Schools can spend a night on board a warship in London

Kip in a Ship is available for young people aged 7 to 17 and offers up to three nights on board the warship in the heart of London.

Up to 52 children can stay on the vessel, sleeping in the same space as the sailors who lived and worked on HMS Belfast during D-Day and beyond. There is also space for up to six accompanying adults across two separate cabins.

During the experience pupils will gain an insight into life in the 20th century Royal Navy, learning about the different roles within the crew, what life was like living and working in close quarters and how the ship was kept in good condition.

Four different packages are available to choose from. All packages include breakfast and a complementary learning session. The Officers’ Package also includes an evening activity, an after-hours tour of the Captain’s Bridge and Flag Deck and a Royal Navy-inspired dinner in the Stokers’ Café.

On-board activities

Among the activities available are interactive workshops and storytelling sessions related to naval history, engineering, communication and teamwork.

Pupils can find out about the role of visual signallers in the Royal Navy and learn flag signalling, explore how sailors relaxed during time off by designing and decorating their own magnet, or learn about the use of Morse code by transmitting and receiving their own coded messages to each other.

School groups choosing the Ratings’ Dinner or Cadets’ Package can also hire the on-board learning room to carry out their own evening activities between 6pm and 10pm. The learning room is a former aircraft hanger, and later a mess deck which has been decorated with historic photographs and objects from the Imperial War Museum’s collection.