A Palace on the Seas

During her career, HM Yacht Britannia sailed over a million miles, visited 135 different countries, and docked in around 600 ports. James Hendrie looks back at the famous ship’s career on the 20th anniversary of her departure from service.

In December 1996, just over 20 years ago, HM The Queen, other members of the Royal Family and members of the public witnessed the ‘long goodbye’ of HMY Britannia. They had all gathered at Portsmouth on 11 December 1997 to attend a decommissioning ceremony for Britannia to mark the end of her 44 years of service. She made just over 700 ‘visits’ around the globe during that time, 270 of them in home waters. Her last was to be present at the handing over of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and to bring home Chris Patten, the Colony’s last governor.

HMY Britannia was a product of the world-famous Clyde shipyards. Her keel was laid down in June 1952 at John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank and, even though she was one of the last fully rivetted ships to be built, it was virtually impossible to see any rivets on her hull, thanks to the treatment she received by the yard’s painters. They applied a foundation layer of paint and it is reported a further six top coats of paint; it was this paint that allowed Britannia’s hull to appear so smooth.

Britannia was named and launched by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 April 1953, and she was commissioned on 11 January 1954. She was powered by two geared steam turbines, developing 12,000shp, which meant she was capable of speeds of up to 22.5 knots. She could cruise for 2,553 miles at 18 knots. She had two main and one auxiliary Foster Wheeler boilers. Interestingly, she carried an armament of two single-mounted three-pounder guns, for the purpose of ceremonial saluting. She had a foremast, mainmast and a mizzenmast, from which the ship of state flags were flown.