BOAT International Subscriptions

I recall whisperings a few Monaco Yacht Shows ago about the so-called national flagship. Everyone was incredibly tight-lipped about the project, as to take part they’d had to sign the Official Secrets Act. NDAs might be about as much use as saying “cross my heart and hope to die” in the superyacht business, but this was next level. The 21st-century version of the Tower awaited for anyone breathing a word about the brief issued by the Ministry of Defence. Naturally, this irritated me immensely. I really hate not knowing things. Frankly, I was amazed the scheme was even going ahead. For all his, let’s say, foibles, only Boris Johnson could have pulled it off. No one else would have the brass balls to push through a £250 million national yacht project that the press would immediately hang the “royal” robes on. It was red meat for the Home Counties, I figured, just populist noise. How wrong I was. As Kate Lardy started researching her fantastic story, we learned how seriously it was being taken. Speaking to the designers involved has revealed a tendering process more rigorous and thorough than any superyacht project, with the four final teams involved ploughing hundreds of hours into their designs, layouts, specs and mission profiles. These four projects are, to borrow a Johnsonism, “oven-ready”, but they’ll have to stay in their boxes for now. Boris was ousted, Liz couldn’t outlast a lettuce and Rishi’s got other priorities – the very last of which, I’m sure, is breathing new life into project so associated with his bedheaded predecessor. If there is a silver lining, it’s that the scrapping of the national flagship means we can now talk about it. But it’s definitely bittersweet. I’ve belatedly come round to the whole idea and would love to see one of these projects out there representing us to the world.

Stewart Campbell
Editor-in-chief

Subscribe to BOAT International Magazine