HMS Belfast

What to expect

HMS Belfast is a Royal Navy cruiser built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, launched in 1938 and commissioned in 1939. A German mine damaged her in November 1939, and she then spent over two years under repair. She escorted Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, helped sink the German battleship Scharnhorst in December 1943, and supported the D-Day landings in June 1944.

She was saved from the scrapyard and opened to the public in 1971, and is now moored on the Thames near Tower Bridge as a branch of the Imperial War Museum. You board by a walkway from the south bank and explore on your own through narrow corridors and steep steps, with an audio guide. The route runs from the engine and boiler rooms to the galley, mess decks, gun turrets and the bridge. Most people spend about two hours.

Don't miss

• Engine and boiler rooms
• Gun turrets and the restored Y Turret
• The ship's galley
• Mess decks and sick bay
• The admiral's bridge and operations room

Tips for your visit

• Wear flat shoes: you move through narrow passages and up and down steep stairs.
• Check the museum's accessibility information before you go if anyone in your group has trouble with stairs.
• Pair it with Tower Bridge and the walk along the south bank.
• Children usually enjoy the gun turrets and the engine room.