Explore the Operations Room on HMS Belfast

For the first time since HMS Belfast opened to visitors in 1971 the ship’s Operations Room is now fully open to the public with an exciting and new interactive display that shows the inner workings of the ship’s central nervous system.

Visitors can imagine exactly what life was like onboard the ship exploring nine different decks of maritime history. The new Operations Room gives you the chance to plan your own mission at sea and includes a new simulated radar which plots other ship's positions, based on the real-life Pony Express exercise of 1961 which involved 60 warships, 20,000 naval personnel and 6,000 US, British and Australian troops off North Borneo in the South China Sea.

There are lots of exciting presentations, hands-on activities and workshops available on visits to HMS Belfast with Signalling and Signals workshops, Morse Code activities and Ship’s Conversations lessons available. Full details of events are listed at the end of this release.

One of the most powerful large light cruisers ever built, HMS Belfast is now the only surviving vessel of her type to have seen active service during the Second World War.

In May 1971, after 32 years of service during which HMS Belfast had steamed nearly half a million miles, the last of the Royal Navy’s wartime cruisers was ‘reduced to disposal’ in preparation for sale and destruction by the ship-breakers. However, help was at hand. The Imperial War Museum encouraged the formation of an independent trust led by one of HMS Belfast’s former captains, Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles. Eventually, this devoted band of enthusiasts succeeded in bringing her to London, where she opened to visitors on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1971. The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames near to Tower Bridge.

For more information, visit hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk.