Gate Guardian

The Thames is well guarded by the mighty and powerful HMS Belfast, one of the last of the conventional battleships to be withdrawn from service, now living a charmed and peaceful life in preservation.

Construction of HMS Belfast began in 1936, with the ship being launched in 1938 and completed in August 1939, just a few weeks before the outbreak of World War II. Her and her fellow 'Town-Class' light cruisers were deployed across the North Atlantic to ward off enemy pocket battleships and other surface vessels. However, Belfast's career was almost brought to a premature end in November 1939 when she struck a mine and was laid up for repairs until November 1942. Her spell in the workshop however did allow her to be fitted with improved radar equipment and firepower, making her the largest and possibly most powerful cruiser in the Royal Navy.

Throughout 1943 the ship took part in escorting Arctic Convoys to the Soviet Union, later assisting in the Battle of the North Cape to destroy the warship Scharnhorst. In 1944 the vessel took part in the Battle of Normandy, bombarding key enemy positions in preparation for the landing of Allied Troops in Occupied France.

After the surrender of Germany in 1945, Belfast was redeployed to the Far East to assist the British Pacific Fleet in its continued battle against the Japanese Empire, arriving shortly before the conflict ended in September of that year. Belfast remained in the Pacific, and saw further action in the Korean War of 1950 to 1952 before returning to Britain for modifications between 1956 and 1959. The ship was eventually retired to the Royal Navy Reserve Fleet in 1963.

Her recent modifications and condition put her in good stead for preservation, whilst other battleships of her size and age were in varying degrees of disrepair and neglect. Although plans were made to have the ship scrapped like many other WWII battleships, a preservation group setup in 1967 appealed to the Ministry of Defence to save her from scrapping. In 1971 the British Government decided against preserving the vessel, but a private trust formed in the same year were able to garner enough money to buy the ship and moor her at the former dockyards on the River Thames just up river from Tower Bridge. Her almost immaculate condition meant that she could open to the public almost immediately in October of 1971, and in 1978 she became part of the Imperial War Museum.

The ship has only left her position on the Thames twice for overhaul and maintenance, the first being in 1982 when she was taken to Tilbury, and the second in 1999 when she was towed to Portsmouth for a major overhaul, the first time she had gone to sea in 28 years.

Over the years, HMS Belfast has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK, largely due to the fact that it is the only World War II battleship of the Royal Navy to be preserved.