King Charles III is currently on a four-day visit to the US to strengthen ties between the two nations. On Tuesday, he was delivering a speech at a state dinner in the East Room of the White House when he did a classic blast from the past and showed the world how he rules diplomacy.“Mr. President,” the king said, “I am delighted to present to you, as a personal gift, the original bell which hung on the conning tower of your valiant namesake.” What he was talking about was a highly polished bell.
Etched onto the bell’s surface were the words TRUMP 1944. At the revelation of the gift that until then was hidden under a golden cloth, Trump stood up from the chair and looked in awe at his new bell.“Should you ever need to get hold of us,” the king said, “well, just give us a ring!” causing the room to burst into laughter and applause with the US President flashing him a thumbs-up.
Why is the bell significant?
The bell is a part of HMS Trump, the British submarine that served during World War II. It once hung on the submarine’s conning tower, the raised control structure atop the vessel.The bell bears the ship’s name in capital letters along with the year etched onto it, when it was launched from a British shipyard.While the submarine has absolutely no connection to Trump or his family, it is credited with sinking several Japanese ships in the Pacific War during the final naval operations of the war. It was a part of the Royal Navy’s T-class, a group of long-range, diesel-electric submarines built shortly before and during the war. HMS Trump was the only Royal Navy ship to bear the name, though it remains clear why it was named so.Working with its sister ship, HMS Tiptoe, it sank one of the last ships to be destroyed by a British warship in World War II. After the war, it was attached to the 4th Submarine Squadron in Australia. It returned to the UK in 1969 after cuts to military spending and was scrapped in Newport in 1971. Now, a part of it will remain on a pedestal in the US White House.
