Sailor Tales
Family activities, HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast was launched in Belfast on 17 March 1938. In her 32 years of service the ship and the crew who served on her travelled across the world. Here she is leaving Singapore Harbour at the end of her final Foreign Service commission.
On 21 November 1939, the ship was severely damaged by a magnetic mine in the Firth of Forth. Here members of the ship's company can be seen preparing to abandon ship, with life rafts ready on the quarter-deck and port waist.
During the Second World War HMS Belfast played a crucial role in the Arctic Convoys. Conditions were among the worst faced by any Allied sailors. As well as the Germans, they faced extreme cold, gales and pack ice.
HMS Belfast was reportedly one of the first ships to fire on Juno Beach during the D-Day landings. This was the last time Belfast would fire her guns in the Second World War. After D-Day she was refitted for tropical waters before heading for Japan.
In 1963 Belfast was put into reserve and soon after became the Harbour Accommodation Ship of the Reserve Ships' Division at Portsmouth. In 1971 she was moved to await disposal, but soon after it was decided that she should be preserved for the nation.
HMS Belfast was the first ship to be preserved for the nation since Lord Nelson's HMS Victory, and she became an IWM branch in 1978. Now an iconic London landmark and visitor attraction, HMS Belfast celebrates her 75th birthday on 17 March 2013.
The evacuation from Dunkirk on the French coast was hailed in Britain as an extraordinary achievement and the ‘little ships of Dunkirk’ swiftly entered the mythology of wartime brave deeds.
British soldiers wade out to a waiting destroyer off Dunkirk during the evacuation.
Troops evacuated from Dunkirk on a destroyer about to berth at Dover, 31 May 1940.
Troops evacuated from Dunkirk enjoying tea and other refreshments at Addison Road station in London, 31 May 1940.
Some of the 'little ships' used during the evacuation of Dunkirk being towed back along the River Thames past Tower Bridge, 9 June 1940.
German forces moved into Dunkirk hours after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force. Here German officers inspect a memorial on the sea front at Dunkirk.
Find out more about this session from the list below and then complete our visit request form.
A visit to HMS Belfast can support programmes of study in History, Art, English, Literacy and Citizenship, and includes handling original artefacts as well as using documents, photographs, art, posters and film.
Discover how the past is different from the present through the stories of individuals who experienced life aboard this light cruiser.
60 minutes
Students investigate various aspects of life on board through the personal stories of the men who served on HMS Belfast and the examination of artefacts from the ship’s collection.
Complete our visit request form
All learning sessions take place in our Schools Room, a former mess deck during the ship's commission.

From the World Wars to the Cold War, IWM gives teachers and students in UK schools everything they need to explore the course, causes and consequences of conflict from the First World War to today.
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