Londonderry bid forveteran of Jutland

Tom Bradley of Derry City Scientific Ltd. has written to the Minister suggesting the HMS Caroline could be moored at either Fort George or the Peace Bridge. The ship served during both World Wars and is currently docked in Belfast.

Following the vessel’s decommissioning in March last year the Ministry of Defence (MoD) agreed in principle to gift HMS Caroline to the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, has also held discussions about HMS Caroline with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Arlene Foster. But to date all the talk has been of retaining the ship in Belfast.

Last month Mrs Foster stated: “I have been working for some time now to find the best solution for HMS Caroline and have met with various stakeholders who are also keen to have HMS Caroline retained in Belfast.

“An economic appraisal which considered the options around retaining the ship has been finalised and discussions with the Royal Navy are ongoing.”

Now Mr Bradley has come up with a novel idea suggesting the ship should be moved to Londonderry to highlight the North West’s unique naval heritage.

He said: “From Newbuildings to Culmore Point there is nothing we can put our boots on that marks our impressive maritime heritage. Compare this to the millions spent on Belfast’s maritime heritage, which is the proper way and rightly so.

“Being able to put our boots on the boards of the Caroline docked at the Fort George Jetty would remedy this. Not to mention the millions the city would earn from maritime heritage tourism.”

Discussions concerning Caroline’s future are continuing between the National Museum of the Royal Navy and authorities in Northern Ireland and an announcement is expected this summer.

Mr Bradley is adamant Londonderry would be an ideal solution. So he wrote to the Minister and stated: “Because of the City’s strong but unsung naval history and the massive tourism spin off may I suggest letting us adopt this recently decommissioned warship on completion of your talks with the navy folk.”