one of the largest passenger liners ever built. Launched in 1938 and used as a troopship during World War II, it entered the regular transatlantic service of the Cunard Line in 1946. The ship was 1,031 feet (314 m) long and 118.5 feet (36 m) wide and had a draft of 38 feet (11.6 m) and an original gross tonnage of 83,673. The Queen Elizabeth was retired in 1968 and sold for conversion to a seagoing university, but it burned and sank in January 1972 during refitting at Hong Kong. Its successor, the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), was launched in 1967 and made its maiden voyage in 1969. The QE2 made its final voyage between New York and England in 2008 after having become the longest-serving ship in Cunard's history. The ship was to be refitted as a floating hotel in Dubayy.