A 'national flag ship' planned to replace Royal Yacht

[Kukri]

Hang on, people. READ THE NAME. This isn’t being called a “Royal Yacht”; it’s being called a “National Flagship”. This suggests that the Royal Family are having nothing to do with it. Very wise of them.

I hope the First Sea Lord has minuted the effects on his ability to run the shrivelled Navy that he has got in terms of manning and is trying to get this abortion off his budget.

The correct name is “National Flagshaggership”

 

[Kukri]

A small statement of the blitheringly obvious - this announcement is a political gesture of the “Look - squirrels!” variety.

The Britannia is in good nick and just needs re powering with diesel electric in place of steam turbines. This would leave change from £200M even in a British shipyard.

 

[chrishscorp]

Lets hope Johnson and his wife are not allowed anywhere near the interior design discussions, id rather let Peter Stringfellows club designers have a go

 

[Quandary]

What a GREAT leap forward for our Country; improoves our Status , Standing , Importance , and a sure benefit with NO downsides at all;

Great and much relieved that the design shows absolutely NO resemblence to them stupid looking Gin Palaces and Monstrosities oft seen pictured in some Boating Mags , oft at an Enourmous Price (asking that is) somehow I guess that the Designers /Builders of such Silly Yachts think that they are building for strictly Non Boaters but Mediteranean Marina Floating Hotels

Just hope that we can now arrange for any such Royal Yacht to be actually built in an English , inc NI yard , in an effort for ourEnglish Pounds to be returned by giving incomes at home

Where in England is this NI yard? I do agree however with your suggestion that no Scots money should be spent on it, If H.M. wants to go for a cruise we have the tidy wee ship she borrowed the last time.

 

[RichardS]

... id rather let Peter Stringfellows club designers have a go

Flagshaggership here we come.

Richard

 

[Kukri]

Assuming that this is a carrot to be dangled in front of the now blue Red Wall, my recollections of the last ship built in Sunderland that I was concerned with was that the accommodation was of the “British Rail Hard Wearing” variety.

She was wildly expensive and a complete dog. The high point was finding that one of the main engine holding down bolts was missing - with a six inch stub epoxied in to cover it up.

Seeing one of the carriers go back to the yard to have the mis - aligned tail shaft that she was built with put right tells anyone all they need to know about British shipbuilding.

 

[Resolution]

As this is most definitely a boaty subject, I can say without fear of reprisal, that I am totally disgusted that even more outrageous sums of money are being spent on the comfort of the most egregious family in Great Britain

I presume you are referring to Mr & Mrs Boris??

 

[Clancy Moped]

Anyone asked Liz if she wants a boat?

 

[AndrewfromFal]

A small statement of the blitheringly obvious - this announcement is a political gesture of the “Look - squirrels!” variety.

The Britannia is in good nick and just needs re powering with diesel electric in place of steam turbines. This would leave change from £200M even in a British shipyard.

Back when Britannia was taken out of service (mainly because of the cost of running the ship with steam turbines); the late Jon Bannenberg pointed out she could be economically converted to diesel electric (he had some expertise in this area having recently a completed a 95 metre yacht with DE power).

If we’re going to engage in some sort of backward looking nostalgia exercise (in the belief that most foreign potentates will be impressed by a yacht these days) then we may as well do that rather than replicating the past with some awful pastiche.

 

[Kukri]

Anyone asked Liz if she wants a boat?

It looks like they did and she said “No, we find that chartering the “Balmoral” for a week suits us quite well, and don’t you dare associate me with your exercise in flagshagging vulgarity!”

 

[Gary Fox]

Where in England is this NI yard? I do agree however with your suggestion that no Scots money should be spent on it, If H.M. wants to go for a cruise we have the tidy wee ship she borrowed the last time.

Where is this 'Scots money' of which you speak? You told us you are skint!

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Where is this 'Scots money' of which you speak? You told us you are skint!

All of our Scottish tax receipts flow into the exchequer, so we are not skint. The exchequer distributes the cash around the country and then issues a bill for Scotland's share of non devolved stuff like defence, foreign embassies etc. The UK is living beyond it's means through the magic of quantitative easing aka printing money issued against government bonds. The government bonds have little value as there is nothing to back them up, no gold, no assets, just debt books that can be traded. You see where this is going? And to think that buying a Royal Yacht by another name, it even looks like the last one, will solve that problem. The economies of the world are in deep poop. Other functioning economies that have issues to manage don't think that spending tax payers money on yachts is the answer to their fiscal problems. The next generation of high earners, are so loaded in debt, that they will not be able to contribute to paying off the debt for a long time, if ever. When this yacht is launched, the UK could be up to its neck in a major recession or even depression as the post covid boom crashes around our heads as the debt catches up.

Now, the SuperYacht market is booming, a yacht that showcased the UKs SuperYacht credentials may have scope for development.

 

[JumbleDuck]

As far as I know, this will be a working ship with many duties other than giving joyrides to the Royal Family. As such, it will quite possibly pay for itself

That was supposedly a justification for the Britannia as well.

if it gets built against the oppostion of people who are embittered by the thought of anyone being better off than themselves.

Or people who think this is not a great time to splurge £200m (Hah. As if.) on yet another attempt to make it 1956 again.

 

[zoidberg]

Boris.... creek... paddles.

 

[bedouin]

Another eye-catching project from our esteemed Prime Minister.

View attachment 116414
Plans for new national flagship to promote 'best of British'

Does anyone else think the 'artists impression' is somehow both slightly strange and rather run-of-the-mill?

I was also curious as to how much of a new, one-off design, UK-built ship you'd really get for £200 million (especially given it apparently cost £200,000 just to decorate a flat!). Does anyone know how plausible that £200m is, or what sort of a vessel you'd get for that?

Note also the sub-editor at play in the following headline.

Boris Johnson plans to sink £200m into new ship of state

Seems like a bargain for £200m. And I like the design. Suitably classic for a ship that is expected to be working for 50 years. Avantgarde designs don't age well.

I think decommissioning Britannia was a mistake - I am sure it paid for itself many times over

 

[Kukri]

Now, the SuperYacht market is booming, a yacht that showcased the UKs SuperYacht credentials may have scope for development.

Britain has not built a “superyacht” for decades. We turn out big plastic bathtubs for men who do well in the secondhand car trade. Only the Dutch the Germans the Italians and interestingly the Chinese build superyachts.

 

[Kukri]

Seems like a bargain for £200m. And I like the design. Suitably classic for a ship that is expected to be working for 50 years. Avantgarde designs don't age well.

I think decommissioning Britannia was a mistake - I am sure it paid for itself many times over

Of course it won’t be £200M.

See post 29. If we want a Royal Yacht, and it seems that the Danes and the Norwegians like having theirs, both of them decades older than the “Britannia”, we should re-engine the Britannia and keep the change.

The Danish one:

 

[Gary Fox]

If we are going to have one, then the real Brittania just needs modern machinery..and don't touch the fit-out!
The kudos for guests ( eg shifty arab potentates talking to BAe etc, or shifty mates of Air Miles Andy) is priceless and irreplaceable, a million dollars can't buy the possibility that a hallowed royal posterior has dumped into your en-suite varnished mahogany heads seat!

 

[Daydream believer]

Ridiculous waste of yet more money. She can easily afford her own boat If she wants one but it’s the only way Boris will get his lard arse aboard a nice boat.

With due respect to the knockers
I think that you have no idea of the reason for such a vessel. It is used for state visits, of course. But it is also used for entertaining heads of state as well as business people from nations that it visits. It is an opportunity for our business people to tag along & promote GBR Ltd as a place that is open to the world. It is a similar reason that we send warships to berth in foreign ports to promote ourselves.
Whether you like it or not our royal family is held in high regard ( certain elements excepted) & their presence opens up excellent opportunities for our polititians in engaging with other countries. I do not claim to understand half of the uses the ship could be used for & if HRH & the family spends some quality time aboard then jolly good luck to them. It adds to the charm of the thing when it arrives somewhere if they know it is their personal yacht rather than just some vessel that we happen to have..
I am all in favour of the yacht being built, provided it is not skimped in any way. I am sure some businesses would contribute to the costs. Obviously it needs to be built in the uk to demonstrate that we can still build things

 

[steve yates]

As far as I know, this will be a working ship with many duties other than giving joyrides to the Royal Family. As such, it will quite possibly pay for itself, that is, if it gets built against the oppostion of people who are embittered by the thought of anyone being better off than themselves.

As for the design illustrated, it looks sort of OK to me, but more of a pastiche of the old Britannia than an attempt to reflect the current times or look forward.

Hardly embittered by that thought. More disgusted that such a pointless vanity project would even be considered at the taxpayers expense. It will cost more than the estimate, and will certainly never "bring in trade" worth anywhere near that amount that we wouldn't have negotiated anyway. Not to mention the fact they think we are daft and that the simple spinning from the new royal yacht to a new national flagship will suddenly make it seem a better idea. Im all for mad gestures, improbable adventuring and wild romance, but by individuals, not our government squandering tax payers cash on frivilous nonsense!