HMS Belfast (1938)

Type

Light Cruiser

Period

20th Century

Nation

Great Britain

Overview: HMS Belfast is a Town-class (Edinburgh sub-class) light cruiser built for the Royal Navy, notable as one of the largest and most powerful light cruisers ever built and now the last surviving vessel of her type. She is preserved as a museum ship on the River Thames in London, operated by the Imperial War Museum, making her one of the most accessible and well-documented WWII-era cruisers for modelers. Specifications: Built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, she was laid down 10 December 1936, launched 17 March 1938, and completed 3 August 1939. She displaced 11,550 tons standard (14,900 tons full load), measured 613 ft 6 in (186.99 m) overall with a beam of 63 ft 4 in (19.3 m), and was armed with twelve 6-inch guns and twelve 4-inch anti-aircraft guns among other weaponry, powered by four Admiralty oil-fired boilers driving Parsons geared steam turbines. Service History: Commissioned just before WWII, Belfast initially enforced the British naval blockade of Germany, struck a German mine in November 1939, and spent over two years under repair. She returned to service in 1942 with improved firepower, radar, and armour, escorted Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, played a key role in the Battle of North Cape (1943) which saw the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst, and supported the Normandy landings in 1944. She later saw active service in the Korean War (1950–52) before being decommissioned in 1963. Notable Facts: Belfast was preserved following a public campaign starting in 1967, and after the government initially declined to fund her preservation, a private HMS Belfast Trust took over and she opened to the public as a museum ship on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1971. She is restored largely to her 1950s wartime/post-refit configuration, with turrets, engine rooms, and operations rooms open to visitors, giving modelers extensive reference detail for interior and exterior fittings.