The Queen Elizabeth II (often abbreviated to QE2) was an ocean liner that was designed and operated by Cunard and ran between 1969 and 2008. Purposely built to be smaller than its predecessors, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, the ship was a gamble for Cunard in that the age of trans-Atlantic ships was over by the late 1960s as cheaper and faster air travel had taken most of the passenger traffic from that market. She was launched on 20th September 1967 by HM Queen Elizabeth II and made her maiden voyage on 22nd April 1969. Although she took part in at least one trans-Atlantic voyage for each of her thirty-nine operating years, in the main she was used as a holiday cruise ship, sailing from her home port of Southampton.