The ceremony also saw a gold sovereign bearing the head of Queen Victoria along with a euro placed under the main mast (the radar mast). Maureen Ryan was chosen as the ship’s Godmother because she had served on all four Cunard Queen vessels. The ship was floated out in January 2007. Six blocks make up each of the 325t sections, each complete with interior structure, cabling and ducts in a modular fashion. The first section of the MS Queen Victoria’s keel was lifted into place in May 2006. Around 86% of staterooms are outside and 71% of staterooms have balconies. The ship has a passenger capacity of 2,014 with 1,001 crew and 1,007 cabins (creating a passenger to crew ratio of 2:1). The MS Queen Victoria is a hybrid design between the Vista-class of Holland America and the Spirit-class of Carnival. The crossing to New York was made with the Queen Elizabeth II, culminating with the meeting of all three current Queen vessels. The MS Queen Victoria made its first transatlantic crossing during the first part of the world cruise. This was followed by a short cruise to the Canary Islands, with the first world cruise taking 107 days. Tickets for this voyage sold out within 24 hours in April 2006. The vessel’s maiden voyage from Southampton (its home port) took place on 11 December 2007, taking in the Christmas markets of Northern Europe. “She is the second largest Cunard ship ever built next to the Queen Mary II.” For further details about the exhibition and to buy a ticket, please visit. These include oil and gouache paintings, pen and ink drawings, sketches, sculptures, wood cuts and large charcoal portraits.Įntry to the exhibition is included as part of the Annual All Attraction ticket. The artworks range up to 3m x 2m in size and across a wide range of mediums.
He works quickly to produce detailed sketches in pen and ink or pencil before working them up into larger oil or gouache paintings. Goudie has drawn on hundreds of images he created at Scotstoun, Govan and Rosyth over a seven year study between 20. It is particularly pertinent as we are now on the doorstep of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth when she is in port, so our visitors really can compare and contrast!” It reflects these titans of engineering and the skill of the men and women who build them. Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director General of The National Museum of the Royal Navy said: “The intensity and scale of Lachlan’s work is staggering. “This body of work represents my visual fascination with a neglected industrial landscape that risks disappearing before our eyes: the legacy of an industry that has shaped Scotland’s identity and the magnificent flagships of the Royal Navy which are the latest products of that long established tradition.” Over that period I have produced paintings, drawings and sculptures documenting both the awesome engineering processes undertaken in the yards and the portraits of the workers whose lives are entwined with these locations. “For seven years I have been embedded in Scotland’s two surviving shipyards at Govan and Rosyth. Art belongs everywhere and even amidst the noise and bustle of heavy engineering I was staggered by the unusual beauty and colour of ship construction. The time I spent documenting the construction of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class carriers was an extraordinary experience. Lachlan Goudie said: “I am immensely proud to be exhibiting at The National Museum of the Royal Navy. Hence when construction on the Royal Navy’s newest and biggest aircraft carrier commenced, he was determined to document the monumental engineering project and record modern shipbuilding. As a child, it was the past glory days of ‘Clydebuilt’ ships that captured his imagination, not the stark reality of industrial decline that he witnessed. Goudie is a Scottish artist who first developed a fascination with shipbuilding whilst growing up on the Clyde. For the last seven years renowned artist, writer and broadcaster, Lachlan Goudie, who was a contributor on BBC’s Big Painting Challenge, has had special access to sketch and paint in the BAE shipyards on the Clyde and Forth. The opening follows the much-heralded arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth into her home port, Portsmouth, during 2017. This is the first showing of Goudie’s Shipyard in England, following its successful launch in Scotland. Seven years of chronicling the construction of the Royal Navy’s newest destroyers and monolithic aircraft carriers are the inspiration for Shipyard, a remarkable exhibition by renowned Scottish artist Lachlan Goudie which opens at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on 17 March.