A History of Ship Launches and their Ceremonies

George Hodgkinson

Pen & Sword Transport

£25.00

Starting with Noah’s Ark – a ‘float-up’ launch – this unusual book covers ship launches (and royal yachts) from the Athenian triremes to the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth II -- which also used the float-up method, though rather more briskly than Noah. Brunel’s Great Eastern was launched sideways and eventually took 89 days to reach the water. Peter the Great had a channel cut into the ice for Shtandart but Cherie Blair launched the Pride of Hull by pressing a plunger which smashed the champagne bottle on the outside while she and the other guests remained in the relative warmth of the car decks.

Well researched and illustrated. Accessible to the general reader as well as historians.