The Queen Mary has always been on a financial tightrope and the Queen Elizabeth was a complete failure. Both were bought by commercial groups that relied on making a profit from the ships, there was no public money involved.
QE2 was bought by a Dubai business consortium but that project has also failed before it even started and the ship is no longer being maintained properly.
The Rotterdam has recently reopened as a hotel and business centre in Rotterdam (surprise!) but it remains to be seen how successful she will be in the longer term.
As always, preserving a ship is a huge money pit and it is always a struggle to generate sufficient income to maintain the operation. Taxpayer's money is rarely an option. It looks as if HMS Illustrious will be next for the breakers as efforts to preserve her have fallen through.
There are of course exceptions but almost all preserved ships lead a precarious hand to mouth existence and place a tremendous reliance on volunteers to keep them financially and often literally afloat. That is why a number of the preserved battleships in the USA are now experiencing difficulties as the support given by their former crew members falls away.
Colin
