God Save the Queen played as the paddle steamer Medway Queen was “launched” into the next phase of her eventful life on Saturday.

Steamships blasted their sirens in salute as the sluices were opened to float the veteran vessel for the first time since she was dismantled at Damhead Creek, near Hoo, five years ago.

It marked a significant milestone for members of the Medway Queen Preservation Society, many of whom had travelled to Albion Dock, Bristol, for the re-dedication ceremony.

Among them were Noreen and John Chambers, from Hoo, who joined when the society was formed in 1985.

Mrs Chambers said: “We always knew this moment would come but the goalposts kept shifting, especially after we were turned down twice for a Lottery grant.”

Mr Chambers added: “We never gave up the faith. That became our mantra.”

Although in substance the ship is very different from the old Medway Queen following a complete rebuild of the hull, people who stepped aboard at Strood and Chatham for trips across to Southend in the 1950s and 60s would recognise her as essentially the same ship.

And the massive steam engine at the heart of the ship is the one that powered her across the English Channel seven times during the evacuation of Dunkirk, bringing 7,000 soldiers back home.

The rebuild was awarded to Albion Dockyard after the MQPS was finally successful in obtaining Lottery funding.

David Abels, who founded the yard, said: “We took on the project purely as a commercial proposition.

“But with a ship like this it’s impossible to avoid getting emotionally involved.

“There’s something special about her. And she is the first fully riveted ship to be built in 56 years.”

The Medway Queen was dismantled and transported to Albion Dock by lorry, like an intensive care patient in a fleet of ambulances.

Now, far along the road to recovery, she will soon return to the Medway by sea, as she was intended to travel.