Northern Ireland man Colin Deane who witnessed HMS Belfast launch and will go to London for 85th anniversary says ‘I was hoping for a nice big splash first time round’
Having witnessed the launch of the HMS Belfast as a five-year-old, Colin Deane will travel to London to see the ship on its 85th anniversary.
Colin, who watched the launch on St Patrick’s Day, 1938 in Belfast shipyard from his father’s shoulders, said he was making the trip 85 years on in memory of his dad.
Colin, who lives in Cloughey in Co Down, said: “The reason my father was there that day was he was in the RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve). He was called up 18 months later to serve as a Padre in the Royal Navy.
"I got up one morning and was coming down for my breakfast and my mother said to me, your father’s gone. He was called up in the middle of the night.”
Of his recollection of seeing the launch of HMS Belfast, Colin, now 90, said: “I’ve very little memories other than that it was a big ship.
"I remember being on my father’s shoulders. I remember being told it was launched but being surprised because it never moved.
"Of course, the fact is it did move very slowly, imperceptibly. I was hoping for a nice big splash into the water.”
After being called up Colin’s father, who was Canon Richard Albert Deane, minister of St Thomas' Church in Belfast, brought his family to Plymouth where he was based.
During the war he was sent to Malta on a hospital ship and was also on board the HMS Caroline during the Battle of Jutland.
Colin said that while in Plymouth he remembers the Battle of Britain in 1940 and the arrival of many survivors from Dunkirk, who were packed into open lorries and taken away elsewhere, singing.
He said his war experiences were “all very exciting for one who was really too young to be fully aware of the enormousness of it all”.
The family did return to Northern Ireland, unfortunately in time for the Belfast Blitz, and Canon Deane, upon retirement from the RNVR resumed his role as minister of St Thomas’ Church.
Colin was believed to the only person in Northern Ireland still alive who witnessed the event.
However, just days before he was due to set off for London, he was contacted by Margaret Marshall, who was also there aged four.