CUNARD Line’s Queen Victoria returned to the Mersey on Friday to round off Liverpool’s commemorations of the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic - and Globe readers captured the moment on camera.
The ship docked at Liverpool Cruise Terminal on Friday night during a Round Britain voyage and sailed the next evening.
On Saturday morning, its captain Evans Hoyt, the Master of Queen Victoria, joined guests from his ship for a Cunard Service of Remembrance at Liverpool Parish Church, Our Lady and Saint Nicholas. Civic dignitaries and veterans will also attend. Members of the public are welcome.
The return of Queen Victoria to Liverpool followed a series of special waterfront events during the week to remember and respect the sacrifice of others in sustaining vital supplies shipped in convoys to maintain the UK war effort, described by Winston Churchill at the time as the Battle of the Atlantic.
Liverpool and Cunard each played a pivotal role in the effort, the port city handling ships and their cargoes and housing the underground military nerve centre of operations, now the Western Approaches World War II Museum.
Dozens of Cunard ships and hundreds of officers and crew joined perilous transatlantic convoys, sailing under the deadly threat of attack by German U-Boats.
Angus Struthers, Senior Vice President at Cunard said: "In times of national need, Cunard ships and their crews have served the nation throughout our 183-year history, never more so than during World War II.
"Liverpool will forever be regarded as Cunard’s spiritual home and we are honoured that Queen Victoria’s call, and our Service at the Parish Church, helped mark the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic."
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