On the afternoon of January 9, 1972 five separate fires broke out onboard the former RMS Queen Elizabeth. The fire protection system had not yet been completed so there was nothing to fight the blaze with until fireboats arrived. The flames quickly spread and within hours, the entire ship was engulfed. Within the next several months, the RMS Queen Elizabeth would sit, rusting while the insurance company sought scrapped bids. RMS Queen Elizabeth would remain the world's largest passenger shipwreck for more than 30 years until the 2012 sinking of the Costa Concordia in Tuscany.