hms belfast

I had an uncle (recently deceased) who was a long-time volunteer on the USS Texas. He took me on an insider's tour of the ship. I was amazed by what the U.S. Navy accomplished in restoring her; conversely, I was disappointed  in what could not be accomplished.

My point is that the same could be done with HMS Belfast, a truly remarkable ship, if the will is there to do so. Barring that, I see nothing wrong with painting her in a correct paint scheme; she will still attract the same visitors. Afterall, she is an imposing presence on the River Thames. She will then impress both those who don't know the finer points of naval paint schemes and those who do.

Even so, I enjoyed my visits to t he ship very much!

Bill Morrison

Did the Navy restore her?  Or, did the State of Texas and her museum restore her?  The Navy might have assisted in the restoration, but I don't think they did it themselves, for one thing, the TEXAS isn't a commissioned ship as opposed to the CONSTITUTION. 

I still believe it would be far too finanncially prohibititve to back date the BELFAST ... That's not to say that I would not be opposed to the idea, remember that, I'm just being realistic about it.  She was 'modernized' and upgraded in the 50s and 60s and as a result, her appearance and armament changed somewhat from her wartime configuration.  The TEXAS however, went out of service just after the war and was never modernized and upgraded and remained in her wartime configuration, so, just based on that alone, it'd be a heck of a lot easier to restore her to, let's say, her 1945 appearance as opposed to the BELFAST.

Garth