Take a tour of the HMS Belfast (pictures)

The HMS Belfast served Great Britain for two decades. Nowadays it's a tourist attraction in central London. We took a tour.

In the Pool of London
1 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

In the Pool of London

The HMS Belfast served her country for 24 years, including firing on the beaches before the D-Day invasion, helping sink the German battleship Tirpitz, and more. It's now a museum ship. For the full story, check out: Take a tour of the HMS Belfast.

Read the article
Town-class
2 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Town-class

The walk across the gangplank from the South Bank of the river Thames gives you a good sense of the size. It’s a light cruiser, so it’s a lot smaller than other WWII vessels you can tour.

Read the article
Ship's bell
3 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Ship's bell

One of the first things you see when you board the Belfast is the solid silver ship's bell.

Read the article
Looking aft
4 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Looking aft

Down the length of the ship, Tower Bridge downriver.

Read the article
Once enemies, now friends
5 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Once enemies, now friends

The ship docked alongside the Belfast on one of my tour days was the German cruise ship Berlin. If that’s not a sign of time and the world moving on, I don’t know what is.

Read the article
Load them guns
6 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Load them guns

Inside the front turret. The shells are lifted from far below (which we’ll see later).

Read the article
Anchor's aweigh
7 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Anchor's aweigh

A serious anchor.

Read the article
Starboard amidships
8 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Starboard amidships

Like most museum ships, many passageways are filled with other exhibits. Here, a replica of one of the torpedoes the Belfast carried.

Read the article
Clean clothes
9 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Clean clothes

The laundry room from the 1950s refit. Before then the crew washed their laundry in buckets.

Read the article
Meow
10 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Meow

Yep, that’s a cat. These soulless killing machines were kept on board to do what they did best: kill things. Specifically, mice.

Read the article
Art
11 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Art

There was an art exhibit called "The Tourists" going on when I was there. It was some kind of take on Mardi Gras. It was freaky.

From this room music was piped through the ship.

Read the article
Woodworking
12 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Woodworking

Ships need to be able to repair themselves, to an extent, while on tour. Here you can see the shipwright’s room.

Read the article
Sick bay
13 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Sick bay

Recovery cots dead ahead, operating room to the right.

Read the article
Root canal
14 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Root canal

Can’t escape the need for a dentist at sea.

Read the article
Switches
15 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Switches

There is something so cool, and sort of menacing, about exposed and massive switches like these.

Read the article
Galley
16 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Galley

The quite sizeable galley. It continues back farther about three rooms this size.

Read the article
Soup?
17 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Soup?

Soup, anyone? Soup, everyone.

Read the article
Hot cross buns
18 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Hot cross buns

Fancy a biscuit? Yep, it’s a bakery.

Read the article
Transmitting station
19 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Transmitting station

The mechanical computers here calculated where to aim the guns.

Read the article
Forward steering position
20 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Forward steering position

Different from what you'd expect, the main steering wheel is actually inside the ship. No windows.

Read the article
Gyro compass
21 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Gyro compass

This gyro compass always points north, to aid navigation in high seas.

Read the article
Hot water
22 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Hot water

This washroom is close to the engine room, so hot water didn't have to get piped around the ship (much).

Read the article
Pipes, tubes and ducts
23 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Pipes, tubes and ducts

The forward engine room. On the right is one of the huge fans to feed the boilers.

Read the article
Engine room floor
24 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Engine room floor

A rare open space in the engine room. The boilers are on the right.

Read the article
Maze
25 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Maze

Imagine, there were many men who knew where every one of these pipes went and what it carried.

Read the article
Not hot, right now
26 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Not hot, right now

Pre-heated fuel oil got atomized here, to get sent through those tiny holes...

Read the article
Furnace
27 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Furnace

...to the furnace to make steam. The steam was used for a variety of things, including turning generators for electric power.

Read the article
Lucky 7
28 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Lucky 7

Up to seven of the "oil fuel registers" were used on each boiler.

Read the article
Full speed ahead
29 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Full speed ahead

Literally.

Read the article
Throttles
30 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Throttles

Three separate controls: one for ahead, one for astern and one for efficient cruising.

Read the article
Gears!
31 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Gears!

I saw this awesomeness on the far side of the engine room. Any guesses?

Read the article
Reduction gear
32 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Reduction gear

This is one of the huge reduction gears connected to the propeller shaft.

Read the article
Not exactly an LCD
33 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Not exactly an LCD

These gorgeous analog dials gave the engineers everything they needed to keep the engines running.

Read the article
Canteen
34 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Canteen

I thought they did a great job stocking the canteen with cans and goods that would have been found while the ship was in service.

Read the article
Yo, ho, ho
35 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Yo, ho, ho

A still. No joke, British sailors got rations of grog.

Read the article
Hammock Town
36 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Hammock Town

There were few crew quarters on the Belfast. Sailors instead had hammocks stretched above areas that had other uses.

Read the article
Sleep where you eat
37 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Sleep where you eat

Not a lot of daily variety.

Read the article
Armory
38 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Armory

Deep inside the ship is the armory.

Read the article
Up elevator
39 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Up elevator

Ignore the creepy sailor mannequin. The shells would be loaded into elevators and raised into the turrets.

Read the article
VHF and UHF equipment room
40 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

VHF and UHF equipment room

The gear here, along with antennas outside, allowed the Belfast to communicate with other vessels, the shore and so on.

Read the article
Not bad for some
41 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Not bad for some

The officers got far better accommodations, with little things like "beds" and "a window."

Read the article
Radar
42 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Radar

Radar would have been cutting-edge naval technology in the Second World War, but of course the Belfast saw service afterwards and was kept up to date.

Read the article
The bleeps, the sweeps and the creeps
43 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

The bleeps, the sweeps and the creeps

I didn't detect any enemy aircraft. I might have been reading it wrong.

Read the article
High tech
44 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

High tech

Here an incredibly lifelike mannequin worked to figure out what caused a blue screen of death. I guess Win98 was terrible in the '60s too.

Read the article
Compass platform
45 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Compass platform

The bridge (or compass platform, as it was called), was exposed prior to the 1950s refit.

Read the article
The view upriver
46 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

The view upriver

Rumor has it the guns are fixed on a gas station on the M25, the motorway that rings London.

Read the article
Boat deck
47 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

Boat deck

A variety of small boats were stored here, along with a Supermarine Walrus.

Read the article
From the Tower
48 of 48
Geoffrey Morrison

From the Tower

If you're headed to the Tower of London, or Tower Bridge, you can't miss the Belfast, and if you're a fan of WWII ships, you shouldn't.

Read the article

More Galleries

38 of the best games on Nintendo Switch

38 of the best games on Nintendo Switch

39 Photos
New movies coming out in 2021: James Bond, Marvel and more

New movies coming out in 2021: James Bond, Marvel and more

53 Photos
Best dating apps of 2021

Best dating apps of 2021

13 Photos
James Bond movies, ranked, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig

James Bond movies, ranked, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig

49 Photos
41 weird objects seen on Mars, explained

41 weird objects seen on Mars, explained

43 Photos
CES 2021's coolest gadgets: Rollable phones, giant TVs, $16,000 bathtub and more

CES 2021's coolest gadgets: Rollable phones, giant TVs, $16,000 bathtub and more

70 Photos
Inauguration Day of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in pictures

Inauguration Day of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in pictures

22 Photos