HMS Belfast, South Bank, London

...medium sized warship. It was HMS Belfast, the World War II Naval Destroyer now residing permanently on the Thames, a monument almost in itself.

HMS Belfast was launched at The Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast in March 1938 and commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1939. A modified Southampton class light cruiser she is 613 feet long, and has a standard displacement of 11,553 tons. She has twelve six inch guns, eight four inch, and ...
...October 1971.

HMS Belfast is yet another of those places I always said I wanted to visit but never actually got round to arranging. Here, at last, was my chance. It didn't look that large so I thought it would probably kill an hour at the most.

Entry is gained via the rather small ticket office and souvenir shop located on the river bank. After obtaining our tickets we proceeded along a jetty on to the ship's quarterdeck. ... more

One fine Spring Saturday lunchtime found me and my fourteen year old son wandering along the South Bank of the Thames in London with time on our hands prior to watching football. As we ambled eastwards between London Bridge and Tower Bridge looking for somewhere to have a beer in order to kill time we came across the grey bows of a medium sized warship. It was HMS Belfast, the World War II Naval Destroyer now residing permanently on the Thames, a monument almost in itself.

HMS Belfast was launched at The Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast in March 1938 and commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1939. A modified Southampton class light cruiser she is 613 feet long, and has a standard displacement of 11,553 tons. She has twelve six inch guns, eight four inch, and twelve Bofors anti aircraft guns. In her day she had a top speed of thirty-two knots.

Her entry in to the war was less than glorious. In November 1939 she hit a magnetic mine while leaving the Firth of Forth, causing damage that took almost three years to repair. When she came back in to service at the end of 1942 she found herself on Arctic convoy duties until June 1944. She redeemed herself from her earlier ignoble career, no more so than in December 1943 when she assisted in the sinking of The Scharnhorst, the mighty German battle cruiser, at the Battle of the North Cape. On D Day she assisted in the bombardment of German positions on the Normandy landing beaches and remained in the vicinity to assist troops with ground bombardment until 8th July after the capture of Caen. These were her last shots fired in anger in WWII as she returned to Devonport for a refit.

By 1945 she was in the Far East where she spent the next two years. In 1950 she was called back in to active service in the Korean War, bombarding enemy ground placements in support of UN forces. In 1952 she fired her last shots in Korea and was eventually retired in 1963.

However, thanks to the efforts of a group led by her former captain, Rear Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles, she was brought to London and opened to the public in October 1971.

HMS Belfast is yet another of those places I always said I wanted to visit but never actually got round to arranging. Here, at last, was my chance. It didn't look that large so I thought it would probably kill an hour at the most.

Entry is gained via the rather small ticket office and souvenir shop located on the river bank. After obtaining our tickets we proceeded along a jetty on to the ship's quarterdeck. Here a member of staff who, handing us a visitor's guide directed us where to start the tour checked our tickets.

The visitor guide consists of a printed sheet of paper folded in half. Inside, a map of the ship is dissected floor by floor. Each floor is depicted in a different colour scheme and clearly shows the different exhibits and features. What is not shown is the direction the ship tour takes which is unfortunate as the direction arrows on the ship itself are not that easy to spot. Certainly my son and I found ourselves heading in the wrong direction shortly in to our tour and having to retrace our steps.

The tour itself starts at "Y" Turret on the quarterdeck before heading onwards and upwards, covering such places as the Admiral's bridge, Operations room, Director Control Tower and Gun Direction Platform. From there you descend down through the ship; on the way you encounter crew rest areas, the punishment cells, the Forward Steering position, galley, sickbay and washrooms, to name but a few of the other areas on display. Finally, at the very bottom are the forward engine and boiler rooms and the magazines.

Some of the areas are enlivened by waxwork dummies in uniform, particularly the Operations Room which has a re-enactment through loud speaker of what was said and occurred in there during the hunt for and the sinking of the Scharnhorst. There are also VDUs dotted about the ship with videos explaining how various parts of the ship worked, ranging from carrying planes on the boat deck to the Bofors anti aircraft guns. Of these the most interesting video was in "A" gun turret, explaining that it took twenty-seven men to operate each turret, plus a further twenty in the magazine and shell rooms. Standing in the turret I was at a loss to explain how twenty-seven men could fit in to such a small area and work effectively.

There are also a couple of small exhibitions entitled "War and Peace" and "Life at Sea" as well as a small café.

I found the whole experience very interesting and ended up spending almost an hour and a half on board. We had to rush to finish the tour in time to get to the football, which was a pity because I would have happily lingered a little longer.

A word of warning. Much of the ship can only be gained via steep stairways. There is a ramp and a lift available but I would hesitate recommending a visit here by disabled persons or those with young children without checking accessibility arrangements in advance.

HMS Belfast is situated on the South Bank of the Thames between London and Tower bridges. Nearest rail and tube are at London Bridge, which is a five minute walk via the pleasant Hays Galleria.

Admission costs:

Adults £8.50
Under 16s Free
Senior Citizens £5.25
And Students

Further discounts are available for group bookings. School groups are also catered for.

I was extremely pleased to have visited the Belfast. At £8.50 for both my son and me it was good value for money. You don't have to be a military buff; the tour would certainly be of interest to most people above the age of eight and needs a good hour and a half to two hours to give it full justice. I shall certainly be taking my youngest two there when they get older.

HMS Belfast is run by the Imperial War Museum.

 

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