Naval Greats docked in London

London never runs behind in surprising the tourists and the attractions of this city have got something to pop eyes out of your heads. The resplendent palaces, towers, bridges, museums, markets are, in toto more than enough to spend a memorable time in the capital. As if these were not enough, London has some amazing Naval Greats to shove your wanderlust. So take care your itchy feet; once you see the splendor of one Naval Great, the others will jostle your mind to such an extent that you end up visiting each one of them. These Naval Greats will make you delve deeper and deeper into the interesting and poignant tales of war time Britain. The stories revolving around such ships are prolific and offer ocean deep insights into war-time history. Following is the list of four Naval Greats docked in London.

Golden Hinde at Bankside
Golden Hinde is a galleon of sixteenth century on which Sir Francis Drake explored the world during the period of 1577-80. It is a giant reconstruction of the ship that was used by Francis Drake to lead an expedition of circumnavigating the globe.  In 1577, Sir Francis Drake was sponsored by Queen Elizabeth to command an expedition of crossing the Strait of Magellan, around South America. Golden Hinde is a warship was intended to be used to cause maximum damage to Spaniards and this expedition ultimately culminated into the Anglo-Spanish war. The galleon is said to have captured the largest treasure till date. The ship cached six tones of treasure including half a ton of gold, jewellery, coins and 26 tones of silver.

The exploration of Golden Hinde, located in Bankside will give you a tour of splendid views of River Thames.  The exploration will also include interactive events and programmes, along with actors in period dress. The visitors can sail the high seas in an Elizabethan ambience, look for hidden treasures or simply go and raise the anchor of Golden Hinde. This iconic vessel of London hosts a variety of events like educational programmes, birthday parties, filming and the like. There are many naval museums at a decent distance from Hotels in Bayswater London W2 that display British Naval history at a greater length.

St Katherine Docks
The St Katherine Docks is located to the north of River Thames and served as commercial docks of London. They were a part of Port of London, located in Docklands which now houses a residential and leisure complex. Located to the east of Tower of London, the docks were named after a hospital of St Katherine’s near the tower of 12 century. The docks were brought into commission in 1828. The docks could not serve the commercial purpose well as they were unable to dock large ships. The docks were badly destroyed by the German explosions of Second World War.  They were merged with London Docks by Port of London Authority in 1909. The area is now lined with large hotels, offices, shops, public buildings, restaurants, and pubs. It has become a major recreational destination for tourists in London. It provides a yachting marina and other leisure activities. But the docks are still used to accommodate medium sized ships on a daily basis. St Katherine Pier situated next to the docks offer services of river cruise to go to Westminster Millennium Pier and return back via the Southbank arts centre. Tower Millennium Pier is also situated close to the docks that provide a ride to London eye, Canary Wharf, and Greenwich. Tourists from Grand Royale London Hyde Park hotel can easily travel to River Thames  and explore this attraction floating in its waters.

HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast is the most noteworthy ship of Royal Navy that survived the Second World War. The ship is an itinerary stretching over Arctic convoys, Cold War, D-Day and Korea; it survived the extreme weather conditions. An expedition of this warship is beautifully woven into the intricacies of real life war-time stories of the crew members. The visit will take you to the rooms of bakery, laundry, dentist’s office, and sick bay. You will be narrated how war affected the morale, determination and fortitude of the crew. A Life At Sea exhibition will give you a chance to hear real life stories straight from the horse’s mouth i.e. the first- hand accounts of war veterans.

Visitors hop on HMS Belfast to explore the life during the war time and at troubled seas. Visitors can explore the nine decks and steer the only surviving warship of Europe. There is an Operations Room where visitors choose their action stations and recover a sunk plane. A step on the flag deck will offer you an amazing 360 degree view of London. Going down the engine and boiler rooms, below the sea level is an amazing treat for the visitors. You can learn about the experience of those at the helm of ship during the Battle of North Cape and the Gun Turret experience. The warship is permanently moored on River Thames and its operation is taken over by Imperial War Museum.

Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark is the sole surviving tea clipper in the world. It is the fastest ship of its time and has won accolades for being London’s ones of the best tourist attractions. A journey on board Cutty Sark brings history to life. It was built in 1869 to bring back tea from China. The ship was famous for its record breaking passages and is said to have travelled every major port in the world. Cutty Sark did not spend much time on tea trade with China as the opening of Suez Canal had shrunk the distance between countries and China. Cutty Sark then engaged in wool trade with Australia where it had a record making time of 10 years to its name. By 1954, Cutty Sark had become futile and was therefore given to a permanent dock at Greenwich in London. She was listed as ship belonging to National Historic Fleet by National Historic Ships.

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