Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois visited a special exhibition on Navel Engineering at the House of Commons recently when he was shown a design for Britain’s new Antarctic patrol ship. The ship was subject to a national competition to find a name for the vessel, in which the most popular entry was “Boaty McBoatface”.
However, Naval Chiefs decided this was not appropriate for one of the Queen’s ships and, therefore, the new vessel is to be entitled HMS Sir David Attenborough, after the famous naturalist and BBC presenter. Nevertheless, such was the popularity of the alternative name, the ship’s own inflatable dingy, is to be named Boaty McBoatface as a result.
The model of the new vessel was part of a display on Navel Engineering in the Upper Waiting Hall at the House of Commons and designed to promote education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills which are particularly useful in careers in the Royal Navy.
Speaking about the exhibition, Mark said:
“My father, Reginald Francois, served in the Royal Navy during World War Two so I was particularly pleased to stop by this exhibition in Parliament to show my support. It was also very good to see a model of the new HMS Sir David Attenborough which will help to improve our scientific understanding of the world around us and I thinks she will be an asset to Britain’s fleet.”