Britannia and the British Empire what Marianne is to France or perhaps what Columbia is to the United States. Britannia became a very potent and more common figure in times of war, and represented British liberties and democracy. During the 1990s the term "Cool Britannia" (drawn from a humorous version by the Bonzo Dog Band of the song "Rule Britannia", with words by James Thomson [1700–1748], which is often used as an unofficial national anthem), was used to describe the contemporary United Kingdom. The phrase referred to the fashionable scenes of the era, with a new generation of pop groups and
HMS Britannia (1904) Grand Fleet. They had a slightly faster roll than previous British battleship classes, but were good gun platforms, although very wet in bad weather. Primarily powered by coal, "Britannia" had oil sprayers installed during her construction, as did all of her sisters except , the first time this had been done in British battleships. These allowed steam pressure to be rapidly increased, improving "Britannia"s acceleration. The eight ships between them were given four different boiler installations for comparative purposes; "Britannia"s boiler installation is reported both as 12 Babcock & Wilcox and three cylindrical boilers and as 18 Babcock & Wilcox