The Royal Yacht Britannia, one of Scotland's leading tourist attractions, closed on the 31st of December 2011 for one month, re-opening on 1st February 2012. The vessel is making the short trip to a neighbouring dry-dock for inspecting and repainting her hull below the waterline as she prepares for a big year ahead.
Whilst Britannia spent eleven days in the Leith dry-dock, to ensure that the iconic vessel looks her best for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee year, the attraction will close for the full month.
Bob Downie, Chief Executive of The Royal Yacht Britannia said 'Britannia was last in dry dock in May 1998 when she first arrived in Leith and ever since then we have been conscious that, like all ships, there would be a future requirement to take her out of water again and have her hull surveyed and repainted.
'That said, every year Britannia is subject to a comprehensive independent maintenance survey and divers also inspect the hull to ensure that all is in good order, and whilst there is no particular need to undertake this work now our insurance company is keen that their own surveyors can inspect the vessel, with a view to not having to dry dock Britannia again for another 20-25 years.
'Although we will spend only a fortnight in dry dock, we will take advantage of the down-time to scaffold the funnel and masts so that they can also be repainted, thus avoiding this unsightly work taking place whilst open to visitors'
Britannia is looking forward to a busy year with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and 2012 is also the 60th Anniversary of the laying down of Britannia's keel. Work began on the ship at John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank in June 1952 and she was launched in April 1953.
Last year was one of the award-winning attraction's busiest years with over 275,000 visitors, a 12% increase on the previous year, a year that also saw Britannia receive the highest quality mark (95.85%) ever awarded by the Scottish tourist board - Visit Scotland.
Britannia will reopen to visitors on 1st February 2012.
With the dry dock now empty ready for her hull painting, I was lucky enough to be able to enter the dry dock (big thank you to Phil and the gang) and get these amazing shots:
