HMS Belfast Private Tours
Talks & Tours, HMS Belfast
Sailors and Royal Marines take a break from clearing ice from HMS Belfast’s upper decks. HMS Belfast spent most of 1943 in the waters of the Arctic, providing close-range heavy cover for the convoys taking supplies to the USSR.
Children of British and Commonwealth civilian internees are entertained at a party held on board HMS Belfast in Shanghai, October 1945. HMS Belfast helped evacuate survivors of Japanese prisoner of war and civilian internment camps in Shanghai.
HMS Belfast fires a salvo from her 6-inch guns at shore targets in North Korea, November 1951. HMS Belfast was amongst the first British ships to go into action off Korea, and patrolling and shore bombardments were her main duties.
HMS Belfast leaves Singapore in April 1962 at the end of her last foreign service commission. Following the Korean War, the need for a large peacetime navy dwindled, and in 1963 HMS Belfast was paid off into reserve for the last time.
HMS Belfast sails under Tower Bridge to take up her permanent mooring in the Pool of London, 15 October 1971. She became part of IWM in 1978.
Dry-docked in Tilbury, HMS Belfast undergoes preservation work on her hull, September 1982. IWM continues to preserve and restore the ship through its dedicated team of staff and volunteers, most recently replacing her masts in 2010.
HMS Belfast is currently closed and will reopen on 18 May.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
To book advance tickets visit Buy Tickets.
Last updated: 12 April 2012
HMS Belfast shows you what it was like to live and work on board a warship. Explore nine decks of amazing seafaring history where sailors once hurried up and down the ladders, and hear their battle stories from the Second World War and beyond - the convoys in icy Arctic conditions, the bombardment of German defences on D-Day and the 404 days spent patrolling waters during the Korean War.
The Gun Turret Experience immerses you in the midst of a battle during the Second World War while the interactive Operations Room puts you in the Captain's shoes as you control a fleet of ships off North Borneo.
You can also find out what it was like to live as part of a ship's community, eating, sleeping and socialising together in cramped messdecks. Down in the bowels of the ship, imagine what it was like to work among the noise and ferocity of the inner workings of the ship.
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The Walrus Café, open daily from 10.30am until 5pm, serves a variety of cooked meals, hot and cold drinks, snacks and sandwiches.