The Bluebird Project

I'd love to fly on a wreck, all I get to see day to day is lots of nuclear fuel.


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I'd love to fly on a wreck

You wouldn't - it's terrifying thinking that at any second you could hang the vehicle by its tether and lose the lot. Much better to strap a 'breather on your back and go for a proper look. Ahh, happy days.

Same risk in the pond and added nasty contamination to go with.


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Hats off to the crews of these historic high speed craft

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37156430

Looking forward to the next Diary

Interesting article and great footage from the Seabotix ROV.


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That thin-walled steel exhaust pipe really did it for me... If something like that can survive the thick end of 200 years in saltwater without fizzing away to dust the rest of the ship must be amazingly well preserved.

If only I could get down there with a hammer, chisel and a goody bag - oh yes!

Drives me nuts when they say it couldn't be recommissioned... It's a machine! It'll fix...

Let the BBP aboard for a couple of days and we'd soon have steam up and be underway.

Ships of Britannia's vintage and design are a massive undertaking to keep running in the modern world. Everything is obsolete and no longer made and the skills to run and maintain the machinery are rare in the modern world. Like Warships there comes a point when modernisation to do the job of a Royal Yacht, as opposed to a preserved Royal Yacht, would be so extensive and difficult that it would be much cheaper and easier, both in conversion and running costs, to build a new one.

Returning Britannia to service as a day to day working Royal Yacht would be a bit like returning K7 to service as a serious contender for the Water Speed Record - so much would have to be changed they would both effectively be new vessels and they would both be held back by the legacy of their original design. There may also be modern requirement that would be hard to fit to the old girl, such as proper Helicopter facilities that could handle modern helicopters and defences against modern terrorist or other threats (there are reasons why the Queens new Bentleys are sealed and provided with and independent breathing supply against Chemical, Biological and Radiological threats [no security breach here, the information is publicly available])

There have been 83 Royal Yachts, there is no reason why we should be averse to creating an 84th, if it was deemed to be required.

I think if the nation got behind it, the design, building, launching and commissioning of a new Royal Yacht could be a source of great shared national pride, a symbol of something that everyone can be proud of.

I think the last time I saw shared national pride was when the task force came home from the Falklands. Despite the fact that the Queen didn't use Britannia half as much as the business community did to get those big deals closed - for the nation - I suspect your average Sun reader wouldn't see beyond their taxes being squandered to buy Her Majesty a fancy boat. Much better to buy a new footballist for their chosen team.

I think the last time I saw shared national pride was when the task force came home from the Falklands.

Indeed. And what a debt we owe the Harrier, with its Orpheus-derived Pegasus - British Engineering to be proud of.