The Life of HMY Britannia #history #yacht #ship #queenelizabeth #britishmonarchy #britannia #museum
Launched: 16 April 1953 Commissioned: 11 January 1954 Decommissioned: 11 December 1997 Status: Museum ship Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy. She was in their service from 1954 to 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660 & 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 1 million nautical miles (1.9 million kilometres) around the world to more than 600 ports in 135 countries. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she is a visitor attraction with over 300,000 visits each year. HMY Britannia was built at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire. She was launched by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 April 1953 & commissioned on 11 January 1954. Britannia was additionally designed to be converted into a hospital ship in time of war, however when the need came in the Falklands War this role went unfulfilled as Britannia, unique among the Royal Navy's fleet, required heavy fuel oil (common when she was commissioned but unique to her in 1982) & had only a 200-bed capacity. Instead the P&O liner SS Uganda was requisitioned & modified to become a hospital ship. In the event of nuclear war, it was intended for the Queen & Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to take refuge aboard Britannia off the north-west coast of Scotland. Britannia sailed on her maiden voyage from Portsmouth to Grand Harbour, Malta, departing on 14 April & arriving on 22 April 1954. She carried Prince Charles & Princess Anne to Malta in order for them to meet the Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh at the end of the royal couple's Commonwealth tour. The Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh embarked on Britannia for the first time in Tobruk on 1 May 1954. On 20 July 1959, Britannia sailed the newly opened Saint Lawrence Seaway en route from Canada to Chicago, where she docked, making the Queen the first British monarch to visit the city. U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower was aboard Britannia for part of this cruise; Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan & Bill Clinton were welcomed aboard in later years. Anne & Mark Phillips took their honeymoon cruise aboard the ship in 1973; Charles would do the same with Diana in 1981. The ship evacuated over 1,000 refugees from the civil war in Aden in 1986. The vessel sailed to Canada in 1991 & made ports of call in Toronto & Kingston, Ontario. HMY Britannia, when on royal duties, was escorted by a Royal Navy warship. The yacht was a regular sight at Cowes Week in early August & usually, for the remainder of the month, was home to the Queen & her family for an annual cruise around the islands off the west coast of Scotland (known as the "Western Isles Tour"). During her career as Royal Yacht, Britannia conveyed the Queen, other members of the Royal Family & various dignitaries on 696 foreign visits to 135 countries & 272 visits in British waters. In this time, Britannia steamed 1,087,623 nautical miles (2,014,278 km). In 1994, the Conservative government announced the yacht's retirement: The yacht last underwent a major refit in 1987. A further refit at an estimated cost of some £17 million would be necessary in 1996–97 but would only prolong her life for a further 5 years. In view of her age, even after the refit she would be difficult to maintain & expensive to run. It has therefore been decided to decommission "Britannia" in 1997. The Labour opposition announced it would not commit the use of public funds for a replacement vessel for at least the first 2 years of any new Labour government. After its election victory in May 1997, the new government considered multiple options for the future of a royal yacht, but concluded in October of that year that Britannia would not be replaced. The Royal Yacht's final foreign mission was to convey the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten & the Prince of Wales back from Hong Kong after its handover to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Britannia was decommissioned on 11 December 1997. The Queen, normally undemonstrative in public, was reported to have cried at the decommissioning ceremony that was attended by most of the senior members of the Royal Family. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Britannia is a visitor attraction moored in the historic Port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland & is cared for by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, a registered charity.