Carolyn's Various Travels: HMY Britannia

Got to visit the HMY Britannia today. This was Her Majesty's Yacht for 44 years. It has been kept in beautiful condition and you can go through nearly every part of the ship from the queen's apartments to the engine room and everything in between.

First stop, the Bridge. The only person who gets to sit in the bridge is the captain. The Wheel House is directly below and connected with a speaking tube. It has no windows, so relies on verbal directions from the bridge to steer.

Captain's Suite and private dining room (when he wanted to give his senior officers privacy in their dining room).

This stuffed corgi was riding in the back of an old Rolls Royce that was hoisted on board to travel with the Queen. There were stuffed corgi's in nearly every room we visited (by the time we realized it was 'a thing' it was too late to count all of them!)

Private deck for the royal family on the aft of the ship. The crew had to keep the teak wood cleaned and conditioned and had to finish their work on it by 8:00 am each day so they would not be present when the royals were present. The crew would leave their hats off (on purpose) so that they were technically 'out of uniform' and thus not required to salute the royals all the time. This gave the family a break from acknowledging the salutes.

Sun room off the private deck. The mizzenmast comes straight through the room (seen on the left).

The Queen's bed chamber.

Prince Phillips bedroom (with a connecting door to the Queen)

The "honeymoon" suite, the only room with a double bed on the ship. It was put in by Prince Charles when he and Diana went on their honeymoon cruise around the Mediteranean.

Wardroom and Dining room for senior officers. Several of the lounge spaces had "fire places" (electric stoves) with mantles. You may notice the ceiling fan looks a bit odd. Look at the picture below for a close up. Its a stuffed wombat giving to one of the officers by one of the maids on board. It became part of a regular game called catch the wombat (when it goes flying after the fan is turned on).

Dinner was a high class affair for officers. Each one even had their own linen napkin holder on the wall, and engraved silver napkin rings with their titles on them.

Senior officers dining room.

Common passage way between sections of the ship.

One of many of the kitchens on board. The areas around the kitchens were full of different food storage lockers. It took a lot of food to feed a crew of 270 plus royal guests!

Storage pantry for the china and crystal.

Royal dining hall. Can seat up to 96 and can take hours to set out all the places, including using a ruler to make sure the entire service is laid out properly. It is still used for fancy corporate catering today.

I found the glass 'flame shields' on the candles interesting. I've never seen anything quite like this before.

Queen's office / Study

Prince Philips study

State Drawing Room / Ante room for guests waiting for dinner.

The piano was bolted to the floor in case of rough seas.

Petty Officer's mess

Petty officer quarters

Marine Barracks - beds convert to seat during the day. This included the marine corp musicians who also had other skills that were put to use, such as diving under the ship each day to look for explosive devices, including in ports of entry.

Every square inch was used for storage. The musicians has 26 different uniforms to dress as the occasion demanded.

Every bunk had its own air and light

Chief Petty Officers mess

Chief petty officers bunks (4 to a room)

Surgery bay.

Sick bay

Laundry room. The crew here was employed full time doing laundry. All officers were expected to keep their uniforms emacculate and would change 6-8 times a day to achieve this.

All of the clocks in the ship were synced with a master clock on the bridge. They were stopped at 3:01, the time when the Queen was piped on shore for the last time before decommissioning.

Laundry room. Most of the machinery dates back to the 1950s and is still in good working order.

Exterior is deep blue (not black) and has a gold band painted round it. The name Britannia is not painted on the exterior of the ship. (I don't know why)