Sea Cadets across the UK are one step closer to realising their dreams of a 21st century UK flagship as they celebrate the first stage in the build process, the laying of the keel of their new £4.8million flagship.

On Thursday 10 April at the Spanish yard in Asturius, Spain, six navy board cadets, each representing part of the UK, commanding officer of the current flagship TS Royalist, and the Sea Cadets Captain, Captain Jon Holloway RN will witness the first journey in this ships new life at this traditional keel laying ceremony.

Laying the keel is the formal recognition of the start of the ship’s construction and one of four events celebrated in the life of a ship: Keel laying, launching, commissioning and decommissioning. The keel laying sees the initial placement of the central timber that forms the backbone of the vessel, the keel, today a keel module replaces the wooden timber.

Captain Jon Holloway RN, Captain Sea Cadets says: ”This is a historic moment and much waited for, we are thrilled to see the start of this process and look forward with anticipation to the delivery of our new ship in April 2015”.

A flagship voyage is the pinnacle of the Sea Cadet experience and one which the charity wants to ensure future generations of Sea Cadets can benefit from. The current ship is over 40 years old and increasingly expensive to run.

The charity spent two years fundraising £4.8 million to build the new ship, so far achieving £4.45 million of that target. The new ship will be ready for the 2015 sailing season and is yet to be named. TS Royalist was originally named in honour of The Princess Royal, HRH Princess Anne, who named the ship in 1971. TS Royalist has taken over 30,000 young people to sea since then.

The new ship, a brig, will be in service for the next 40 years, ensuring that young people can continue to enjoy incredible sailing opportunities through which they can learn valuable life skills as they pull together as a team to circumnavigate Britain’s coastal waters, as well as practical sailing and navigational skills.

The innovative new ship design, created by Spanish yard, Astilleros Gondan offers greater use of space, with better all-round sailing ability and performance. Faster and easier to handle than Royalist, the new ship is also more economical to run.

Sea Cadets is a national nautical youth charity offering young people between 10 and 18 the best possible head start in life through nautical adventure and based on the customs and traditions of the Royal Navy. We help them to build a range of valuable skills for life and boost confidence.

Source: MSSC