Everything about Royal Yacht Britannia totally explained
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia was the 83rd
Royal Yacht since the restoration of
King Charles II in
1660. She is the 2nd Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing
cutter built for Edward, Prince of Wales in 1893. She is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at
Ocean Terminal,
Leith,
Edinburgh,
Scotland.
History
HMY Britannia was built at the shipyard of
John Brown & Co. Ltd in
Clydebank,
West Dunbartonshire,
UK, being launched by Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II on
16 April 1953 and commissioned on
11 January 1954. She was designed to be converted into a
hospital ship in time of war, although this never happened. During her career as Royal Yacht she conveyed the Queen, other members of the
Royal Family, and various dignitaries on 696 foreign visits and 272 visits in British waters.
The Prince of Wales and
Diana, Princess of Wales took a honeymoon cruise aboard
Britannia in
1981. She also evacuated over 1,000 refugees from the
civil war in
Aden in
1986. Guests included
United States General Norman Schwarzkopf, who commented when he saw the engines:
"Well, I've now seen the museum pieces. Where are the real engines?"
Historic Voyages
Britannia logged over a million nautical miles during which she visited nations around the globe.
Replacement
In
1997,
John Major's
Conservative government committed itself to replacing the Royal Yacht if re-elected, while the
Labour Party declined to disclose its plans for the vessel. Following Labour's victory on
1 May 1997 it was announced that the vessel would be retired and no replacement would be built. The Conservative government argued that the cost of the vessel was justified by its role in
foreign policy and promoting British interests abroad. When cancelling the replacement of the vessel, the new Labour government argued that the expenditure couldn't be justified given the other pressures on the defence budget (from which it would be funded and maintained). Proposals for the construction of a new royal yacht, perhaps financed through a loan or by the sovereign's own funds, have since made little headway.
The Royal Yacht's last foreign mission was to convey the last British
governor of Hong Kong;
Chris Patten (now the
The Lord Patten of Barnes) and The Prince of Wales, away from
Hong Kong after
the handover of the
British colony to the
People's Republic of China on
1 July 1997.
Britannia was decommissioned on
11 December 1997
Retirement
There was some controversy over the siting of the ship, with some arguing that she'd be better moored in Glasgow, where she was built, than in Edinburgh, to which the yacht had few links. However, her positioning in Leith coincided with a redevelopment of the harbour area, and the advent of
Scottish Devolution.
Her Majesty The Queen attended the decommissioning, along with most of the senior members of the Royal Family, and the normally impassive monarch famously shed a tear publicly after disembarking for the last time.
Britannia is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at
Leith harbour,
Edinburgh,
Scotland. Entrance to the yacht is via the
Ocean Terminal development. She is available for rental as a conference and banqueting venue. On May 18, 2006
Swiss Hollywood star and legendary first
Bond girl Ursula Andress celebrated her 70th birthday on board the Royal Yacht.
Image:HMY-Britannia-Bow.JPG|Bow of the HMY Britannia
Image:HMY-Britannia Moored in Leith.JPG|HMY Britannia at Ocean Terminal Leith
Image:HMY-Britannia-Bridge.JPG|Bridge
Image:HMY-Britannia-Ship's-Bell.JPG|Ship's Bell
Image:HMY-Britannia-Dinghy.JPG|Ship's launch, "The Royal Barge"
Statistics
Gross Tonnage: 5769 tons.
Length: 412 ft (125 m)
Height of masts above waterline: » :Foremast: 133 ft (40.5 m)
:Mainmast: 139 ft (42 m) » :Mizzenmast: 118 ft (36 m)
:;The top 20 feet (6 metres) of the two tallest masts were hinged to allow the ship to pass under bridges.
Maximum speed: 21.5 knots (40 km/h)
Range: ca. 2400 nautical miles (4,445 km)
During her career, Britannia steamed 1,087,623 nautical miles (2,014,278 km).
Crew (1997): 19 officers and 217 ratings from the Royal Navy plus a platoon size Royal Marine detachment.
Flag Officers Royal Yachts
Vice-Admiral Sir Connolly Abel-Smith 1954-1958
Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Dawnay 1958-1962
Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph Henley 1962-1965
Rear-Admiral Sir Patrick Morgan 1965-1970
Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Trowbridge 1970-1975
Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh Janion 1975-1981
Rear-Admiral Sir Paul Greening, GCVO 1981-1985
Rear-Admiral Sir John Garnier 1985-1990
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Woodard 1990-1995
Commodore Royal Yacht
Commodore Anthony Morrow 1995-1997
Previous Royal Yachts
HMY Osborne (1880s)
HMY Fairy (1840s)
HMY Victoria and Albert (1842-1855, scrapped 1868)
HMY Victoria and Albert II (1855-1900)
HMY Victoria and Albert III (1901-1937)Further Information
Get more info on 'Royal Yacht Britannia'.
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