QMI-Restore the Queen, is a non-profit group dedicated to inspiring the public, visitors and the community to truly appreciate the RMS Queen Mary as a valuable piece of history for the city of Long Beach.
Unfortunately, the group says after years of neglect, the historic vessel could face internal structural collapse within the next decade unless major action is taken soon, this according to documents obtained by the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
The report estimates the total cost of ship repairs could range from $235 million to $289 million and predicts the work would take up to five years to complete. Roughly 75 percent of the repairs were deemed “urgent,” according to the study. Mary Rohrer, Executive Director of QMI told Jo Kwon the group has raised about 10 grand to assist with the efforts but says the city has refused to talk to her group about a fix up plan.
Naval architects and marine engineers who compiled a marine survey on the ship’s condition warn that the structure is probably “approaching the point of no return.”
Among the problems cited:
• The ship’s hull is corroded so severely from the inside that certain areas, including the ship’s engine room, could be prone to flooding.
• If a breach did occur, there are no steel watertight doors that could be sealed, and no way to pump water out because the bilge system is inoperable; any major flooding could cause the ship to sink to the lagoon floor.
• The pillar supports for the raised false floor in the exhibition space (where events are held) are corroded throughout and could cause “immediate collapse” under the weight of just a few people.
Last November the city approved $23 million to address the ship’s most urgent repairs, and Urban Commons is working to secure additional funding.
John Keisler, economic and property development director told the Gazette newspapers last week “We have a timeline in which the engineers believe they can complete those immediate projects. These are major challenges we can only address over time; it can’t all be done at once.”
The deal amends a 66-year lease approved last year with Urban Commons under which the company pays the city an annual base rent of $300,000.
See up close photos of the trouble brewing for yourself here via the Press-Telegram