Cunard’s newest cruise ship, Queen Anne, has achieved a major construction milestone, with the laying of the ship’s keel at a ceremony at Fincantieri Marghera. -- My Cunard Website: https://www.chriscunard.com/ Ethical Cruise Clothing: https://chrisframeofficial.teemill.com/ The Big Cruise Podcast: https://www.thebigcruisepodcast.com/ -- The September 2022 event was a little bit different to the keel laying of the previous Queens, as a large part of Queen Anne’s hull had already been constructed and launched earlier this year. Now positioned in the dry dock, the keel block was laid on 8 September 2022. The keel laying is an important step in the development of a new ship. Historically, this was the first part of a ship’s construction, and generally formed the backbone of the ship to which the rest of the vessel was built around. Due to the significance of the keel laying in the construction of a ship, there are many maritime traditions that are linked with the keel laying. This often includes attaching a coin to the keel of the ship, often signifying the vessel’s country of origin, or country of future operation. The tradition links back to the age of sail, when a coin was attached to the main mast of a ship and thought to bring good luck. In the case of Queen Anne, Cunard have commissioned a special edition Queen Anne coin which was included in the ceremony. This coin was paired with an original coin from the era of Queen Anne’s reign – which lasted from 1702 to 1714. The ceremony was attended by Captain Inger Klein Thoughauge – Queen Anne’s first master, who not only prepared the coins for the welding process, but also welded them into place within the ship’s keel. The Captain is standing by the new ship, as the company’s representative to the shipbuilder during the construction process. This is also a long-established maritime tradition, with some well-known Cunard Captains having stood by previous Queens. This includes Captain Bil Warwick for QE2, Commodore Ron Warwick for QE2 and Commodore Chris Wells for Queen Elizabeth. Following the ceremony, the keel was craned into place to be attached to the hull. With the keel officially laid, we will see construction of Queen Anne speed up, with the vessel taking shape quickly at Fincantieri. She is expected to enter service in 2024, giving Cunard a quartet of Queens. -- Image Credits: All Queen Anne images are supplied by Cunard Line for Media Use and taken by Christopher Ison. See license information: https://bit.ly/3rbxVc3 Thumbnail image: credit as above. Thumbnail arrow: Jesse Pinkman / The Noun Project./ CC BY ATTRIBUTION. #cruisenews #cruiseship #cruise #cunard #queenanne #cun4rd