Hebridean Princess at 60: from Mull car ferry and secret bunker to Royal luxury

As the MV Columba, she was the MacBrayne car ferry between Oban and the islands - and a top secret nuclear bunker. As a luxury cruise ship today, she is the only one in the world with a Royal Warrant.

It was a different time when the vessel was built in 1964 during the Cold War between Russia and the West - or was it?

Back then, to ensure ’continuity of government’ during and after a nuclear war, a massive bunker codenamed ’Burlington’ was constructed in a quarry at Corsham, Wiltshire, to shelter an underground population of 4,000, equipped with 12,000 toilet rolls, 1,994 ashtrays, and even three different types of fork – dessert, fish and table – so dining etiquette could be observed after the bomb dropped.

But concentrating central government in one place was later deemed too risky, and so an even more secret plan, codenamed Python, was devised, scattering teams in remote, undercover spots - including the seas around Scotland in a passenger ferry - in the run-up to a nuclear war, in the hope some would survive and resurrect a ruined Britain.

In 1964, the Scottish Office commissioned Aberdeen shipbuilder Hall, Russell & Co. to build three fortified nuclear ships. They would sail around the lochs and islands as ordinary car ferries, chartered to David MacBrayne Ltd, as the MV Columba, MV Clansman, and MV Hebrides. 

"However," wrote Julie McDowall in Cable Magazine’s Cold War in Concrete series, "if nuclear war had approached, one of them would have become a floating nuclear bunker under the Python plan, carrying its group into hiding in the many sea lochs of Scotland where they would be out of the target areas, and able to stay mobile and escape any fallout.

"The nuclear ships looked perfectly ordinary, but had unique features such as heavy guillotine-style doors which could seal the car deck against radiation. All the external doors and vents were air-tight. There were also decontamination rooms inside, and the exterior of the ship could be cleansed of fallout with a special sprinkler system.

"The designated ferry would dock at either Oban or Mallaig and receive its group, taking them out to sea where they would, hopefully, survive the nuclear onslaught."

The group allocated to the nuclear ships, known as Whiskey Section, would be devoted to the United Kingdom Supply Agency (UKSA), in charge of procuring and allocating food and fuel in a post-nuclear Britain.

Thankfully, the MV Columba served out its first 25 years in peace, shuttling between Oban and Mull, Coll, Tiree, Colonsay, Iona, Barra and South Uist, carrying up to 600 passengers, plus 50 cars loaded via a hydraulic hoist. Below the car deck were sleeping berths for 51. From 1985, she was the last dedicated hoist-loading vessel in service.