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leoramage · 1 year ago

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raining in manila

⊹ masterlist ⊹ taglist ⊹

⊹⊱ trigger warning - [politics]

⊹⊱ theme - [social media au]

⊹⊱ pairings - [charles leclerc x daughter of a president!y/n]

⊹⊱ face claim - renee veronica pagano

⊹⊱ keywords - [nepotism baby. "asian chick." second chance. "everyone is a ferrari fan. even if they say they're not, they are ferrari fans." flings? "what are we?"]

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

highsocietysecrets_mnl posted a picture

liked by jimmyfournier and others

highsocietysecrets_mnl pack your bags and rev those engines because this high-profile socialite is jetting off with her father to the singapore grand prix in style! 🛫🏁

while she's known for her passion for ferraris, she's hasn't just been burning rubber on the racetrack. she's often spotted donning ferrari gear, sparking rumors about her passion for the prancing horse in her instagram stories. rumor has it that she left more than just tire tracks during a luxurious vacation in monaco, catching the eye of a famous ferrari driver after his split with his ex who is an architect. 🏖️❤️🏎️

now, allegations of a secret romance are swirling around her, leaving us all to wonder: is she trading love letters for pit stops? 💌🛑 #highsocietysecrets #singaporegrandprix

speedyracer24 the way we immediately knew who that is when that SG blind was posted, its yn, the asia's nepo girl 🙄

⊳ gossipguru4u could never be more envious fr.

racingfanatic_01 lord i see the way you bless other people, but why not me too?!

⊳ racetrackromeo my delulu ass thinking i have a chance with charles because i have the same nationality as y/n

⊳ curiouscat22 girl stop living your parasocial relationship, touch some grass

speeddemon101 girl is taking "live fast, die young, bad girls do it well" motto too much

racerchick22 Y/N WAS LINKED TO CHARLES MARC HERVÉ PERCEVAL LECLERC😭‼️ SINCE WHEN⁉️😬😬

⊳ fashionistachic SHE'S LIVING MY DREAM GOODBYE

charles_leclerc posted a picture

liked by yourusername, carlossainz55 and others

charles_leclerc what happens in monaco, stays in monaco. it's race week, see you in 🇸🇬!

ferrarifanatic23 charles we need to know if you and y/n are for real

⊳ speedsterfanatic girl stop harassing charles!

f1fanaticsophie is the caption a shade towards the blind?

⊳ racingheartbeat DOES HE KNOW?!

ferrarifanatic88 these comments are not it

carlossainz55 lord perceval 🏎️🤴🏻

⊳ charles_leclerc smooth operator 🏎️🇪🇸

⊳ speedygonzalez CHARLES, ONE CHANCE IS ALL I NEED

⊳ instaglamgal @/speedygonzalez bffr 😭

gossipqueen365 monaco, the playground for the rich and famous! 🌟✈️

f1nightrace see you soon!

yourusername posted a picture

liked by jazzychewter, celeste_cortesi and others

yourusername mornings in singapore 🩷

jazzychewter fresh 🌻

⊳ yourusername imy 🥺🤗

⊳ jazzychewter xoxo 🤗

celeste_cortesi goodluck kisses to...? 😗🤣

⊳ yourusername stoooooop 😭

⊳ celeste_cortesi your biggest what if🫢

⊳ yourusername 😵‍💫😵

comments are limited.

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

yourusername posted a picture

liked by jazzychewter, celeste_cortesi and others

yourusername lunch dates ; bon appetit 🥗🍴

jazzychewter with who? 👀

⊳ yourusername dad 🥰

⊳ jazzychewter you can't fool me hahaha

⊳ yourusername but he said hi! 🥹

celeste_cortesi just with tito? nobody else? 🤭

⊳ yourusername and a few guests!

⊳ celeste_cortesi guest list reveal

⊳ yourusername can't do that 💔

comments are limited.

charles_leclerc uploaded a story

seen by arthur_leclerc, lorenzotl, yourbrother and others

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

yourusername posted a picture

liked by catriona_gray, mickschumacher and others

yourusername from sun down till the clock strikes twelve 🌙🤍 bisou bisou💋

jazzychewter with your dad again?

⊳ yourusername the dinner date? no but my date asked permission 🫶🏻

⊳ celeste_cortesi boy reveal

⊳ yourusername we don't do that here 🥹😭

nadine can he fight?

⊳ yourusername no violence please 😆

⊳ michelledee what if SG meet up?

⊳ yourusername it's too late, we'll be back soon 🥺

⊳ whianwamos did he return you safe before tito's curfew?

⊳ yourusername yes! five minutes before the time 😊

⊳ maxcollinsofficial is he in the likes?

⊳ yourusername calm down please i am alive 😭😭😭

samanthapanlilio_ hope you had fun 🩷

yourusername liked this comment.

missritadaniella 😍😍 miss you bestie

⊳ yourusername miss you too bestie 🥺🫶🏻

piawurtzbach he looks handsome and nice

⊳ yourusername MOMMA PIA 😭😭😭

comments are limited.

yourusername uploaded a story

seen by charles_leclerc, arthur_leclerc, lorenzotl and others

charles_leclerc posted a picture

monaco

liked by yourusername, carlossainz55 and others

charles_leclerc rain check? 🌧️☔ @/apmmonaco keeps me in style whatever weather it is.

apmmonaco looking great, lord perceval!

racedayrover CHARLES! CHARLES LISTEN TO ME THIS IS NOT YOU

⊳ turn1tifosi girl stop, you're embarrassing let him live a life

chequeredchase the women's jewelry of apmmonaco looks stunning 😭

TEAM_CL16 HE IS REPLYING TO Y/N'S IG STORY! 😭

⊳ curvaparabolica it's literally an advertisement, silly

⊳ leclerclove please let it be, i can't handle him being taken yet!

⊳ sennaforever omg you guys are so delusional, stop it!

silverarrowsquad what is bro yappin bout🗣️‼️

⊳ pitlanepro bro is too majestic

yourusername posted a picture

manila, philippines

liked by charles_leclerc, angelicalopezofficial and others

yourusername maulan ba sa inyo 'pag bumubuhos dito? (does it rain there when it pours here?)

michelledee twinning captions? 👀

⊳ yourusername huh? 🤔

⊳ whianwamos hello, she's pretending again that she doesn't know again 😧

⊳ maxcollinsofficial wait, who now? akala ko ba si ano...😮 (i thought it was)

yourbrother i beg please tama na parinig, stop looping the song na. di ka maririnig non, he's too far (he won't hear you)

⊳ yourusername 🥺

⊳ yourbrother do it or i will confiscate your spotify premium

⊳ yourusername i'm not a child! 😭

⊳ yourbrother lah? please use headphones or at least lower down the volume

⊳ yourusername okay 🥹

rociozobel what if may pinaparinggan (you're alluding)

⊳ yourusername wala ah (that's nothing) 😗

comments are limited.

INSTAGRAM

highsocietysecrets_mnl posted a picture

liked by jimmyfournier and others

highsocietysecrets_mnl whispers of romance have once again taken the formula one world by storm! it appears that a certain formula one driver may be rekindling an intriguing connection with the daughter of high socialite elite, following their summer fling after his breakup with an architect girlfriend. 🏁❤️

the singaporean grand prix played a pivotal role in this unfolding drama. on september 14, both parties posted eerily similar location shots, raising eyebrows across the internet. she hinted at a "lunch date," coyly mentioning her father and mysterious guests. meanwhile, charles shared a picture from the same spot with a different companion. coincidence or rendezvous? 🤔🍽️

then came september 15, when she shared pictures from dusk till midnight, with mick schumacher's like setting off alarm bells. rumor has it that mick was her date, even asking her father for permission and getting her back to the hotel just minutes before her curfew. 🌙💏

but the story doesn't end there. she returned home and expressed the rainy manila, while he, in monaco, subtly hinted at a rain check through an advertisement post for apm monaco. coincidence, or are these two playing the long-distance game? ☔🌧️

as weeks passed, silence reigned until she accidentally shared a deleted Instagram story featuring him at the airport this morning? 📸✈️ what's the real story here? stay tuned for more twists and turns in this high-profile affair! 🌟

speedqueenracer 💔 sorry, but I'm still not over charlotte! this new twist is giving me whiplash! 🤷‍♀️🏁

⊳ cclovers same it was just months away charles and you're back in the streets😭

⊳ fastlanefangirl now suddenly we know he's getting another girl again. but at least he didn't went after his ex girlfriend's friend💀

speedyspectator charles and y/n, the power couple we didn't know we needed! please confirm this love story soon!

racefanatic_88 I'M SORRY?? WHO??? MICK AND CHARLES???? THIS GIRL IS LIVING MY DREAMS 😭

⊳ curiouscat_16 she's so lucky but she seems like she's into charles more

⊳ f1foreverfanatic let me bag mick! (i have no chance)

⊳ sunsetchasers bffr now guys

racingroyalties can someone please pick mick up? he's going after his colleagues ex girlfriends again 🙄😒

⊳ speeddemon47 it started from luisa, right? 😭 ⊳ racingroyalties yes, but it also makes sense that y/n is in monaco. it's almost charles' birthday and he wil throw a party. ⊳ f1foreverfanatic is mick coming over? or at least was he invited? ⊳ sirhamilton_44 i highly doubt that, he was entangled dating y/n for a night during the race week in singapore. her father is a mercedes fan and has close connection with toto wolff so that is how mick probably was introduced to y/n. he invested into mercedes when lewis was dominating the grid. mick probably had to let her go because he probably had the sense that y/n likes charles and there were something brewing in between the two. ⊳ charlesofmonaco then how the hell did y/n and charles meet? ⊳ sirhamilton_44 through friends of friends :)

charles_leclerc uploaded a story

seen by mickschumacher, yourbrother and others

yourusername posted a picture

monaco

liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz55, landonorris and others

yourusername happy birthday lord perceval

michelledee oh! 👀 happy birthday to him

yourbrother enjoying monaco, huh?

⊳ rociozobel you're not there with her?!

⊳ yourbrother no, duty calls.

jazzychewter chat, this is real!

⊳ celeste_cortesi @jazzychewter spill the 🫘

comments are limited.

charles_leclerc posted a picture

monaco

liked by yourusername, yourbrother and others

charles_leclerc maison avec du soleil 🌻

yourbrother i am keeping an eye on you, charles.

⊳ carlossainz55 uh oh

⊳ racefanatic_91 NOT Y/N'S BROTHER COMMENTING A THREAT

⊳ gossipguruf1 bro is getting prosecuted if he breaks y/n's heart

yourfather to love, laughter, and many more wins on and off the track! 🏆 happy birthday charles!

⊳ leclxrc16 Y/N'S FATHER COMMENTED

⊳ ferrarif1lover MAN HAS THE BLESSINGS OF A DAMN COUNTRY

chxrlessss16 MAN WAS DOUBLE TIMING WHILE THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY 😭😭😭

⊳ thaweeepon_ann man has his priorities STRAIGHTER than my gender 💔

⊳ racefanatic_91 he was multitasking like there's no tomorrow! 🥹 he said hard launch my pretty girlfriend now

⊳ jensxnnnn_ still faster than a ferrari

scuderiaferrari happy birthday, charles! may your year be filled with lots of wins on and off the track! 🏆🥂

⊳ f1fanaticgirl MAKE YOUR CARS FASTER, PRANCING DONKEYS 😭

⊳ girlgossipf1 the way y/n will have to cope up with charles waking up from ferrari nightmares

⊳ champagneprxblems "box box" 💀

lovestruck_lou still happier than in a ferrari

⊳ racingroyalty you're so jailed for that

⊳ speedsterenthusiast just being realistic, man.

⊰⊹⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋄⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⊹⊱

Author's Note: first smau for charles leclerc! i didn't want this fic to be too political by mentioning any politician in here. but i really enjoyed making this and thankfully it's less hassle than the other smau i made (check out the "competition" series - mick schumacher smau if you have time).. let me know your thoughts, hit that ask box it's open for everyone! 𔘓ฅ[⁠ᓀ⁠˵⁠▾⁠˵⁠ᓂ⁠]𔘓ฅ

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created by the user in response to a creative writing prompt. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, or entities, whether living or deceased, is purely coincidental. The characters, events, and dialogue portrayed in this fanfiction are products of the user's imagination and are not meant to infringe upon any copyrights or trademarks associated with the Formula One sport or any real-life individuals. This fanfiction is solely intended for entertainment purposes, and the author acknowledges that the depicted scenarios are not endorsed, authorized, or supported by any official Formula One entities or the individuals mentioned.

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complementaryhalves · 6 months ago

Text

like catching lightning

11k words, teen and up

Summary:

In this universe, the lives of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz started in the same way as in ours, but they made different choices along the way and ended up down different paths. Nonetheless, they remain fated to meet on the same weekend in mid-September 2018, though instead of a luxury resort in Singapore, it happens in a gay club in Nice.

#charlos #charles leclerc x carlos sainz #1655 #f1 rpf #f1 #formula one #rpf #charles leclerc #cl16 #carlos sainz #cs55 #my fics #cecilia writes

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posttexasstressdisorder · 18 days ago

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How Trump's billionaires are hijacking affordable housing

Thom Hartmann

October 24, 2024 8:52AM ET

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the 79th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City, U.S., October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

America’s morbidly rich billionaires are at it again, this time screwing the average family’s ability to have decent, affordable housing in their never-ending quest for more, more, more. Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, and Denmark have had enough and done something about it: we should, too.

There are a few things that are essential to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” that should never be purely left to the marketplace; these are the most important sectors where government intervention, regulation, and even subsidy are not just appropriate but essential. Housing is at the top of that list.

A few days ago I noted how, since the Reagan Revolution, the cost of housing has exploded in America, relative to working class income.

When my dad bought his home in the 1950s, for example, the median price of a single-family house was around 2.2 times the median American family income. Today the St. Louis Fed says the median house sells for $417,700 while the median American income is $40,480—a ratio of more than 10 to 1 between housing costs and annual income.

ALSO READ: He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

In other words, housing is about five times more expensive (relative to income) than it was in the 1950s.

And now we’ve surged past a new tipping point, causing the homelessness that’s plagued America’s cities since George W. Bush’s deregulation-driven housing- and stock-market crash in 2008, exacerbated by Trump’s bungling America’s pandemic response.

And the principal cause of both that crash and today’s crisis of homelessness and housing affordability has one, single, primary cause: billionaires treating housing as an investment commodity.

A new report from Popular Democracy and the Institute for Policy Studies reveals how billionaire investors have become a major driver of the nationwide housing crisis. They summarize in their own words:

— Billionaire-backed private equity firms worm their way into different segments of the housing market to extract ever-increasing rents and value from multi-family rental, single-family homes, and mobile home park communities. — Global billionaires purchase billions in U.S. real estate to diversify their asset holdings, driving the creation of luxury housing that functions as “safety deposit boxes in the sky.” Estimates of hidden wealth are as high as $36 trillion globally, with billions parked in U.S. land and housing markets. — Wealthy investors are acquiring property and holding units vacant, so that in many communities the number of vacant units greatly exceeds the number of unhoused people. Nationwide there are 16 million vacant homes: that is, 28 vacant homes for every unhoused person. — Billionaire investors are buying up a large segment of the short-term rental market, preventing local residents from living in these homes, in order to cash in on tourism. These are not small owners with one unit, but corporate owners with multiple properties. — Billionaire investors and corporate landlords are targeting communities of color and low-income residents, in particular, with rent increases, high rates of eviction, and unhealthy living conditions. What’s more, billionaire-owned private equity firms are investing in subsidized housing, enjoying tax breaks and public benefits, while raising rents and evicting low-income tenants from housing they are only required to keep affordable, temporarily. (Emphasis theirs.)

It seems that everywhere you look in America you see the tragedy of the homelessness these billionaires are causing. Rarely, though, do you hear about the role of Wall Street and its billionaires in causing it.

The math, however, is irrefutable.

Thirty-two percent is the magic threshold, according to research funded by the real estate listing company Zillow. When neighborhoods hit rent rates in excess of 32 percent of neighborhood income, homelessness explodes. And we’re seeing it play out right in front of us in cities across America because a handful of Wall Street billionaires are making a killing.

As the Zillow study notes:

“Across the country, the rent burden already exceeds the 32 percent [of median income] threshold in 100 of the 386 markets included in this analysis….”

And wherever housing prices become more than three times annual income, homelessness stalks like the grim reaper. That Zillow-funded study laid it out:

“This research demonstrates that the homeless population climbs faster when rent affordability — the share of income people spend on rent — crosses certain thresholds. In many areas beyond those thresholds, even modest rent increases can push thousands more Americans into homelessness.”

This trend is massive.

As noted in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Meet Your New Landlord: Wall Street,” in just one suburb (Spring Hill) of Nashville:

“In all of Spring Hill, four firms … own nearly 700 houses … [which] amounts to about 5% of all the houses in town.”

This is the tiniest tip of the iceberg.

“On the first Tuesday of each month,” notes the Journal article about a similar phenomenon in Atlanta, investors “toted duffels stuffed with millions of dollars in cashier’s checks made out in various denominations so they wouldn’t have to interrupt their buying spree with trips to the bank…”

The same thing is happening in cities and suburbs all across America; agents for the billionaire investor goliaths use fine-tuned computer algorithms to sniff out houses they can turn into rental properties, making over-market and unbeatable cash bids often within minutes of a house hitting the market.

After stripping neighborhoods of homes young families can afford to buy, billionaires then begin raising rents to extract as much cash as they can from local working class communities.

In the Nashville suburb of Spring Hill, the vice-mayor, Bruce Hull, told the Journal you used to be able to rent “a three bedroom, two bath house for $1,000 a month.” Today, the Journal notes:

“The average rent for 148 single-family homes in Spring Hill owned by the big four [Wall Street billionaire investor] landlords was about $1,773 a month…”

As the Bank of International Settlements summarized in a 2014 retrospective study of the years since the Reagan/Gingrich changes in banking and finance:

“We describe a Pareto frontier along which different levels of risk-taking map into different levels of welfare for the two parties, pitting Main Street against Wall Street. … We also show that financial innovation, asymmetric compensation schemes, concentration in the banking system, and bailout expectations enable or encourage greater risk-taking and allocate greater surplus to Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.”

It’s a fancy way of saying that billionaire-owned big banks and hedge funds have made trillions on housing while you and your community are becoming destitute.

Ryan Dezember, in his book Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare, describes the story of a family trying to buy a home in Phoenix. Every time they entered a bid, they were outbid instantly, the price rising over and over, until finally the family’s father threw in the towel.

“Jacobs was bewildered,” writes Dezember. “Who was this aggressive bidder?”

Turns out it was Blackstone Group, now the world’s largest real estate investor run by a major Trump supporter. At the time they were buying $150 million worth of American houses every week, trying to spend over $10 billion. And that’s just a drop in the overall bucket.

As that new study from Popular Democracy and the Institute for Policy Studies found:

“[Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman’s] Blackstone is the largest corporate landlord in the world, with a vast and diversified real estate portfolio. It owns more than 300,000 residential units across the U.S., has $1 trillion in global assets, and nearly doubled its profits in 2021. “Blackstone owns 149,000 multi-family apartment units; 63,000 single-family homes; 70 mobile home parks with 13,000 lots through their subsidiary Treehouse Communities; and student housing, through American Campus Communities (144,300 beds in 205 properties as of 2022). Blackstone recently acquired 95,000 units of subsidized housing.”

In 2018, corporations and the billionaires that own or run them bought 1 out of every 10 homes sold in America, according to Dezember, noting that:

“Between 2006 and 2016, when the homeownership rate fell to its lowest level in fifty years, the number of renters grew by about a quarter.”

And it’s gotten worse every year since then.

This all really took off around a decade ago following the Bush Crash, when Morgan Stanley published a 2011 report titled “The Rentership Society,” arguing that snapping up houses and renting them back to people who otherwise would have wanted to buy them could be the newest and hottest investment opportunity for Wall Street’s billionaires and their funds.

Turns out, Morgan Stanley was right. Warren Buffett, KKR, and The Carlyle Group have all jumped into residential real estate, along with hundreds of smaller investment groups, and the National Home Rental Council has emerged as the industry’s premiere lobbying group, working to block rent control legislation and other efforts to control the industry.

As John Husing, the owner of Economics and Politics Inc., told The Tennessean newspaper:

“What you have are neighborhoods that are essentially unregulated apartment houses. It could be disastrous for the city.”

As Zillow found:

“The areas that are most vulnerable to rising rents, unaffordability, and poverty hold 15 percent of the U.S. population — and 47 percent of people experiencing homelessness.”

The loss of affordable homes also locks otherwise middle class families out of the traditional way wealth is accumulated — through home ownership: over 61% of all American middle-income family wealth is their home’s equity.

And as families are priced out of ownership and forced to rent, they become more vulnerable to homelessness.

Housing is one of the primary essentials of life. Nobody in America should be without it, and for society to work, housing costs must track incomes in a way that makes housing both available and affordable.

Singapore, Denmark, New Zealand, and parts of Canada have all put limits on billionaire, corporate, and foreign investment in housing, recognizing families’ residences as essential to life rather than purely a commodity. Multiple other countries are having that debate or moving to take similar actions as you read these words.

America should, too.

ALSO READ: Not even ‘Fox and Friends’ can hide Trump’s dementia

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scotianostra · 2 months ago

Text

On September. 27th 1938, Queen Elizabeth, the world's largest ocean liner was launched on the Clyde.

The Queen Elizabeth was the sister ship of the Queen Mary, which was christened four years earlier, I covered this yesterday.

Unfortunately, her role as a luxury liner was short-lived - with the outbreak of the Second World War the following year, the Queen Elizabeth entered service in February 1940 as a troopship and didn’t return to her original role until October 1946.

The Cunard line’s enormous luxury ocean-goer was built on the river Clyde to sail between Southampton and New York, named after the Queen Consort (later the Queen Mother).

Following the outbreak of World War II, the security of Queen Elizabeth became a major concern for Cunard-White Star and the British Government. It was not safe to keep the ship in Scotland, as it was well known that she was a tempting target for the Luftwaffe.

Queen Elizabeth was painted in military grey before departing Clydebank for what was rumoured to be a short journey to Southampton. However, once in open sea the ship’s course was altered – Queen Elizabeth’s maiden voyage was to New York!

Thus, the untested and untried ship – then the world’s largest ocean liner – made a secret dash across the Atlantic to the safety of America. She arrived unannounced in New York, surprising officials and New Yorkers alike. Queen Elizabeth berthed alongside Queen Mary, Normandie and Mauretania Queen Elizabeth was requisitioned for wartime service on 13 November 1940.

The ship sailed to Singapore where she was refurbished into the world’s largest troop carrier. During the works, defensive armaments and a degaussing coil (to protect against mines) were fitted.

On 11th February, Queen Elizabeth sailed from Singapore bound for Sydney, Australia, arriving ten days later. Here the conversion into troop ship was completed and Queen Elizabeth undertook her first trooping voyage to the Middle East, carrying troops to Suez.

Queen Elizabeth later sailed to Canada, and carried troops to Sydney, while in 1942 the Admiralty considered possible future uses for the Queens. Their trooping capacity meant they were the most valuable large troop transports in service. When the USA entered the war in December 1941, the future use of Queen Elizabeth along with Queen Mary changed. Ultimately, the ships were most valuable operating the trooping service on the North Atlantic, and following a major overhaul Queen Elizabeth commenced this service. She remained in Government requisition for the rest of the war.

At the end of the war, Queen Elizabeth was famous on both sides of the Atlantic. The ship, which had carried over 750,000 troops, now commenced work repatriating those troops as well as the war brides.

Queen Elizabeth was released from Admiralty service in 1946. Her post-war overhaul and refurbishment was carried out both on the Clyde and at Southampton. This overhaul saw luxury passenger interiors installed aboard Queen Elizabeth, in preparation for civilan transatlantic services. Additionally, ship was painted in Cunard livery, while the machinery was overhauled.

Queen Elizabeth was given her full sea trials, and then officially accepted by Cunard. The ship made her maiden peacetime passenger voyage to New York on 16 October 1946.

Queen Elizabeth proved a popular ship and over the coming months the ship was well booked. On 17 April 1947, Queen Elizabeth ran aground near Brambles Bank as she made her approach to Southampton in thick fog. The ship was later successfully refloated.

In September 1951 Queen Elizabeth made her 100th peacetime transatlantic crossing. But as more passengers took to airline services, Cunard realised that they needed to upgrade Queen Elizabeth in order to keep her relevant in a changing world with a particular focus on longer duration cruising

As such, during a refurbishment in January 1952 the ship’s fuel capacity was increased allowing her to sail longer distances without refuelling. Additionally air-conditioning was fitted throughout, to allow the ship to undertake voyages into warm climates. Four years later, Queen Elizabeth was fitted with stabilisers, which greatly improved passenger comfort.

When Pan American World Airways flew the first Boeing 707 service across the Atlantic, the future for Queen Elizabeth was in doubt. By 1962 the decline in the number of passengers on the Atlantic shipping service (they had moved their business to airliners) led to an announcement that the ship would be used more and more for cruises.

Cunard gave Queen Elizabeth another major overhaul in Greenock, which involved an interior refurbishment and the creation of an outdoor swimming pool on Queen Elizabeth’s aft deck. This was combined with a new lido area which, it was hoped, would allow the ship to attract more cruise passengers.

Sadly, the 1966 Seaman’s Strike meant that the refreshed ship was laid up in Southampton for a number of weeks, which further impacted on Cunard’s financial viability. On 8 May 1967, Cunard announced the fates of the two Queens. Queen Mary was withdrawn from service later that year, while the Queen Elizabeth was to be retained until Autumn 1968, by which time it was hoped the QE2 would be ready as her replacement.

Queen Elizabeth was initially sold to a group of Philadelphian businessmen, who intended to turn her into a floating hotel in Florida. The ship made her final transatlantic crossing on 5 November 1968 before she was withdrawn from Cunard service.

Once in Florida, the ship was opened to the public, however this venture didn’t last and the ship was closed in late 1969. In 1970 the ship was auctioned and bought by C.Y.Tung, Hong Kong, who planned to convert the liner into the world’s largest Floating University.

Re-named Seawise University, the ship sailed for Hong Kong to be converted. The transformation was almost complete when a series of fires broke out aboard the ship, causing her to burn out and sink in the harbour, a sad end to a beautiful ship.

You can find more pics and info on the link below, including an 8 minute video. Among the pics you will see that although Queen Elizabeth was a luxury liner, it was not this way when it was in service during WW2, troops were crammed into every available space.

#scotland #scottish #history #Glasgow #Clydeside #Govan #Shipbuilding

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