Such a crime to scrap the finest battleship of the navy. The most decorated ship and the only ship to score the longest battleship on battleship shot with a shell. Disgusting. Rodney and one of the KGVs needed preserving also. What great proud museum pieces they would have been today. Hms Belfast just does not cut it.
The saddest sight. I literally have moist eyes. You say you have no subject And your brushes all have dried; But come to Marazion At the ebbing of the tide. And look you out to seaward, Where my Lady battle scarred Hugs the rock that is more welcome, Than the shameful breakers yard. Paint her there upon the sunset In her glory and despair, With the diadem of victory Still in flower upon her hair. Let her whisper as she settles Of her blooding long ago, In the mist than mingles Jutland With the might of Scapa Flow. Let her tell you, too, of Narvik With its snowy hills, and then Of Matapan, Salerno And the shoals of Walcheren; And finally of Malta, When along the purple street Came in trail the Roman Navy To surrender at her feet. Of all these honours conscious, How could she bear to be Delivered to the spoiler Or severed from the sea ? So hasten then and paint her In the last flush of her pride On the rocks of Marazion, At the ebbing of the tide. -Lieutenant-Commander R.A.B. Mitchell
This Grand old Lady should have been left to rest where she chose to be last the end of her life. Scrapping her seems like destroying a Gallant War Horse, unseemly.
