Warship Week

Watch as the crew demonstrate a 4 inch gun drill. Re-enactors will also take you through a Damage Control exercise. During this thrilling demonstration, visitors will be able to see the effect of a near miss by an enemy bomb as flooding, fire and a hole in the ship's side are repaired by the damage control team, whose job it was to ensure that the ship kept fighting.

Wartime newsreel will also be shown throughout each day giving an insight into civilian life and the hardships faced by those on the Home Front.

Visitors can also watch 'Up Spirits' and relive the popular Navy tradition that continued until July 31 1970, in which a tot of rum, 1/3 of a pint, was issued to each 'rating' onboard.

If that's not all, over the weekend of 2-3 June, the Naval Wargames Society will be staging a wargame based on the events of 9 July 1940. In the afternoon of that day in history, while covering convoy movements in the Western Mediterranean, forty Italian bombers attacked Royal Navy ships including, Ark Royal and Hood, dropping over 100 bombs. The Naval Wargames Society will aim to re-create that attack in miniature. This is a visitor participation game that's free to anyone who would like to have a go. The game will be in 1/600th scale, and participants will take command either of a squadron of Italian bombers whose aim it is to sink both Hood and Ark Royal, or a squadron of Ark Royal's fighters whose job it is to intercept and shoot down the enemy aircraft before that happens. The game will run throughout the day.

Brad King, Director of HMS Belfast, commented: "HMS Belfast is a great place for a family visit as there really is something for everyone aboard."