HMS Belfast & The Pool of London: Crucible of D-Day
Why is it significant?
Stop along the Queen's Walk promenade right beside the gray hull of HMS Belfast, resting your hands on the granite river wall. You are looking at the only surviving World War Two Royal Navy cruiser in Europe.
Key Facts
| Place | HMS Belfast & The Pool of London: Crucible of D-Day |
|---|---|
| Address | The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2JH |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.50660, -0.08140 |
| Part of Walk | Thames Maritime Secrets: Tower Bridge, Borough Market, and Southwark Taverns |
| Generated | Generated |
Stop along the Queen's Walk promenade right beside the gray hull of HMS Belfast, resting your hands on the granite river wall. You are looking at the only surviving World War Two Royal Navy cruiser in Europe. Launched in Belfast in nineteen thirty-eight, this eleven-thousand-ton warship bristling with triple six-inch gun turrets served on the most hazardous convoy routes of the war.
In June nineteen forty-four, during Operation Overlord, HMS Belfast was one of the very first warships to open fire on German gun batteries off Gold and Juno beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, firing over four thousand shells in five weeks to support Allied troops advancing inland.
You are standing along the Pool of London, historically the busiest commercial port in the world. Until container docks moved downriver in the nineteen sixties, hundreds of merchant ships from China, India, and the Caribbean anchored right here, offloading tea, tobacco, rum, and spices into Victorian brick wharves.
Continue past London Bridge toward the tantalizing aromas of Borough Market.