HMS Belfast HMS Belfast is a ‘Town’ Class Cruiser whose keel was laid 10 December 1936, launched in 1938 and commissioned into active service in 1939. One of the most powerful large light cruisers ever built, HMS Belfast is now the only surviving vessel of her type to have seen active service during the Second World War, playing a leading part in the destruction of the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst at the Battle of North Cape and is best known for her role during the Second World War in supporting the Allied troops on D-Day in the Normandy Landings. After the war, she supported United Nations forces in Korea and remained in service with the Royal Navy until 1965. Expected to be disposed of as scrap after she was decommissioned, in 1967 efforts were initiated to preserve HMS Belfast as a museum ship, but in 1971 the UK Government decided against preservation, prompting the formation of the private HMS Belfast Trust to campaign for her to be saved for the Nation. The Trust was successful in its efforts, and the Government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London in 1971, she was permanently moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in the Pool of London and opened to the public in October the same year. HMS Belfast became a branch of the IWM on 01 March 1978. HMS Belfast offers nine decks of history for visitors to explore. From the Captain’s Bridge to the sailors’ mess deck, operations room and engine rooms, visitors will hear her battle stories and experience what life was like for her 950 crew. The vessel has remained in situ since 1971 apart from one visit to Tilbury in 1982 and one to Portsmouth Dockyard in 1999 for dry docking work. Whilst HMS Belfast is the largest object in the IWM collection, it is set in an estate context and managed in an integrated way to ensure maximum benefit, safety and compliance is sustained, so far as reasonably practicable. As a decommissioned ship, power, water and drainage are provided as if it were a building, and preventative planned maintenance, and lifecycle activity, is conducted accordingly. However, the vessel is subject to numerous damaging forces, most notably external and internal corrosion from the River Thames and rain respectively. External corrosion is contained passively by a durable proprietary coating, applied at the last dry docking, and actively by an impressed current corrosion protection (CP) system. The external coating is due for life cycle replacement in 2024, but it has been assessed that risk can be taken and dry docking delayed to c2030 if the CP system is kept in optimal shape and regular inspections are undertaken. Internal corrosion is a real challenge due to the many routes for water to penetrate the ship from above, but an extensive project is ongoing to mitigate this risk. Going forward, to assure the overall health and survivability of the vessel, the new integrated management approach will seek to conserve and present the ship as an appropriate ‘object’ whilst concurrently applying sound infrastructure, marine engineering and naval architectural principles in decision making.
HMS Belfast is secured in place by Port of London Authority leased moorings and dolphins, and connected to Queens Walk on the Thames South Bank by a bespoke fixed gangway and movable brow. Additionally, there is a purpose-built pavilion on the quayside that acts as the reception and ticket office along with providing rooftop bar facilities.
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