected to an engine within the hull. But the QM2, like a growing number of large passenger ships, is propelled…
