The former hmy BRITANNIA was an excellent trade ambassador for UK´s industry and trade. The
yacht was once designed by Prince Philip and has not only been the royal yacht
and sea home since 1953 for the British Royal Family. The hmy BRITANNIA was an asset
to the permanent world wide marketing campaign for the United Kindgom. And a new Royal Yacht definitely would be needed for the uncertain future.
by Earl of Cruise
The Royal Yacht Britannia,
pictured, could be turned into a 'floating embassy' under new plans by Boris Johnson
hmy BRITANNIA entering Venice - Source: dpa
Commencing service in 1954, the original Royal Yacht Britannia sailed a million nautical miles and saw 968 state voyages during its 44
years of service. In June 1994 it was announced that the vessel would be taken
out of service, and its final voyage took place in 1997. Now docked in Leith,
every clock on board has been stopped at 3.01pm, marking the time the Queen
disembarked the yacht following the decommissioning ceremony in December of
that year.
The Queen and
Prince Philip, pictured aboard Britannia, used the vessel as their private
yacht between 1954 and 1997 - Source: dpa
A number of people
had been lucky when BRITANNIA was retired, as they have seen only the costs for
BRITANNIA, but did not consider its value as THE PR asset for Britain, as the
royal family in total is. This is by the way for all monarchies we have in the
western world.
Now BRITANNIA is
serving as a successful museum, convention center and tourist magnet in
Edinburough.
hmy Britannia, in Leith, City of Edinburgh, Royal Yacht Britannia Trust - Credit: Marc Millar
In September British
foreign minister Boris Johnson, one of the Brexit supporters, threw in to be
discussed the recommissioning of the former royal yacht BRITANNIA. It made a
rucus in the British media and parliament. A debate was held in October 2016. Those
waves of discussion crossed the chanel and rose some suspicions. I a social
media dicussion, one quoted, more as a joke, the Britain better should its
frigates as a trade ambassador, as the UK in history has done so often, to
press its interests over other countries ... okay we all know how the British
Empire was working, for the benefit only of the British Isles.
Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured, is reportedly considering using the boat to
conduct trade deals around the world post-Brexit - Source: Reuters
The yacht despite was
a more peaceful vehicle transporting British interests, and it is quite an
entrance or leave when the Queen sailed on BRITANNIA into or left a foreign
port, accompanied by a group of British business men. what a difference to those
countries, when the head of state climbes out of an ordinary plane, even if it
is the AIR FORCE ONE ...
Rear Adm Neil Rankin, who chairs of the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, told
the Telegraph bringing the original vessel back
into service was a "non-starter".
The yacht is now considered out of date and sailors would need to be
retrained in order to man it, meaning a new yacht would probably need to be
built.
Lord West said there was "no way we could revive" Britannia but
there were other options, such as "a sailing ship on which we could
train youngsters".
He said it would need a Royal Navy crew, and the "nation should be
willing to pay for it", although, in his view, the money should not come
from the defence budget.
There are conflicting reports over the appetite at the top for a
replacement royal yacht.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is said to be a fan of the idea (Jake
Berry is one of his closest allies in Parliament), as is Shipping Minister
John Hayes.
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post has suggested the prime
minister is not on board - and, as Lord West points out, it would also need a
seal of approval from the Queen.
But on 11 October the government will have to respond to a debate in
Parliament on the topic, and nail its colours to the mast.
BBC.com/news/uk-politics
|
During its
43-year service hmy BRITANNIA travelled more than one million nautical miles
around the globe
The ship is now cared for by charity the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust and
attracts around 300,000 visitors each year.
The steam-propelled yacht spent 43 years in the
service of the Royal Family and sailed more than one million nautical miles
around the world.
It is understood the plans to recommission her would
be funded by private donations and not the taxpayers. But that would destroy a
well established busines ...
THE MAIL previously campaigned 2010/11 for the
creation of a new royal yacht to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, with
then prime minister David Cameron backing the £60million idea.
hmy Royal Yacht BRITANNIA, cutaway and legend -
Since the
decommissioning of BRITANNIA there have been rumors and plans for a new British
royal yacht, and all with the purpose as a trade ambassador for the British industry.
A recommissioning of BRITANNIA would not be a good move, as BRITANNIA is old,
and depicting the old British emperial industry and interests. Today such a
royal yacht and British ambassador should be a modern, forward looking design,
with newest technology implemented showcasing the modern new United Kingdom,
weather it is with Scotland or not, weather it is now no longer a member in the
EU and is standing alone against economic powers as the USA, China, Russia and
yes the European Union.
Teresa May, British Prime Minister, announced the hard Brexit - Source: tageschau.de
And with Teresa May´s
announcement of a hard BREXIT, the isolated island has to rethink a lot. And it
will not be an easy task. Britain lost to be the center of the world when WWI
was over, it was the USA which became that center and established its leading
position after WWII and in Cold War era.
But with the third
industrial revolution, even USA lost its industrial power, another reason is
the "personal greed" of the US money elite, which was the first on
the globalisation train which created a caravaning treck for the cheapest
locations for production. This was a much easier task than pushing and
investing in reasonable industrial innovations. Those not high skilled and educated are left behind, creating a group that is an easy prey for populistic ego-trippers, such as the Farage person, or what the USA have now as "president".
It was in anticipation of the original Royal Yacht
Britannia being fully withdrawn from service that Andrew Winch Designs, as the
company was then known, was invited by the now defunct shipbuilders GEC Marine
to come up with a design for a successor. The firm was selected as they were
already in the process of designing a royal charter for another royal family;
one that at 528ft was then the largest private yacht in the world.
A new
£100million royal yacht, by retired naval officer Commander John Prichard, who helped draw up the
original plans - Source: Daily Telegraph
Both designs shown above, are from future oriented, but recalling something no longer needed ...
In November 2016 THE
TELEGRAPH publish again this London based superyacht designers and architecture
studio ANDREW WINCH design. The now ten year old design looks still quite
contemporary and could age with grace as it will be still "modern
looking" in the next decades. But for traditionalists it may be shocking
modern ... And those are quite an amount in the UK.
ANDREWWINCH DESIGN - How the new Royal Yacht
Britannia could look - Credit: ANDRE WINCH DESIGN
Though their proposed new Royal Yacht Britannia wasn’t
backed for construction at the time, the company has now exclusively shared its
plans with the Telegraph as a fully envisaged example of how a modern
incarnation of the boat might look.
The exterior
of the proposed Royal Yacht Britannia - Credit: Winch Designs
The interior
would hold various grand entertainment and meeting rooms, all showcasing
British design and craftsmanship - Credit: Winch Designs
Those traditionalists
would be better served with a design made by BURGESS MARINE and their Project
Nelson design. To my taste this vessel does look old, outdated to much back
ward looking to be a reasonable shopping window for the British industry and
abilities.
The Best of British – BURGESS MARINE has a vision, that vision is to raise the Best of British flag within the marine engineering industry and make its country proud Photo: visualisation of Project Nelson
To me this design is a reflection of the NERO, below, pressed into the old BRITANNIA design ...
BURGESS MARINE superyacht NERO, to me this design, very classic, is the reflection of the above shown Project Nelson - Source: BURGESS MARINE
Since Margret
Thatcher, the iron lady, I would call this small chandlers daugther - iron clad,
destroyed the British industry to get rid of the unions, she too destroyed the
once big, but old fashioned British shipbuilding industry. When rebuilding the
shipping industry after WWII it was neccessary to have ships, and there was not
enough time for new design approaches and technological developements. Those
came from the former enemy across the North Sea - Germany, and from the naval
rival across the chanel - France. Except single revolutionary ships, design and
technology, the shipping lines and shipbuilders relied on proven design and
technology. And in consequence the British shipbuilding industry lost track and
competitiveness. As long as the customers had been British based and lines
still had been in need, everything went well so far. But when the dramatic
changes with air transport and containers came the industry went down the
drain.
Royal Yacht and sail training vessel for 220 cadets, developed by Rear Admiral David Bawtree - Source: Dailymail
Today there is still
some shipbuilding competence, but focussed on naval shipbuilding and yacht
construction. With that, you cannot build a modern passenger vessel. CAMMELL
LAIRD was the last which tried to get back into the raging cruise shipbuilding
market, but when COSTA did not accept their midsection for COSTA CLASSICA,
worth GBP 50 mio, the company went bancrupt.
Another design approach for a new Royal Yacht, very modern, the Commonwealth Flagship project, a design by retired sdvertising entrepreneur Ian Maiden - Source: CLASSICBOAT
But why a new Royal
Yacht?
First, a new Royal
Yacht will reinitiate a new British passenger shipbuilding industry.
Second Britain is for
the future in the desperaste need of a trade ambassador that will help to save
its international industry and trading interests and impress.
... and the more, as
the newly inaugurated thing in the former colony won´t give a dime for British
trade interests, feelings or such only to have the best for himself and America
First
Third, the new Royal
Yacht is a USP for an all over marketing.
Forth the new Royal
Yacht, even build by tax funding will create more revenue than critics will
see.
Fith, the new Royal
Yacht may create a new "WE feeling" on the massively parted ilands,
called United Kingdom.
... but with that
must be established new philosophy - the strong have to aid/help the weak,
otherwise the socity will break into have and have not, and that will end up in
a revolution.
Aside of HEBREDIEN PRINCESS, the Royal Family is chartering often the LEANDER G of Donald Gosling - own collection
With € 480,000 per week, ex fuel, tip, food&beverage, port charges, etc. one of the most expensive charter yachts
Six, an own Royal Yacht for the head of state, the Queen/King of United Kingdom and Common Wealth of Nations would be for more appropropriate than chartering a yacht from companies, not only residing in UK ...
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