Royal Yacht Britannia

The name ‘Britannia’ has a prestigious history. ‘The Royal Yacht Britannia’, which was also classed by LR, was a floating residence for Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family for over 40 years, sailing over 1,000,000 miles around the world.

Today, Britannia is the latest luxury cruise liner from P&O and the eighth that LR has helped them deliver including Oceana (2000), Ventura (2008), and Azura (2010).

She is also the largest ship to be designed and built under Safe Return to Port regulations. Mark McQuire, Graduate Surveyor in LR commented: “This regulation has only recently been implemented so the site office had to work closely with the yard, our plan approval office and flag administrations during the build to agree an inspection and testing system. The knowledge gained during this process will surely be invaluable during the testing of future passenger ships.”

The new flagship vessel is 330m long and 38m wide, featuring 1837 cabins to accommodate 5700 passengers and crew. An impressive 144,000gt, Britannia has a total power capacity of 62400kW and will cruise at 22 knots.

Designed with luxury in mind, the new cruise ship features 13 bars, 13 restaurants and cafes, 15 passenger decks, and four swimming pools.

Project Manager Nicola Villani continued: "The first sight of the impressive Union Jack painted on the vessel’s bow was an indication she would be something special. When Britannia left the yard for her first real voyage at sea, we looked back at all the phases of construction and had the feeling that, thanks to the hard work of Monfalcone surveyors and Trieste TSO specialists, something special had really been achieved. When we heard that Her Majesty the Queen was to name her, we felt even more honoured to have been part of the project."