Victoria and Albert (ship, 1901)
Victoria and Albert in 1908
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HMY (Her Majesty's Yacht) Victoria and Albert was the Royal State Yacht (Royal Yacht) of the United Kingdom and was operated by the Royal Navy . The British monarch's yacht was designed by the Royal Navy's chief designer, Sir William Henry White . It was launched in 1899, but was not completed until 1901 to serve in the Royal Navy. Queen Victoria had been urging Parliament for years to provide her with a more modern yacht for the outdated predecessor of the same name . She was finally able to convince parliament when both the Russian Tsar and the German Emperor had larger and more modern state yachts than Great Britain. Unfortunately, Queen Victoria died seven months before the new yacht was launched.
The construction costs of the Victoria and Albert totaled 572,000 pounds sterling , which corresponded to the construction costs fünfsiebentel a warship of the time. The ship was equipped with steam engines combined with Belleville water tube boilers . Built in Pembroke Dock , the yacht had a displacement of 4,700 tons with a total length of 380 feet (127 m) and a width of 40 feet (13.3 m). A lot of extra ballast was added to the equipment of the new yacht including a traditional capstan so that the Queen could watch the sailors at work. As a result, the ship became unstable when floating in the dry dock and suffered considerable damage. The ship designer William White was released from his responsibility for the new ship. He lost his self-confidence and a short time later resigned from his position as chief designer of the Navy.
The yacht entered regular service after its completion in 1901. During the Second World War she was laid up and used as a depot and accommodation ship for the crew of the warship Excellent in Portsmouth harbor . As early as the first third of the 20th century, there were plans to replace the yacht with a new building, but these were initially no longer pursued when the war broke out. It was not until 1954 that the Victoria and Albert was replaced by the Britannia and sold to a scrapping yard in Faslane-on-Clyde in Scotland.
The Victoria and Albert served four monarchs ( Edward VII , George V , Edward VIII , George VI ) and took part in two naval parades, in 1935 for King George V and 1937 for King George VI.
literature
- Her Majesty's Yacht and Hospital Ship "Britannia". In: The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-Builder. Vol. 61, No. 553, 1954, ZDB -ID 880066-2 , pp. 433-448.
- Edward HH Archibald: The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy, 1860-1970. Illustrated by Ray Woodward. Blandford Press, London 1971, ISBN 0-7137-0551-5 .