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HMY Britannia A00 - IMO 8635306

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Photo
details

Photographer:
Allan RO [ View profile ]
Captured:
Aug 5, 1988
Photo Category:
Auxiliaries
Added:
May 10, 2016
Views:
3,014
Image Resolution:
2,400 x 1,600

Description:

Britannia heading from Southampton to Cowes for a bit of yacht racing. Her Maj and Phil the Greek on board indicated by the Royal standard on mid-mast. Originally designed to cover as a hospital ship, but of course Uganda was used instead when it came to the crunch.

Now of course a museum ship at Leith - they say worth a visit if you can afford it.

photo : Calshot : 05:08:1988
photo : © Dr. Allan Ryszka-Onions 1988/2016

Vessel
particulars

Current name:
BRITANNIA
Current flag:
U.K.
Vessel Type:
Yacht
Gross tonnage:
5,769 tons
Summer DWT:
4,961 tons

AIS Position
of this ship

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Photo
Categories

This ship exists in the following categories:

Ship Interior - 8 photos

Ship's engine rooms - 3 photos

Wheelhouse - 3 photos

Ship's Deck - 6 photos

Ships' Lifeboats and Tenders - 11 photos

Auxiliaries - 90 photos

_ Ship Crests - 1 photos

Photographers
of this ship

(53)

Ken Smith

1 photos

Marc Piché

1 photos

BRIAN FISHER

1 photos

Allan RO

1 photos

callen

2 photos

John Jones

1 photos

Arne J

1 photos

Lee Brown

3 photos

John Kent

5 photos

Manfred

1 photos

Gary Faux

5 photos

bob leask

1 photos

Juanfra Monz

1 photos

Bunts

3 photos

Ronnie bell

4 photos

snib98

1 photos

port10

1 photos

Robbie Shaw

1 photos

Chris Finney

1 photos

Chris Howell

2 photos

Clive Harvey

4 photos

Trevor Dry

2 photos

Peter M P

2 photos

RON DOBSON

3 photos

Tony Martin

1 photos

frtrfred

1 photos

Kev Slade

1 photos

LUIS ZUNINO

3 photos

rozelle999

1 photos

har

1 photos

Emmanuel.L

1 photos

sema4

10 photos

Mike_714

1 photos

Jan Roeske

5 photos

sectshun8

1 photos

Linesman

1 photos

jackosan

2 photos

Paul Tunney

3 photos

coastfamer1

1 photos

AndyL

4 photos

COMMENT THIS PHOTO(32)

Newest First
person
Pieter,
The Dale tankers you mention would indeed come under the Auxiliaries section as they were operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as replenishment vessels.

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comment

person
Should I post a shot of a Vulcan then ? A far more elegant beast than Britannia.

Allan

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person
There are currently no less than 19 Vulcans preserved intact, including three in the USA and one in Canada. Three other were scrapped after going into preservation

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person
Further to earlier comments: The Vulcan that was regularly seen at air shows around the UK was grounded for various reasons, the lack of replacement engines and other spares being one - airworthiness is very important and having it fall out the sky would have been even more embarrassing than it not flying any more.

Britannia - I can't remember the program but there was one on the BBC a while ago (Google mentions Andrew Marr) that stated the hospital ship story was a cover. Rather it was planned that the Royal Yacht would have been a refuge in time of a nuclear war, separate from the seat of government so that some members of the Royal Family could possibly survive and maintain the the head of states function in the UK's constitutional monarchy.
This would also explain why it wasn't sent South for the Falklands - although nothing bigger was likely it had a more important role.

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person
Yes, Allan, but you may have to agree that having a (large) pleasure yacht built for the Navy, without calling her a warship with a pennant, might not have gone down very well, even in those days....Just wondering if you would put pictures of the chartered in -dale tankers from the sixties, (which if I am not mistaken also had pennant numbers)under auxiliaries or under oil/product tankers?

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person
@Capt Ted: Yes, I agree, as an entry fee to a museum that does seem expensive:
But then Museums in the UK have so much MORE HISTORY to offer than museums in the USA!
Only jesting!....
When are we having that beer? Come on, shape yourself! Step Lively! (Old RN phrase.)
Cheers. S.

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person
Been forgetting to say: Thank you for the posting.. Much appreciated. Beautiful shot of a fine ship.

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person
Pieter: Many thanks...Yes, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek there.(Vulcan-Port Stanley: History.)
I have to agree...It was a PR exercise...granted that officially she IS A00...No argument. She was always crewed by RN personnel...Not MN people.
I guess that made her "available" to the military, should the need have arisen....Never did "of course".

As to the entry fee 'to have a look around'...(I've not lived in the UK for over 15 years): Is that excessive?
For such a high profile attraction...I rather think not, not for a family of up to five.....

So, whilst I dsagree with you that she was paid for...long ago...she now needs a lot of TLC....& that costs serious money: But remember, This ship is no longer the domain of the Queen...completely out of her hands.
It has been returned to the Nation. If no-one turns up to view: It will go to scrap. Market forces dictate.


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person
Wow is correct. Great photo. Thanks for the share.

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person
Nice catch of Betty Britain's floating former nuke-shelter!

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person
Pieter

The fact remains she was a commissioned Royal Naval auxillary with the pennant number A00. She appears in all of Ian Allan's British Warships series as such.

In service she was crewed by RN personnel and when QE was on board she carried a platoon of Royal Marines.

Allan

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person
Off topic - there are plenty of video's of the Vulcan on youtube. You can also go in a Vulcan at Newark (UK) air museum as they often have tours of the cockpit. There is also the Vulcan that does high speed taxiing.

Back on topic, did the tour of the Britannia earlier this year - was quite interesting to pass a rainy day in Leith.

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person
@Patagualino, There IS a preserved Vulcan, it flew until last year, it was run by a private foundation, but the plane now needs so much work, it is only allowed to make aborted starts, so without taking off. If you want I can send you picture from an air display over Goodwood, what you will miss is the deafening sound of the four engines.
Back to the ship, for me it is a yacht, converted to hospitalship as a more appropriate function during the war, (in the current modern times we would call that also a PR activity) and back to a yacht again when the war was over. So unless we have a wartime shot on the site of her, all shots should be under the category yachts.

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person
It is £43.50, and while on the pricey side that is the family rate (2 adults + three children, which separately would be £55.50). For comparison, Tower of London equivalent is £52.10 (online) and Edinburgh Castle £62.70.

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person
Ted, its somewhere near £50 for a family ticket, I think an ordinary adult is around £15.

Allan

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person
Well,,50 for a museum entry,, that sounds expensive to me

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person
Nothing like a mention of the British Monarchy to spark a lively debate....all around money of course.
Yes, a preserved Vulcan would have been nice too.....and HMS Invicible and what about.....etc etc
Just as when Britannia was launched, we find ourselves still in austerity.(Dire staits, really.)
(Oh! The irony indeed, Malim.)
Seems the major growth industry of Britain these days is Nostalgia & Museums of every conceivable article or subject that ever once graced our lives.And they don't come cheap.
Question is: Can the public afford to upkeep so many projects? Where do you draw the line?

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person
Whilst it is now some years since I went aboard Britannia I don't seem to recall thinking at the time that it was excessively expensive. I'm pleased that she has been preserved and that we have the opportunity to go aboard and I certainly don't have any feeling of resentment about paying to do so. I'd far rather pay a high price to visit the ship and have her well cared for then pay little or even nothing at all and having her look shabby through lack of care or investment.

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person
To be honest, I prefer to see money going into the budget to keep the Vulcan airworthy, but that chapter seems to have been closed for ever.

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person
You're absolutely right Pieter, but I guess someone has to pay for her upkeep

Allan

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person
Allan that is a lot of money for something that the people have already paid for....

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person
Simply as it says, she is a museum ship at Leith and a family ticket is the best part of £50.

Allan

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person
@ Dr. Allan
what means below ?

Now of course a museum ship at Leith - they say worth a visit if you can afford it.

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person
Allan, I was talking about an imaginary Dutch site, we have our royal sloop as well, and she ia eating a lot from from our state budget. If I understood history correctly, the same happened with this ship...

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person
I too seem to have a problem with the facts, wondering what on earth "Y" signified if it was not Yacht.
BRITANNIA was designed as such, as well as for conversion, but spent her whole working life as a yacht. End of. Beginning of. and all the of. in between.

That she was also a commissioned naval vessel with an "A" pennant is just another fact. These are not mutually exclusive.

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person
Pieter, you seem to have a problem with facts and it does not matter a jot what any Dutch site might think. She was a commissioned auxillary A00. End of.

Allan

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person
As a vessel commissioned into the Royal Navy she was legally a warship, although with regard to the realm of this website the Auxiliaries section is probably the best place for her.
I was always under the impression that the notion of her being converted to a hospital ship during hostilities was merely a ruse to make her acquisition palatable to the Treasury and the public at a time of austerity (oh the irony) and with rationing still in force.
I think the only time she was used in a non Royal role was during the evacuation of Aden.
She would never have been risked as a hospital ship during a proper war as even with protection from the Geneva Convention she'd be at great risk of being targeted due to her high profile.

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person
She was impressive as a yacht for a country that once ruled the waves! mr.dot.

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person
But with due respect, I think she was converted in such a way that she would now classify as a yacht. Anyway, on any Dutch site like this she would probalby end under the category: Moneypits.

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person
Yes, she was designed to double as a hospital ship and given pennant number A00

Allan

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person
Just wondering and knowing nothing about military ships but is this really an auxiliary?

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person
A one big WOW!

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