Queen Launches The Southern Cross - The bottle of Empire Champagne shatters in a fountain of liquid and glass and the new Shaw Savill luxury liner Southern cross starts to slide down the slipway at her launching by the Queen from the Belfast yard of harland and Wolff today (Tuesday). her Majesty's wasted coat and feather-trimmed hat are in pastel green the same colour as the new liner's upper works. The 20,000 ton ship, which has her funnel and engines installed aft like an oil tanker, is intended for service between Britain and Australia and New Zealand. August 17, 1954.