HMS Belfast - History

[James b]

This year the three of us who had been on the Belfast at different times ,got our own table during a meal with the R.N.A Skipton .
Some members may know Sam Bottomley , as he once was president of the Belfast Association , sitting in the middle ,with Trudy his wife .
Norman , on of our oldest members [ D-day vet ] is on the left of the photo . myself the right .

skipton R.N.A.JPG

[timlewin]

A splendid photo of Field Marshall Monty arriving onboard HMSB in Hong Kong in 1960, does anyone remember this visit at first hand?

[timlewin]

Victory Week 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRhCRZRJUo

HERE IS THIS YEAR'S APPEAL

Dear Friends,
>
> As we all know this year will mark the 75th anniversary of the end of hostilities in the Second World War; a Global “butcher’s bill” of more than 53 million, half of which were Soviet casualties, an unimaginable figure.
>
> This may well be the last time we can celebrate Victory Week with the veterans of that appalling conflict, so many have slipped away since last May, we owe it to those well enough, and strong enough, to give them our best and to show just how much we appreciate what they did for us.
>
> When my own father, patron of several veterans’ organisations, died in 1999, he had asked me what the worst fate for veterans to suffer was?
> “To be forgotten”.
> To try to remedy this he left me with the duty to do my best to make sure that we do not forget.
>
> Here is the appeal for funding this year, attached is the PDF which can be printed, the link is to the YouTube version with a tribute by the unforgettable Vera Lynn.
>
> Already this year we have veterans registered from Canada, Jamaica, Norway, Great Britain, Russia, and expect others between now and May.
> We have a full programme in preparation for them.
> A small division of the dozen-strong Russian group will make the long mission North to Loch Ewe in the Western Highlands of Scotland to celebrate the departure from there of the final Arctic Convoy to Russia, a pilgrimage for them, the value of these convoys to Russia is beyond calculation but a guess is that they shortened the European conflict by a year and a half and saved up to two million more lives.
> This year we will present the “Sunset Ensign” to the representatives of the Norwegian veterans, Last year it went to the Krasin Icebreaker museum in St. Petersburg in recognition of that splendid Tyne-built ship’s role in supporting the Arctic convoys’ arrival.
>
> Your contribution is essential, and we need a lot this year. The veterans are old, they have no personal resources. We need to accommodate them, feed them and provide transport to each and every venue, some need flights, some need expensive visas, and all this is before we factor in the programme of celebrations.
>
> This year we will again produce a souvenir book, and a film, this will be generally available but the main purpose is to give them to those veterans, and families no longer fit enough to actually join their comrades, no one will be left in the field, no one will be left out.
>
> Your help is vital, so please share this with anyone you think might feel they want in.
>
> Please contact me for bank details, be a part of what we do.
>
> Thank-you All.
>
> Tim Lewin
> Chairman, Veterans Legacy Committee
> HMS Belfast Association Vice President

[ivorthediver]

I’m sure you already have this Tim but just in case ....".

[timlewin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzz_tKoWlJs&t=104s

when I organised the event onboard HMSB a couple of years ago Jim and I cooperated to produce a souvenir book for the visitors, subsequently we put the book onto Amazon but a week or so ago I thought to put it on YouTube with a bit of music, this is the link, Now she is 82 on Tuesday 17th March 2020, so Happy Birthday old ship!

[timlewin]

https://navyrecognition.com/index.php/n ... -navy.html

Dear All,

this is the yard that made our new masts ten years ago, subject of our celebration last October; they presented me with a wall clock with a picture of this new build on it. Life goes on….

I will congratulate their directors who took the trouble to join us onboard one of whom can be seen here with Adm. Lord West being presented with a plaque struck from the steel salvaged from the old masts.

tim

[Pelican]

The Combat Ships series on the Smithsonian channel has reached the HMS Belfast episode!

It will be broadcast tonight at 8.30.
The intel that the channel is number 173
This episode to be broadcast earlier than we anticipated but that there seems to be a number of repetitions of the Belfast episode over the next two weeks if you cannot watch it tonight.

[ivorthediver]

OPP S missed it David , please let me know when its on again

[Pelican]

"And on HMS Belfast on the Thames Rear Admiral Iain Lower, the Royal Navy’s Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy), and the Russian Defence Attaché to the UK, Colonel Maxim Elovik, met on the quarterdeck of Belfast in London for a 15-minute service of remembrance and thanksgiving."

See:
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... ic-convoys

[Pelican]

HMS Belfast ~ From Facebook yesterday:

This afternoon the ship's bell on HMS Belfast rang sixteen times to commemorate Dervish 80, marking the 80th anniversary of the first Atlantic Convoy to arrive in Murmansk, Russia on this day 1941.
HMS Belfast joins others, including USS Slater, Battleship Texas Foundation, Canada's Naval Memorial - HMCS Sackville, HMCS Haida National Historic Site and Icebreaker "Krassin" in commemorating all those who served on the Arctic Convoys between 1941 and 1945.
Learn more about the Arctic Convoys and the role that HMS Belfast played in supplying the Soviet Union:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/hms-belf ... SWUjeA6qeY