See my previous Queens posts here and  here for the 2008 three-vessel event,  and here and here for first arrivals of QV and QM2.  Last night, the newest Queen vessel departed the sixth boro for the first time escorted by QV and QM2.  Tomorrow’s post will feature some daylight shots of all three, including MS Queen Elizabeth.

The following few shots capture brief moments of the festivities last night.  Lined up here from farthest to nearest are QM2, QV, and QE.  Fireworks finale

was complete

by 7:30.

Most moving for me transpired an hour before as QM2 departed Brooklyn and came upriver to meet the two newer vessels as they headed south from the Manhattan passenger terminal.  Her horn, low pitched and determined, sounded a call like that of a bovine calling its calf to steady its legs and follow.

As QM2 rotated between the Battery and the Morris Canal, Laura K Moran stood by, but

I couldn’t tell if contact actually happened.

Margaret Moran (I think) also stood by, although I didn’t notice her until

after the rotation.

343 spouted water.

As I said, by 7:30 the three vessels began to cruise toward the Narrows.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who is grateful to Lee and Jordan for hosting an extraordinary meeting of the Ship Lore, featuring no lesser an authority on ship design than Rick Old Salt as speaker.

More Queens tomorrow.