with 510 displacement tons (518 tonnes) of fuel and 210 tons (213 tonnes) of fresh water.
Merchant ship practice was followed in Britannia’s construction, and the structural plans were submitted to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. In their final form they were approved by Lloyd’s and the Admiralty.
Refits and docking usually take place in the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth. The first major refit of the ship since her launching took place in 1972 and 1973: the main task completed was the improvement of accommodation for the crew and the installation of an air conditioning system for their quarters.
The royal apartments are aft on the shelter deck and the royal staff accommodation is on the lower deck.
(In wartime the after part would have wards accommodating up to 200 patients). The royal and state apartments contain some of the furniture from the Victoria and Albert. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took a personal interest in the interior decorations, the choice of furnishings and the general fitting-out of the royal yacht.
The yacht is an independent command, administered personally by the Flag Officer, Royal Yachts. He is normally appointed as an extra equerry to the Queen and, as such, is a member of the royal household. Britannia’s crew numbers 21 officers and 256 men when members of the royal family are embarked or when the vessel undertakes a long ocean voyage. Officers are normally appointed for two-year periods of duty. Half the ratings are permanent crew members and remain attached to the ship for the rest of their service careers; the others are attached to the yacht for two-year periods only. They are all volunteers from the Royal Navy, but receive no special benefits in terms of pay, allowances or leave.
Traditions of dress aboard the royal yacht include the wearing by seamen of naval uniform with the jumper inside the top of the trousers, which are finished at the back with a black silk bow. On all blue uniforms, ratings wear white badges instead of the red which are customary in the Royal Navy. So far as possible orders on the upper deck are executed without spoken words or commands, and by long tradition the customary naval mark of respect of piping the side is paid only to the Queen.
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HMY Britannia by Tower Bridge. Credit: Lynda Poulter via Wikimedia Commons.
In service from 1954 until 1997, HMY Britannia is the former royal yacht of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the British throne in 1660 and had HMY Mary built for him by the Dutch East India Company, and the second royal yacht to bear the name, the first being a racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893.
During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the globe. Today, she is an award-winning visitor attraction and evening events venue permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith, in Edinburgh.
HMY Britannia was built in Scotland at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd. in Clydebank, West Dumbartonshire. It was launched by the Queen on 16 April 1953 and commissioned on 11 January 1954.
She sailed on her maiden voyage from Portsmouth to Grand Harbour, Malta, on 14 April 1954, carrying Prince Charles and Princess Anne to Malta, to Malta in order for them to meet their parents at the end of the royal couple’s Commonwealth Tour.
On 20 July 1959, Britannia sailed the newly opened Saint Lawrence Seaway en route to Chicago, where she docked, making the Queen the first Canadian monarch to visit the city. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower was aboard Britannia for part of this cruise; Presidents Ford, Reagan and Clinton were subsequently welcomed aboard the yacht.
Britannia was designed to be converted into a hospital ship in time of war, with space for an estimated 200 patients. Although the ship was never used in this capacity, as she sailed down the Red Sea in January 1986, en route to Australia, she was asked to play the equally challenging role of rescue ship, to evacuate British nationals and others trapped in South Yemen, where civil war had broken out. Moreover, in the event of nuclear war, Britannia was to be used as a refuge and base of operations for the Queen. The plan, codenamed “Python system”, would have had the ship located on the northwest coast of Scotland in sea lochs with Her Majesty, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Home Secretary safely on board.
The royal yacht played host to four royal honeymoons: Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones visited the West Indies in 1960; Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips also chose the Caribbean in 1973; Prince Charles and Princess Diana travelled around the Mediterranean in 1981 and finally the Duke and Duchess of York visited the Azores in 1986. Most recently, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall held their pre-wedding reception on board the yacht in July 2011.
The State Drawing Room. Credit: Marianna Bozzoli.
Britannia ’s last foreign mission was to Hong Kong for the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997. The ship set sail for Hong Kong in January and served to escort British Governor Christopher Patten and the Prince of Wales back to the UK.
In 1997, the Conservative government committed itself to replacing the Royal Yacht if re-elected, while the Labour Party refused to disclose its plans for the vessel. After Tony Blair’s Labour won the general election in May 1997, it announced the vessel was to be retired and no replacement would be built. The previous government had argued that the cost was justified by its role in foreign policy and promoting British interests abroad.
The Queen has since chartered the MV Hebridian Princess , a private charter cruise ship, on two separate occasions for family trips around the Scottish islands.
When HMY Britannia would come into port, blowing its foghorns, the Queen herself would reportedly imitate the foghorn noise, much to the amusement of anyone in earshot. Then she and the Duke of Edinburgh would travel ashore on the royal barge, built in 1964 to replace to previous one, which had originally belonged to the royal yacht Victoria and Albert III .
Unlike most ships, Britannia was the only ships in the world where the captain was always an Admiral. The crew were volunteers from the Royal Navy, officers were appointed for a period of two years, while enlisted crew (known as “yachtsmen”) served for one-year periods, after which they could be admitted to “The Permanent Royal Yacht Service”. If accepted the Royal Yachtsmen were permitted to serve until they left the Royal Yacht Service or were expelled for medical or disciplinary reasons. An attachment of Royal Marines would also be stationed on the yacht when the Royal Family was present. Service on the royal yacht attracted no extra pay, allowances or leave.
Everything was done to preserve the Royal Family’s tranquillity: most orders were not given verbally, but by hand signal; soft-soled plimsolls were worn and any work near the royal apartments had to be completed by 8.00AM.
The Queen’s Bedroom. Credit: Marianna Bozzoli.
HMY Britannia was the last ship in the Royal Navy to have hammocks in sailors’ quarters.
During her career as Royal Yacht, Britannia conveyed the Queen, other members of the Royal Family and various dignitaries on 696 foreign visits and 272 visits in British waters. In this time, Britannia steamed 1,087,623 nautical miles (2,014,278 km).
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From humanitarian missions to hosting royal honeymoons, the HMS Britannia has a fascinating history serving the British Royal Family for over four decades. When she was decommissioned in 1997, Queen Elizabeth II shed a tear in a rare display of emotion. The occasion marked the end of long succession for royal yachts dating back to the reign of Charles II. As the country prepares to celebrate the Queen’s diamond jubilee, we remember her beloved Britannia .
Britannia was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her father and was launched from John Brown & Co. Ltd - the shipyard that built the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary cruise liners - in 1953. However, there was to be no traditional Champagne-smashing against her bow. In a post-war Britain, Champagne was considered too extravagant so instead, a bottle of Empire wine was selected to do the honours at her official launch ceremony.
Unlike her predecessors, Britannia possessed a more modern profile with a clipper bow and cruiser stern. The ship was designed with three masts: a 41-metre foremast, a 42-metre mainmast, and 36 metre mizzenmast. The last six metres of the main mast were placed on a hinge so she could pass under bridges.
Between family vacations and official tours, Britannia logged over one million nautical miles, which roughly equates to one trip around the world for each of her 44 years in service.
The ship’s wheel was taken from King Edward VII’s racing yacht, a 37-metre gaff-rigged cutter also named Britannia . She was a near sistership to Valkyrie II which challenged for the 1893 America's Cup, and won over 230 races in her lifetime. At the end of her life she was stripped of her spars and fittings - the wheel was saved and fitted on Britannia
The engine room was hyper-clean Rumour has it that the engine room on Britannia was kept in such pristine condition that any visitors were made to wipe their feet on a door mat before entering.
A number of royal couples chose to spend their honeymoons on Britannia given its privacy and security. Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones started the trend with a six-week sail between Mustique, Trinidad and Antigua, followed by Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, and Princess Diana and Prince Charles. The royal apartments were located on the shelter deck with access to a large veranda.
During royal tours, Britannia was manned by 220 yachtsmen, 21 officers and three season officers and a Royal Marine band of 26 on royal tours. Up until the 1970s, the crew had a daily ration of rum and she was the last Royal Navy vessel to have the crew sleep in hammocks.
Britannia was designed to be converted into a hospital ship in times of war. Although she was never used in this capacity, she did assist in the evacuation of refugees during the South Yemen civil war. The drawing room was used as a temporary dormitory for the evacuees.
It was common for officers to send junior crew off on a fool’s errand to search for a single "golden rivet". It became a right of passage and engrained in maritime folklore. During a state visit, so the story goes, the Queen had caught wind of this elusive rivet and was keen to see it for herself, so the crew found some gold leaf and hastily created a golden rivet to present to Her Majesty.
HMS Britannia was officially retired from royal service in 1997. Britannia is now permanently berthed in Edinburgh and has been converted into a museum. To this day, all the clocks on board remained stopped on 3.01pm which is the exact time the Queen last disembarked the vessel.
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As 83rd in a long line of royal yachts that stretches back to 1660 and the reign of Charles II, BRITANNIA holds a proud place in British maritime history. Plans to build a new royal yacht to replace the VICTORIA AND ALBERT III began during the reign of King George VI. But The King died in 1952, four months before the keel of the yacht was laid. His daughter, Princess Elizabeth, succeeded him to the throne and the new Queen, together with her husband, Prince Philip, took a guiding hand in the design of the yacht, personally approving plans prepared by Sir Hugh Casson, Consultant Architect and selecting furniture, fabrics and paintings.
On April 16 1953, Her Majesty's yacht BRITANNIA rolled down the slipway at John Brown's Clydebank Shipyard, on the start of her long and illustrious career. Commissioned for service in January 1954, BRITANNIA sailed the oceans for 43 years and 334 days. During that time she steamed a total of 1,087,623 nautical miles, carrying The Queen and other members of The Royal Family on 968 official visits and calling at over 600 ports in 135 countries. In June 1994, the Government announced that Her Majesty's yacht BRITANNIA would be taken out of service.
On 11 December 1997, BRITANNIA was decommissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base in the presence of The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and fourteen senior members of The Royal Family. Some 2,200 past and present royal yacht officers and yachtsmen, together with their families, came to witness the ceremony. Following BRITANNIA's decommissioning, proposals were put forward by cities around the UK, all competing to secure the ship. In April 1998, the Government announced that Edinburgh had been successful in its bid to bring BRITANNIA to the historic port of Leith. It was fitting that at the end of her active life, BRITANNIA should return to Scotland and to a familiar port for her final berth. The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust undertook to preserve this important 20th century icon, in keeping with her former role, and has safeguarded the yacht's place in the nation's heritage for future generations.
BRITANNIA is now a five star visitor attraction and one of the UK's premier corporate hospitality venues.
Built by John Brown’s Shipyard on Clydebank
Commissioned for service
Sailed the oceans for 43 years and 334 days, carrying the Royal Family on 968 official visits and calling at over 600 ports in 135 countries
Picked up refugees from an outbreak of civil strife and ferried them to the relative safety of Mogadishu
Government announced that Her Majesty's yacht would be taken out of service
Decommissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base
Vessel moved to port of Leith, Scotland for preservation as a visitor attraction
Classic Boat: Rule Britannia, May 2003 Norman Middlemiss, Shipping - Today & Yesterday: A Diamond Jubilee Tribute - 60 years of Royal yachts and launches, pp22-24, June 2012
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The Crown season five begins and ends with the same plot point: The Royal Yacht Britannia. The vessel serves as a—fairly obvious—metaphor in the first episode, where Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth describes it as “a floating, seagoing version of me.” The problem with her metaphorical marine self? It’s in desperate need of multi-million dollar repairs.
She asks British prime minister John Major, played by Jonny Lee Miller, whether the government might be able to help foot the bill. He, in turn, asks if the royal family might front the cost, given the public pushback they both might receive if such a seemingly extravagant project was approved. In the final episode of the season (a note to the reader: spoilers will follow), Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth agree to decommission the yacht after Prince Charles’s trip to Hong Kong.
The Crown is known for taking much of its plot material from real-life events. In the case of the Royal Yacht Britannia, though—what really happened to the boat, and how much political controversy did it really cause?
To go back to the beginning, King George VI first commissioned the royal yacht that would become the Britannia in 1952. It was an exciting project, as the previous official boat had belonged to Queen Victoria, and was rarely used. (Queen Victoria, for one, did not like the water and never sailed.) Then, during the early 20th century, England was mostly at war, and making a massive, slow-sailing luxury ship would be a massive security risk in international waters.
The Royal Yacht Britannia, George decided, should both be an extravagant vessel and a functional one, able to double as a hospital if times of war were to arise again. In 1953, the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth christened the ship with a bottle of wine, as champagne was still seen as too extravagant post-war. In 1954, she set sail for the first time.
The Royal Yacht fulfilled many functions, most of them leisurely. Over the years, the boat hosted four royal honeymoons, including that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, as well as many family vacations. In 1969, after his investiture as the Prince of Wales, Charles hosted an intimate party on board to celebrate. (Newspapers at the time wrote that he danced with his dear friend Lucia Santa Cruz —the very person who eventually introduced him to Camilla Parker Bowles.)
It also served as a grandiose mode of transport for many royal visits. In 1959, for example, Britannia sailed to Chicago to celebrate the recently-opened St. Lawrence seaway in Canada, and President Eisenhower joined her on board. Twenty years later, she sailed to Abu Dhabi for her first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, where she held a grand dinner for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
And although Queen Elizabeth's reign was not during wartime, the royal yacht did execute a humanitarian mission, as King George VI had always planned for: In 1986, it sailed to Aden to evacuate over 1,000 refugees from the civil war in Yemen.
The New York Times once described the 412-foot Britannia as “an ordinary yacht what Buckingham Palace is to the house next door.” It wasn’t an exaggeration—Britannia was essentially a floating palace. It had a drawing room, a dining room, two sitting rooms, as well as galleys and cabins for all the officers. The stateroom interiors were just as ornate as any other royal estate, while the bedrooms—which all had their own bathrooms and dressing rooms—were designed to feel surprisingly personal.
“Within the royal apartments, however, the regal elegance gives way to the homey, patched elbow chic of an English country house, with flowered chintz slipcovers, family photographs, and rattan settees, interspersed with the occasional relic of Empire—shark's teeth from the Solomon Islands here, a golden urn commemorating Nelson's victory at Trafalgar there,” the New York Times found when it boarded the ship in 1976.
The cost of running Britannia was always an issue. Politicians raised questions about its financial value as far back as 1954, when two MPs lobbied for an investigation on why the yacht’s refurbishment would cost 5.8 million pounds, accusing the royal family of waste and extravagance. A government committee later dismissed the accusations. In 1994, the Conservative government ruled the yacht too costly to refurbish, when repairs came in at a whopping 17 million, but then briefly walked back on their decision a few years later.
However, when Tony Blair’s Labour government won the election, and the new government once again declined to pay for Britannia. Britannia’s final journey was to far-flung Hong Kong in 1997, as Prince Charles turned over the British colony back to the Chinese at the end of Britain's 99-year lease. When they finally decommissioned the boat that summer, the queen cried—one of the few times she’s shown emotion in public. The boat had logged over one million nautical miles.
Today, Britannia sits permanently docked in Edinburgh. Visitors can take tours of its grand galleys, or even rent it out for events. Yet, despite its retirement, the concept of the royal yacht lives on: In 2021, Boris Johnson floated the idea of a new boat. However, a mere eight days ago, Rishi Sunak has scrapped the project—showing that, even now, the concept remains a controversial one.
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After 44 years in service, the famous vessel was being decommissioned and was in the midst of a farewell tour of the UK when she stopped off on Tyneside
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It was November 8, 1997 and the Royal Yacht Britannia was paying her last ever visit to the River Tyne.
The floating residence of Queen Elizabeth II, the ship had been launched at John Brown & Co shipyard on the River Clyde in April 1953, a couple of months before the young Queen's coronation. Now, after 44 years in service, the famous vessel was being decommissioned, and was in the midst of a farewell tour of the UK.
The Chronicle reported 25 years ago: "In semi darkness and heavy rain the Royal Yacht Britannia sailed up the Tyne today to pay an emotional farewell to her public. On her final visit to the region she was met by the river pilot's launch with a crew of journalists aboard.
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"We were welcomed aboard the 5,000-tonne, 420ft vessel by her skipper Commodore Anthony Morrow before she turned about and headed up river. Britannia has been the nation's favourite ship for 44 years and her farewell tour of the major ports in Britain has been an emotional journey.
"Coming up the Tyne backwards she passed the river's famous landmarks from Tynemouth Priory, past the shipyards at Wallsend, and on to Newcastle's world famous bridges escorted by the Type-42 destroyer HMS Manchester, her majestic arrival was only marred by the weather.
"Thousands braved a dawn downpour and lined the Quayside to see the Britannia arrive, just as they did on her last visit to the Tyne in 1989. Naval spokesman Lieutenant Commander Paul Gorsuch said people were welcome to come and say goodbye to the Britannia. He added: 'As Britannia is private royal territory and effectively a floating palace, for security reasons, the public won't be able to board her. But HMS Manchester will follow us up the river and people will be welcome to visit her. We recruit a lot of sailors from the North East, and we're hoping our visit might encourage still more to consider a life at sea'."
By the time the Royal Yacht arrived on Tyneside, she had sailed more than one million miles around the globe on nearly 1,000 state visits, calling at more than 600 ports in 135 countries, welcoming aboard numerous heads of state, including various American presidents.
A favourite place for the Queen to relax, around 45 members of the royal household would accompany her on foreign visits, while the ship could accommodate 250 guests. During her triumphant 1977 UK Silver Jubilee tour, the Queen and Prince Philip had disembarked from the Royal Yacht at Newcastle Quayside for their rapturous Tyneside leg of the tour.
The Royal Yacht was also designed with a secondary role as a hospital ship in times of war or emergency. In 1986 she rescued 1,500 civilians when fighting erupted in Yemen on the Arabian peninsular. And when the Royals began to use air travel more and more for engagements overseas, she became a flagship for British industry. The contracts signed and deals negotiated on board were estimated to have made up to £10 billion a year for business.
Now a permanent fixture at Leith docks near Edinburgh, the Royal Yacht Britannia is a major tourist attraction, welcoming thousands of visitors aboard every year.
Step back to the Newcastle city centre of 1968 in our film clip
HMHS Britannia, Royal Yacht, hospital markings (Minic Ships 721H) ) |
, 1960s |
A 1:1200 first-issue model of Her Majesty's Yacht HMY Britannia , with alternative hospital markings. The model is part of the Tri-Ang Minic range produced between 1959 and 1964.
The model has a white body and white funnel bearing a red cross.
Triang Catalogue Number: M721H
The Royal Yacht was nominally built as a dual-purpose ship that could serve as a hospital ship in times of war. However, the ship was never assigned the "HMHS prefix, since it was never never put into service in this role.
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They were expected to enjoy the most exciting and romantic 14 days of their extended honeymoon: a cruise around the Mediterranean that would take them to the sun-kissed Greek islands.
On the island of Crete, according to one account , they discovered a secret cove. There, under a brilliant blue sky and with temperatures in the 90s, the 20-year-old Diana swam in a bright yellow bikini as her 32-year-old husband sunbathed on the beach. A crew of 307 attended to their every wish, and they spent most of their evenings alone on the royal deck.
It sounds like an enchanted 14 days. Or was it?
A batch of letters, written by Diana to her personal secretary, Jane Parsons, presents an “intimate glimpse” into the marriage of Prince Charles and the late princess, according to Vanity Fair. The letters will be auctioned off next month,
The marriage, as the world later learned, was not a happy one. The couple divorced in 1996, and Diana was dead a year later, fatally injured in a car crash in Paris.
It seems that things started to go wrong even before the so-called wedding of the century when Diana learned that Charles had given his ex-girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles a bracelet. Then on their honeymoon cruise, Diana noticed that Charles was wearing a set of cufflinks given to him by Camilla. The couple had a “furious row.”
One letter in the batch to be auctioned off hints at this less than romantic picture of Diana’s time alone with her new husband. It is dated August 15, 1981, and is written on Britannia–crested paper. In it, the young princess writes, “The honeymoon was a perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep.”
Other letters provide other intriguing details of the next few years as the new wife and mother tries to adjust to royal life.
— Prince William received 4,500 baby presents on the occasion of his birth, and there were a total of 24,000 thank-you notes sent out after the fact.
— Diana wanted to make sure that her staff was not feeling “exhausted, overworked and underpaid” after William’s birth. She herself felt somewhat deluged, explaining to Parsons, after her own 21st birthday, “I have never been more confused than on my birthday as presents and telegrams were pouring in for W at KP as well as my own—so at the moment I just seem to be churning out letters!”
— Diana was very happy that William was excited to see her when she returned home from an official trip to Australia in 1983. She also apparently didn’t love all the traveling. She wrote, “William recognised us instantly, which was a relief as sometimes children resent their parents leaving them! It’s marvellous to be home again and hopefully we won’t have to do any more travelling this year… Wishful thinking!”
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Delivery No
Payment Credit Cards Accepted
Parking Street
Good for Kids No
Attire Casual
Alcohol Yes - Full Bar
Reservations No
Cuisines: Bar Food , American , Sports Bars , British
Price Point $$ $ - Cheap Eats (Under $10) $$ - Moderate ($11-$25) $$$ - Expensive ($25-$50) $$$$ - Very Pricey (Over $50)
Outdoor Seats Yes
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Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy.She was in their service from 1954 until 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, and is the second royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million ...
2. Britannia was the 83rd Royal Yacht. King George VI, Elizabeth II's father, had first commissioned the royal yacht that would become Britannia in 1952. The previous official boat had belonged to Queen Victoria and was rarely used. The tradition of royal yachts had been started by Charles II in 1660.
THE LAST ROYAL YACHT. It was decided that a new Royal Yacht should be commissioned that could travel the globe and double as a hospital ship in time of war. It was also hoped a convalescence cruise would help the King's ailing health. The John Brown & Co shipyard in Clydebank received the order from the Admiralty for a new ship on 4 February, 1952.
It was the first royal yacht designed for ocean travel. The ship was built by John Brown & Co at the same shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland in the same location the famous ocean liners the Queen ...
Royal Yacht Britania Facts and History. On February 4, 1952, John Brown & Co shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, received the order from the Admiralty to build a new Royal Yacht to travel the globe and double as a hospital ship in times of war, according to the royal yacht's website.King George VI passed away two days after, sadly, and so on April 16, 1953, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II ...
A royal yacht, but also a hospital ship . In 1938, the Admiralty (the political and administrative body managing the Royal Navy) considered the possibility of building a new ship. ... Britannia was also the only ship of the Royal Navy to have a permanent laundry on board. The 250 crew members (including 21 officers) could change their uniforms ...
Here are 14 facts about this unique royal residence. 1. She was the last ship in the Royal Navy in which the sailors slept in hammocks. 2. The only ship in the world whose captain, by tradition, was always an Admiral (until 1995, when a Commodore was appointed) 3. Orders were given to the ship's company by hand signal to preserve tranquility. 4.
The Royal Yacht Britannia features in season 5 of the Crown. Find out the true story behind the ship, and why the floating palace was so beloved by the Queen. ... His Majesty's Yacht Britannia - and would be able to transform into a hospital ship if the country was again plunged into war. World War II was still looming large in the mind of ...
Britannia was designed for two functions: (1) the royal yacht in peace time, (2) she has the speed and special facilities which would enable conversion to a hospital ship in time of war. The ship has a modern clipper bow and modified cruiser stern instead of the traditional swan bow and counter stern of previous royal yachts.
HMY Britannia was built in Scotland at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd. in Clydebank, West Dumbartonshire. It was launched by the Queen on 16 April 1953 and commissioned on 11 January 1954 ...
1. Britannia was launched in 1953. Britannia was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her father and was launched from John Brown & Co. Ltd - the shipyard that built the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary cruise liners - in 1953. However, there was to be no traditional Champagne-smashing against her bow.
The Royal Yacht has a displacement of 4,000 tons and has been designed so she can be converted to a hospital ship if necessary. E-mail this story to a friend: The new royal yacht can be converted to a hospital ship if needed. In Context. The Royal Yacht Britannia is one of the world's most famous ships. She served the Royal Family for 44 years ...
From the outset, Britannia would have two roles - as the royal yacht in peacetime and as a hospital ship in the event of a war. That dual role dictated the design of Britannia, though her three masts were necessary because of royal protocol over the flying of flags. She would eventually displace more than 4000 tons.
On April 16 1953, Her Majesty's yacht BRITANNIA rolled down the slipway at John Brown's Clydebank Shipyard, on the start of her long and illustrious career. Commissioned for service in January 1954, BRITANNIA sailed the oceans for 43 years and 334 days. During that time she steamed a total of 1,087,623 nautical miles, carrying The Queen and ...
The clock in the Wardroom Anteroom — and every clock aboard Britannia — is permanently stopped at 3:01, the exact moment the Queen last disembarked the royal yacht on Dec. 11, 1997. David ...
November 15, 2022. The Queen boards the Royal Yacht Britannia. Tim Graham/Getty Images. The Crown season five begins and ends with the same plot point: The Royal Yacht Britannia. The vessel serves ...
The Britannia's final voyage took place in July 1997 to convey the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, and the Prince of Wales back from Hong Kong after its handover to the People's Republic ...
The Royal Yacht was also designed with a secondary role as a hospital ship in times of war or emergency. In 1986 she rescued 1,500 civilians when fighting erupted in Yemen on the Arabian peninsular.
A 1:1200 first-issue model of Her Majesty's Yacht HMY Britannia, with alternative hospital markings. The model is part of the Tri-Ang Minic range produced between 1959 and 1964. The model has a white body and white funnel bearing a red cross. Triang Catalogue Number: M721H. The original ship
A few days after their fairytale royal wedding on July 29, 1981, watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million, Charles and Diana, the prince and princess of Wales, flew off to ...
Mary Madison June 2, 1931-May 1, 2014 Menlo Park, California Mary Madison, an award-winning newspaper reporter, died of heart failure at Stanford Hospital on May 1 after several years of declining health. She was 82. Her 40-year career as a reporter spanned from the old Palo Alto Times to later the Redwood City...
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Britannia Arms ($$) 3.5 Stars - 12 Votes. Select a Rating! View Menu. 173 W Santa Clara St San Jose ...