HMS Belfast London's Warship
 

Good evening all

Most of you will know exactly where London is if there was a map in front of you, and i dare say that 99% of you would likely also know about the warship moored in the River Thames near Tower Bridge.

Well on one of my many trips i did visit my own capital city, it may come as some surprise to you but London England is a place i often avoid as best i can and i live only 30 minuets from the center!

Well there are a couple of draws to London that force my hand and this is one of them HMS Belfast a World War II Veteran, who saw service from the very first day of the war to the very last in nearly every theater.

She has the credit of helping sink the German Pocket Battle ship Scharnhorst in the battle of the North cape 1943 , she fired the last shells during the Normandy landings in 1944, she was also present in the Pacific when the Japanese surrendered in 1945. and that was just for starters, Korea lay ahead as well, she had a long life and ended her days in the 1970's.

Now the old girl is moored in London so here's my write up of HMS Belfast:


Please do get involved and comment on the page it does help because i can only get better with your input!

Also if you have any other ideas about what i should write or do next please leave a comment !

Enjoy

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/...9Zz31VhQTMWKc0

During my many visits to Parliament I always went to have a ganders on her but being in the company of associates who had absolutely no interest, I never actually got to step aboard....much to my regret :shifty:

As far as I'm aware, NI continues to remain unhappy about where she is located and would like her back in the city she was named after.

I am not surprised they are un happy but the fact she was saved is a good thing i can see their point though, personally i most certainly had i been around at the time would have petitioned to save HMS Warspite rather than Belfast.

As for your trips to London are there any plans in the future for you to go south?

Those trips ended in 2010 when I retired from 'government' employment.

Well i hope you enjoy your retirement, I am off to Canada full time shortly im hoping to heading to Warrington in a couple of weeks.

So the plan for Canada is to use it as a spring board to get into museums in the USA so plenty to come yet not just for the blog but for me and my personal goals.

So much to do so little time

The HMS Belfast looks well maintained. I would love to step aboard wander about. Jim had mentioned U-534 in Birkenhead as well. Although I'm sure it was practical, I'm saddened U-534 is in pieces. I think a trip to the U.K would be great and there would be a lot to see. :)


Thanks as always for posting the pictures and narrative, Blair.:)

Indeed U534 is in bits but to be honest it is probably for the best before you couldn't go inside but now at least you can in a way and see what it was like.

Of course if your able to the U995 and U505 are very worth while visits and likewise i have done them as well, but i think it is for the best for U534 it did save her from scrap.

And yes there is a lot to see and do in the UK i certainly can list off a few museums that would easily fill a week and a half maybe two with one every day!

^ I'm sure cutting up U-534 was for the best as the interior had been vented to the sea for a long while. It would have been nice to see it intact and restored although it would not have been cost effective to do so.


U-995 in Laboe and U-505 In Chicago would be well worth seeing as well. The Subsim members who saw it all say it was a great trip and well worth seeing. I'm thrilled U-505 is in an enclosure to protect it from the elements. the Type XXI U-boat, U-2540 in Bremerhaven is on my list as well.

Again she is a must go and not all that far from Laboe either and only a half hour drive from Wilhelmshavn where there is another museum with lots of goodies !

Been some years when I visited the old girl back in the 1990's. I only took the one classic photo of her on the dock, I doubt I will return thanks to the bloody high rail costs which I refuse too pay. It was a good day out back then. Thanks for the thread.

I dunno Steed depends where you are in the world if you book in advance you get some good deals London Newcastle the other week £29 or you could fly i guess.