We’re getting a new “National Flagship”
 

We’re getting a new “Royal Yacht

As a sales tool yes, but blowing 200 million on a ship to be used by a few.. No.

She will be Royal Navy manned, I wonder if they will include a heli deck and a secondary role, Britannia was supposed to double as a hospital ship, but missed the Falklands I believe due to the fuel it used. If it does fulfill the same rôle a Heli deck would make sense.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57293882

Will it have electric engines?

I thought yachts had sails?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....35bfd39bdd.jpg
They've already been to Hamley's to buy it!

National hubris, I fear. A hideously ugly hull form with no graceful shear to it all. If the government wants to support British shipbuilding, would it not be better to ensure that all those proposed Fleet Auxiliary vessels are built in British shipyards instead of being put out to foreign tender?

So long as they do not paint it as a " Typhoon "
However what a waste of time and money when business during and post Covid are being done remotely.

Use as a sales tool mean you can only reach a limited number of major cities. Madrid, Paris, Moscow, Seoul, Beijing, Canberra, Ottawa, Pretoria, Cairo, Riyadh, New Delhi are a long way from the sea...............

And RN crewed at a time they have trouble recruiting for real warships. I suspect it will gradually fade away once the real costs start coming in

Voyager
 

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just go the Voyager Route and paint the stern 25% of a Type 45 Red White and Blue?

If the primary purpose is selling things British overseas, how about investing in some mobile display boards, a colour printer, a laminator and a big cardboard box full of Union Jack key rings?. Part of the balance could be spent on a couple of blokes in sharp suits to do the talking and we are away.. Fully air portable too!

If HMTQ needs to travel overseas, perhaps HMG could run to a few Thomas Cook vouchers?
​​

How about this one:

https://www.fraseryachts.com/en/yacht-for-sale/octopus/

Diesel-Electric machinery has been the most common choice in the large yacht/cruise segment in the last couple of decades, with hybrids picking up quite fast nowadays.
So, yes, there are good chances that such a vessel would have electric propulsion motors.

How about something like this?
(Sailing Yacht "A")
https://images.app.goo.gl/nNUWe3aijoESG46E9

Even available homegrown:
https://www.fosterandpartners.com/pr...sailing-yacht/

£200M is peanuts compared to the absurd £106B of HS2....

Let's hope that Queen Elizabeth is still our reigning monarch by the time this new Royal Yacht is finished!

A total waste of money, as others have said all the main capital city’s are inland. What they should be doing is for starters using ZZ336 to fly the flag.
instead just acting as a “pretty petrol station “, do as the French with their 330’s painted up as flag wavers.
Over the last three months one of them has been showing their flag all over Canada, the Pacific, Africa the Indian Ocean, rather than tartan here tartan there, tartan every wherever.

A sailing yacht in the RN would certainly lead to someone having to dig out some old tactics manuals.

I presume that the captain would have to learn about the importance of the weather gage and, if a hospital ship, using the lee gage to avoid battle. (Assuming the enemy were sporting and didn’t use their engines of course…)

I recall that excuse, but I'm pretty sure that many of the requisitioned merchant vessels used the same type of fuel.

Happy to be corrected if that's wrong.

IMHO, Britannia only lasted as long "in service" as she did because she was a fine example from a bygone era. Fast forward to today, and the amount which would need to be spent to compete with the average Russian oligarch would be beyond our budget, not to mention beyond the capabilities of our shioyards to produce (no criticism intended, but horses for courses...) Factor in the running costs and the inevitable carping over who would use it and for what, and it is all just too hard. I also suspect that the days when "sales" could be closed over canapes and a few tunes from the Band of The Royal Marines are, sadly perhaps, behind us.

I look forward to this "national flagship" supporting the nation's armed forces during any future time of crisis in the same way that Britannia did during the Falklands. Oh, wait..

Britannia did it’s bit….

http://www.maritimeprints.com/portfo...-january-1986/

Wasn't national prestige, sales and flag waving part of the reason for the two carriers? I seem to recall one already being used as set dressing for a major shindig by HMG.

I am not sure whether I think this is a good idea or not. But a few thoughts:

1. 'It:? 'IT'? She...

2. Diesel Electric propulsion us pretty much standard these days - for major warships anyway. See this booklet from Rolls Royce about powering the Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

3. HMY Britannia was not sent South in 1982, the explanation being that she would have needed Furnace Fuel Oil and not Diesel. I expect her boilers were later converted. However, she was intended to have a Home Defence tole post nuclear strike.

4. I wonder what value there is for the RN - training billets, deck landing training, role 2 medical facility...

5. Peacetime diplomacy is actually quite important in terms of building relationships.

When HMY was in service, foreign politicians and the great and the good would murder their own grandmothers to be invited to a soiree on board and distance to travel was no LIMFAC; I see no difference today, especially if she is to be used by the Royal Family from time to time (giving her that cachet that an aircraft does not have). I have hosted events aboard other HM ships in my previous role and have seen contracts valued in the hundreds of millions agreed. £200 m is nothing in terms of getting an edge over the French and the Americans in terms of trade and diplomacy.

I would expect a strengthen heli-deck, RAS and other capabilities (including self-defence) to be standard. It is a pity, however, from the impressions published she does not appear to have the graceful lines that her predecessor did. And following precedent, she could be named HMY Britannia (or Lizzie McLizzie-face)

I appreciate that the image is simply an artist's impression, but I also have the impression from that there there is a tell-tale circle showing on *her* repeat *her* upper scupper.

Several misconceptions amongst the postings so far, thankfully offset by Whenurhappy's thoughtful contribution.

Jack

I don't think I necessarily have an issue with the idea. But to do to announce a £200m project such as this within a few months of refusing to feed poor kids for about a tenth of the price seems.... Well I don't know what the word is but I'm sure you can all think of a few.

I'm with whenurhappy. Far too many institutions get obsessed with costs when often the best way to a good bottom line is to have a very good top line, ie income. It may seem a little anachronistic but this soft diplomacy seems to work still.

Anyway, happy for my taxes to go by by 4 quid one year to build her and 15p a year to run her.

Excellent idea , a great opportunity to put modern design and modern materials technology into a classic boat usage . To demonstrate just how beautiful a ship can be made .
Maybe solar sails ? Small Toyota sized nuclear pack for electric propulsion , air conditioning and Desalination plant . Although they will probably have a decent stock of the Malvern water on board for those with good taste .
Those big nuclear ice breakers might be a good start for a design . Nice and big almost thirty inches of armour on the front for ice breaking or whatever you want to smash through . Log jams , French fishing boat blockades . Seems everyone is building big ice breakers for the Arctic routes . Heavy icebreakers offer great stability and strength . The advantages of design of some of the bigger ice breaker is their amazing multi-purposes. Dive support . Disaster relief .
If the Gulf Stream flow were to change due to global warming most rivers in the UK might freeze in the winter and a big icebreaker might be needed to open up the estuaries for fishing .

just confiscate some Oligarch's yacht for tax avoidance .................

Come on Girls and Boys, how else will Boris get a Knighthood?
It took years before HRH forgave John Major.
***

During my time in Fort Blockhouse (formerly HMS Dolphin) I had excellent views from my office of Mirabella V, as she was then, sitting across the water near the Gunwharf - now that is a yacht!
https://www.boatinternational.com/ya...iling-yacht-m5

Make any helicopter landing deck heat proof for the F-35. Just in case.

Whilst Rome burns comes to mind...

Have the Navy got sufficient ships to shadow her these days with the amount that’s now needed for the carriers?

A sail while fanciful would negate a secondary role as a hospital ship with a heli deck, but a large area to entertain and show the world our wares would probably work well with the secondary needs as a hospital ship.

The RR booklet gives just a partial view on the power generation system. The Diesel generating sets, which I bet will run most of the time, are not theirs. ;)

Impressive modern sailing yacht

https://www.superyachttimes.com/yach...tar-under-sail

You'll have the Diversity Tsar after you!!

Wedding present?

HMS Hermes used FFO.

How about starting with the RN secondary/wartime role when designing the next royal yacht? Like building some military hospital ship with helipad and hangar first and then put on some salon deck on top or similar? What is it used for mainly? Harbor visits with receptions I guess. There will not be too many sea journeys by the royal family as they take forever if you are used to fly.

Of course HRH needs a Royal Yacht. World prestige and all that.

Why not recondition and refit Britannia? Less than £200 mill for that.

If they want crew, I'll help.

Sir Humphrey's Thin Pin-Stripped Line.

https://tinyurl.com/4szawwsy

The Case for a 'National Flagship'.