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BIG CHALLENGE:
LEUT Houlihan relished the challenge of guiding the world’s
largest and tallest liner, the QM2 into FBE.
Photo: Phil Barling |
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MAJESTIC:
Queen Mary 2 glides past the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney
Opera House to the only berth capable of accommodating a ship
her size, Fleet Base East.
Photo: ABPH Paul Berry |
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BIG TIME:
LEUT Scott Houlihan helped to berth the massive cruise liner
Queen Mary 2 at Garden Island in Sydney.
Photo: LSPH Nina Nikolin |
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LEUT Scott Houlihan believes “the bigger the challenge the better”.
That’s why LEUT Houlihan, the Port Services Manager (PSM) at HMAS
Kuttabul (CMDR Mark Todd), relished his biggest career challenge so far
in guiding the world’s largest and tallest ocean liner, the Queen
Mary 2 (QM2), to her berth at Fleet Base East (FBE).
LEUT Houlihan helped the Captain berth the massive 150,000-ton QM2 at
FBE on Tuesday 20 Feb.
In providing the advice and subject matter expertise necessary to get
QM2 dockside, he helped the $1 billion luxury cruise ship claim the mantle
of the biggest ocean liner ever to visit Australia.
He said that he “provided advice to the Captain about the wharf,
depths of waters in the approach to the wharf and advice on the line up
after alongside”.
PSM Kuttabul said his Navy training had him well prepared for the challenge
posed by the 345m-long QM2.
“When dealing with multiple authorities like the case was with the
QM2 my training and experience let me quickly sum up the situation from
multiple sources, and provide a clear and precise solution,” he said.
LEUT Houlihan said QM2’s historic visit to Sydney injected over $3
million into the local economy and was made possible by the RAN because
it allowed it to berth at FBE, the only wharf long enough and deep enough
in Sydney Harbour.
Up to five RAN FFGs would normally berth in the same space at FBE.
About 3,000 passengers and crew were on board QM2 when she visited halfway
through her world cruise, with many people either departing or joining
the ship during the day.
CMDR Todd said Kuttabul “was a hive of activity during QM2’s
visit”, with approximately 60 passenger buses ferrying passengers
to and from FBE.
History was again made later in the evening when QM2 was joined in Sydney
Harbour by her “little” sister, the 70,000 ton Queen Elizabeth
2, which berthed at Circular Quay.
The dusk spectacle was the first time two Cunard Queens have been seen
together in Sydney since World War II when the original Queen Mary and
Queen Elizabeth visited the city as troop carriers.
| In a nutshell |
| - Engines output 157,000 HP |
| - Features 19 decks (17 pax) |
| - Contains 17 dining rooms, one of which is 3 decks high |
| - Has 2,000 bathrooms |
| - First to have an onboard Planetarium |
| - Has 1,253 crew onboard. |
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