Away days on board the HMS Belfast

By Dr Hirak Sen
The occasion: This time around, the Institution of Structural Engineers has organized a couple of away days on board the HMS Belfast for the it's AGM and for the meetings of it's Council and the International Interest Group. These are spread over 29-30 July 2010. On 30 July, I will be making some Headline Observations in one session, and make two presentations in another session.

HMS Belfast moored on the River Thames
HMS Belfast: HMS Belfast is maintained as an Imperial War Museum and is open to the public. The ship was transferred to the Imperial War Museum in 1976 and since then it serves as a branch of the Museum. When Belfast was first opened to the public, visitors were permitted only on the upper decks. Today all of nine decks are open to the public.  To provide public access, a walkway connects the ship's quarterdeck with a pedestrian footpath on the south bank of the river. [Photo credit: released in the public domain by ChrisO at en.wikipedia].

Institution's headquarter: Like most other fellow members, notwithstanding some of it's shortcomings, I too love the Institution's historic headquarter building in Belgravia. To me, in many ways that building represents the temple of structural engineering, and within it the Plymouth Room where Council meetings are normally held it's sanctum sanctorum. Every time we have meetings there, the ambiance seems to energize me.   
HMS Belfast berthed by the Tower Bridge
Having said that let me confess that on this one occasion, I am rather looking forward to the two away days. Holding meetings on board an erstwhile warship that now serves as a war museum will be a new experience for me and I already feel a little excited. [Photo credit: originally from de.wikipedia; released under the GNU Free Documentation License].

The City: This time around all outstation members, including me, will be staying, not around Belgravia where we normally stay, but in an hotel located on the north bank of the river, close to the Tower Bridge, within a stone's throw from the Bank of England building. This would have been a great opportunity for me to see the city a little more closely but alas my total stay in London this time will be under 48 hours and it doesn't look like I will be able to squeeze out the time to revisit any of the many architectural and historic attractions that are located in that neighborhood.

But I'm still hoping, if nothing else, to catch one more glimpse of that splendid cupola of St. Paul's, which,  like many other domes across the globe, was probably inspired by the divine proportions of that one perfect cupola of all times that adorns and caps the St. Peter's. Let me see how it goes!

HMS Belfast - Photo by David Harvey
Epilogue dated 10 August 2010 - more on HMS Belfast: I am adding this epilogue primarily to include a great picture of the HMS Belfast that was taken by David Harvey, a past President of the Institution. David very thoughtfully emailed me the photo yesterday and I felt I must add it here. I too had taken a few shots of the ship but didn't quite manage to capture the entire length of the ship in one frame. I am delighted to find that David managed to do that in this picture above.  Here are some details of the ship: HMS Belfast is a town-class light cruiser that served in the WWII and in the Korean War. It has a displacement of 11,500 tons, length 187m, width 21m, and a draft of 6m. Aside from naval guns and torpedo tubes, it also carried two Super-marine Walrus Aircrafts that were removed later (so those are not in this photo).


Pedestrian footpath leading up to HMS Belfast
Pedestrian Walkway: The photo on the left shows part of the pedestrian  walkway that I've mentioned earlier. The walkway connects the quarter deck of HMS Belfast  with a footpath on the south bank. I am standing here with David Grove, a fellow Council member of the Institution, at the south bank end of the walkway. This shot was taken on my camera by another fellow Council member Susan Ghia-Broadbent--thank you Susan! 


Finally: Those were two enjoyable and meaningful away days. My only regret is that I couldn't revisit my favorite St. Paul's cathedral that was so near yet I couldn't make the time. Well, there will always be a next time! 

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