Back to sea after 5 years not at sea. The start of the 1959 to 1961 commission for the Cruiser HMS Belfast.

  The following snippet has been taken from The Communicator and has been re-typed for ease of reading.

H.M.S. BELFAST

  Our commission commenced with a rousing march past at Devonport, followed by a fortnight's shake-down alongside, where we all started once more to learn about the hidden mysteries of the B.40 and 10in. S.P. We then sailed for the first time for over five yearsw (with many tears from the R.A.'s) and anchored in the Sound. We have since been doing our "day to day" working up exercises which have produced their usual dramas and nightmares for the Signal Officer and right down the ladder; sufficient to say that everything seems to be in working order now.

  Our messdecks and dining hall are reputed to be the most modern in the Royal Navy. Most 'buntings' and 'sparkers' are now rising to the dizzy heights with bunks and individual reading lamps (all are burning the midnight oil now ...) which gives the Mess that Christmas look at night. There is no scrubbing out: our decks have been specially prepared with plastic paint which only needs washing over with warm water. We regret that no more volunteers can be acceptd for our luxury cruiser this commission, much as we would like them, but don't forget we will be needing reliefs about February 1961 so why not slap in now?

  Sports have rather fallen by the wayside so far, although our soccer and uckers players are reported in fine fettle. The regatta's crew is in full training on runs ashore. Our future programme sees us sailing from U.K. on 19th Auguest calling at Gibraltar and Malta for a four week work-up, whilst en route to the Far East. (Watch out all you Brit. Club ratings and Wanchai Wanderers.) We then look forward to becoming flagship an to meeting all Communicators out there, so watch your "Tigers" and "San Migs" - we are on our way.

Messdeck
  Combined communication mess with Q.M. staff all on same messdeck. Big attraction - bathroom adjacent.

Compass Platform
  Two spacious signal decks, each large enough to cope with two voice or morse operators.

M.S.O. and B.W.O.
  Combined, with TP room adjacent.

Flag Deck
  After end of Upper Bridge and above the enclosed Compass Platform. A commanding view but the main danger is the steam siren
  immediately above the flag lockers. Note:- We lose more 'buntings' this way.

Dressing Lines
  With raked funnels (one abaft the mainmast) and upright masts we find that we have the usual problems in clearing the aerial arrays.
  Our maindown has 32 flags, is 258 feet long and presents our biggest headache..

W/T
  Common Aerial Working, including H.F., seems to be quite successful. Only two whip aerials are fitted (receiving) but it was found
  necessary to use 1500 feet of aerial wire and 40 insulators to turn the after funne and main mast into aerials.

UTR
  Aft end of boat deck. Contains Type 605, 602, 691s and 2s.

LLR and LTR
  Spacious an well laid out but a long way to go to tune a transmitter. (Insufficient hands on Temporary Manning Standard!).

VHF Room
  6 Type 87s and CDVs still fitted pending full UHF conversion

All in all, very well equipped indeed and we look forward to a happy commission in every way.