In 2017 Cunard announced the order of the fourth ship in their current fleet and the 249th ship in its history. It was initially announced that the new vessel would be based on the ,
Holland America Line's Pinnacle-class ship. With a
gross tonnage of 113,000, the ship would carry up to 3,000 passengers. The delivery was originally planned for 2022, Later, this was pushed back again, to May 2024. Steel cutting began at
Fincantieri’s Castellammare di Stabia shipyard on 11 October 2019. The forward stub was transferred to Marghera in August 2022 for completion. On 3 May 2023 the structurally complete ship was floated out of the construction dry dock for the first time. Media agencies initially speculated whether the ship's name would continue with Cunard's practice of naming them after queens or return to its long-standing convention of giving their vessels names ending in -'ia' like past Cunard ships ,
RMS Berengaria, and . In February 2022, Cunard announced that the ship would be named
Queen Anne. Maritime historians Chris Frame and Rachelle Cross were engaged to work with Cunard to name the ship's six grand suites, so named after famous Cunard waterways including: River Mersey, River Clyde, Hudson River, The Solent, Boston Harbor and Halifax Harbour. The ship's maiden voyage, a 7-night-voyage to Lisbon, began on 3 May 2024 in Southampton. The ship's maiden insights presenters, who hosted presentations as part of the ship's Insights Programme were Yeoman Warder Peter McGowran, Sports Broadcaster
Clare Balding and Maritime Historian Chris Frame. On 3 June 2024 at
Liverpool,
Queen Anne was
christened by Ngunan Adamu, Natalie Haywood,
Jayne Casey,
Katarina Johnson-Thompson and
Melanie C. The city of Liverpool was also announced to be the godmother of the ship. Cunard broke with their usual traditions by not selecting an individual to name the ship, and in keeping the godparent a secret until the day of the ceremony. ==References==