Forward Messdecks

When HMS Belfast was first commissioned, a sailor's life was in many respects little changed from the days of Nelson. Sailors joined the Navy at 16 and signed initially for a 12 year engagement, starting from the age of 18. Like their predecessors in Nelson's time, HMS Belfast's ratings lived, slept and ate in communal areas known as messes, which were crammed into every available space. While officers were allocated cabins, the ratings slung their hammocks in their mess or slept where they could around the ship.

The red lighting - 'darken ship routine' - is intended to preserve the crew's night vision when in action and to ensure that HMS Belfast shows no bright lights which might betray her position to the enemy.

Despite the fact that hammocks were slung only 21 inches (52 cm) apart, the hugely enlarged crews required in wartime (HMS Belfast's authorised peacetime complement increased from 761 to 950 by the end of the Second World War) meant that it was not at all unusual for men on different watches to share the use of a hammock or to sleep on the deck beneath one of the mess tables.

Each mess would appoint a duty cook who would collect the basic meal for his messmates from the galley, return to his mess, serve it and wash up before returning the empty containers to the galley.

The red lighting - 'darken ship routine' - is intended to preserve the crew's night vision when in action and to ensure that HMS Belfast shows no bright lights which might betray her position to the enemy.

Each mess had an allowance to purchase additional or 'luxury' items of food and the ship's supply officer - the 'Pusser' - would present an account for payment at the end of each month. Naval food was stodgy and unimaginative but there was generally plenty of it.