The newly assembled hull of the RRS Sir David Attenborough is now standing on the slipway of the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, awaiting launch day.
Weather and tide permitting, she should slide into the River Mersey on Saturday.
The £200m vessel will replace the James Clark Ross and the Shackleton, which between them have almost 50 years' service in support of UK polar science.
The Attenborough is the ship the public had wanted to call "Boaty McBoatface" in an online poll, before ministers stepped in to choose a more appropriate name.
She represents the largest commercial ship built in Britain in three decades.
The hull should make for quite a sight as her steelwork floats out into Liverpool's famous waters.
I could never understand why the person who came up with the ridiculous name did just that ,or how it connects in any way . It sounds like something out of kids comic.
Anyway, it will be something very special . Thanks Gibbo
The BBC report quoted here has got Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, but I bet on Saturday some media outlets will be saying the ship was built in Liverpool.
Earlier this year, the Natural Environment Research Council, which commissioned the vessel, said on its website that it was being built in Liverpool.
I contacted them and they finally made a correction after a couple of months. But on their website right now, there’s no mention of Birkenhead – it just says the ship will be launched into the Mersey.
Have heard the ship is unfinished and went straight back into wet dock. That crew were paid significant danger money with it not being finished and tested..
I'm no expert, but I think most ships are still unfinished when they're launched. For instance, here's the Mauretania after being launched at Laird's in 1938 - with still a lot of work to do, including the funnels.
The old way of making ships, laying the complete hull first seems to have died out, in those ships it wasn't uncommon to launch them before the engines were fitted.
This ship has been built in the modern modular method with the whole ship built in slices lengthwise, the hull sections get fastened together, it isn't complete the top superstructure has still to go on but it will be much more complete than the days of old.
The main reason to launch them early is to free up space in the valuable construction sheds so other projects can get moving apart from which the sheds aren't usually tall enough to fit much above decks.
Launching is a bit like the difference between building a house, first fix then second fix. Good to make sure it's watertight before you put anything very special inside.
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