Displacing 11,550 tons, and reaching 166.99 metres in length, the Town-class light cruiser, HMS Belfast, has become an icon of the modern London experience, sitting anchored close to Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London, as a museum ship. She used her twelve 6″ guns in anger during both World War II, and the Korean War, and is now one of the few remaining vessels preserved from the period. You can read more about her history lower down.

The Royal Mint has launched a new coin, available in three precious metal variants (as well as a base-metal version), celebrating this British icon, carrying a new design by Gary Breeze. It’s a fine depiction, with the vessel cutting through the waves under full steam, instantly recognisable as a Town-class warship. You can see her forward gun turrets, the radar and masts, and overall, as a warship fan, I really like it.

This is part of the Royal Mint’s £2 coin range, so it follows UK currency rules in having to ape that denomination’s bi-metallic nature. As a result, the sterling silver coin has a gilded outer ring and edge, which carries Belfast’s motto as an inscription (“For (PRO) so much (TANTO) what (QVID) shall we repay (RETRIBVAMVS)”), and the 22-carat gold coin is similarly done in two types of gold, red and yellow. We’ve never been fans of the style, but it is what it is, and it doesn’t distract too much here.

The silver coin is available in standard, and double-thickness piedfort forms, with the gold just on offer as a half-ounce. All come boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and in themed outer shippers. A welcome addition to a genre under-served in numismatics at present, we feel. Available now, if you want to buy, please click the banner below, and we get a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks.

Of note, the images further down are from a superb naval combat game called World of Warships. I’ve long been a fan, and the ship models are amazing. I did the screenshots in the game, and they really do look that good. There are over 700 ships in it, and it’s free to play.

HMS BELFAST HISTORY

While she’s most famous today as a museum ship moored by the Tower of London, HMS Belfast earned her place with a storied career in the Royal Navy. Launched on St. Patrick’s Day in 1938, she started her war career in a particularly inauspicious way, hitting a mine while on blockade duty, and spent almost three years in repair, returning to service in November 1942. While in dock, she had her guns, armour, and electronics upgraded, becoming one of the most advanced ships afloat at the time.

Her hard life started almost immediately, running escort duty on the brutal Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, under constant threat from German capital ships, like Tirpitz, Gneisenau, and Scharnhorst, as well as U-Boats. In December 1943, at the Battle of the North Cape, she was pivotal in the destruction of the Scharnhorst, and six months later, took part in the D-Day landings, undertaking shore bombardment, and firing 1,996 six-inch rounds in five weeks.

After a refit, which increased her anti-air armament, and upgraded her radars, she was sent to the Pacific Theatre, but arrived just a week before the Japanese surrender. She was in Japan when the North Korean army invaded the south, and she spent much of the next three years conducting coastal patrols and shore bombardment. It was here that a single sailor was killed by a 75 mm shell fired by North Korean forces, remarkably, the only casualty the ship ever had.

She was modernised in 1955, enjoying a quiet few years before being put into reserve in 1963. In 1971, she was reduced to disposal, awaiting scrapping, but a grassroots campaign to preserve her for the nation was ultimately successful, and later that year, she took up her current position on the Thames, continuing to be restored over the decades since. She remains a hugely popular attraction, often exceeding 30,000 visitors per month. It’s a sad shame that more of her contemporaries were also not saved for the nation.