 During this refit the hull was stripped to bare metal, and the ship repainted in the traditional Cunard colours of matte black (Federal Grey) with a white superstructure.On 29 August 2002, "Queen Elizabeth 2" became the first merchant ship to sail more than 5 million nautical miles at sea.In 2004, the vessel stopped plying the traditional transatlantic route and began full-time cruising, the transatlantic route having been assigned to Cunard's new flagship, the .