action of the Trust, the Government decided to sell the ship to the association, which was open to the public at the Trafalgar Day (21 October) 1971. Although it was no longer part of the Royal Navy, HMS Belfast was granted a derogation which enabled her to continue to hoist the White Ensign. Towards the late ’70s, however, the financial condition of the Trust was very bad, and the Imperial War Museum asked permission to absorb the association. On 19 January 1978 the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Shirley Williams, accepted the proposal stating that.

The ownership of the vessel was then transferred to the Museum 1 March 1978.

After moving to London, the Belfast has been pulled out of the water twice to make repairs that wouldallow the long-term preservation. In 1982 repairs were made ​​to Tilbury, and in June 1999 in Portsmouth. The first review involved the cleaning and sanding the hull, inspection of welds and an ultrasound tests for cracks. The control of Portsmouth is remembered because, planned for the anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6, 1999, was postponed by one day due to bad weather.

Later, Belfast was also repainted in a pattern of mimicry officially known as Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage Type 25, identical to what he had covered the ship in the period between November 1942 and July 1944. Some belied the change of anachronism, because he remembered the livery of the Second World War, while the current configuration of the ship comes from heavy changes between January 1956