The Princess Royal has named a new medical ship that will provide healthcare for people in Amazonian communities.
Princess Anne toured Rosyth Dockyard in Fife on Saturday, accompanied by her husband Sir Tim Laurence, and named the ship Forth Hope.
Owned by Edinburgh-based charity the Vine Trust, the 35-metre vessel has been transformed at the Babcock yard into a fully equipped medical ship, complete with laboratory, pharmacy, operating theatre, consultation rooms and dental surgery.
The ship is due to leave Scotland in the coming weeks to provide medical care on the Peruvian Amazon and is predicted to give 100,000 free consultations and treatments each year.
The Princess Royal also named Babcock's new engineering centre as The William Rankine Building, after the Scot whose work in civil engineering, naval architecture and thermodynamics is recognised as having made a major impact on the development of engineering in Scotland.
Willie McPherson, Vine Trust chief executive, said: "We are grateful for the invaluable support of Babcock International Group and the 30 other companies which have supported the outfitting of MV Forth Hope.
"It has been wonderful to see so many organisations generously contribute to this life-changing project and we look forward to sharing stories from Forth Hope's Atlantic voyage and medical work on the Peruvian Amazon."
John Howie, divisional chief executive for Babcock, said he was "honoured" by the royal visit and he hoped the Forth Hope would "will help change the lives of Amazonian River communities".
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