HMS Belfast
Another attraction of the IWM is the light cruiser HMS Belfast.
The British admirals ordered two bigger and improved copies of light cruisers of the Southhampton class in 1936. These ships should displace 10,000 tons according to the letters of the Washington Law but take sixteen 6 inch guns in four turrets.
At long last, it was not added, since the development of such a turret raised such big difficulties, that forced a return to the approved three-barrel gun. The weight saved by that was used for a stronger armour-plating. The anti-aircraft gun capacity increased by 50% (compared to the Southhampton class).
To take the tradition into account, the two new ships, like all "Southhampton" types, got names of English towns: Edinburgh and Belfast. On September 21, 1936 the construction of te Belfast was started at the Northern Irish shipyard Harland & Wolff. The ship was named by the wife of the Premier, Neville Chamberlaine, at the St. Patricks Day, March 17, 1938.
The cruiser had the following measures and weights:
Lenght187 m, width 21 m, depth 6.1 m. Displacement: 10,000 tons
Armament: twelve (4 x3) 6 inch guns, eight (4 x2) 4 inch guns, twelve (6 x2) Bofors anti-aircraft guns.
Max.speed: 32 knots = 58 km/h
Costs: Pound sterling 2.141.514, including 75.000 Pounds for the guns and another 66.000 Pounds for aeroplanes. The ship was put into service on August 5, 1939.
When war broke out HMS Belfast is part of the 18. Cruiser Fleet stationed in Scapa Flow on the Orkney Islands. The first success was the application of the German cargo ship Cap Norte on October 9. Because of the size and the importance of the prize the crew got prize money in cash from the admiralty. The luck deserted the HMS Belfast few days later on November 21. A magnet mine hit the ship when leaving the Firth of Forth. The damage to the keel and the structure was so enormous because of the "whiplash effect" that she was out of service for three years.
When she returned to active service in November 1942, she was the biggest and best equipped cruiser of the Navy. She was extended amid-ships to 11 553 tons and equipped with the most modern radar and artillery control system of the time then. She was commissioned as flag ship of the 10. Cruiser Fleet submitted to escort service for the arctic convoys to Russia.
The HMS Belfast got famous by her participation in the sinking of the battle cruiser Scharnhorst. Great Admiral Dönitz got increasingly under pressure to attack the Arctic convoys. Too many managed to transport valuable material and vehicles to Murmansk unmolested. Dönitz ordered the employment of the battle cruiser on December 25, 1943. She left her berth, the Norwegian Langerfjord together with five accompanying destroyers with the order to disperse and destroy the convoys JW 55 B and RA 55 A.
The manoeuvre did not remain secret to the English. They succeeded anyway to crack the ultra- secret German news encoding system Enigma. They were fully in the picture now and could put their ships at due leisure for a classic pincer attack. Rear-Admiral Burnett on HMS Belfast protected with the cruisers Norfolk and Sheffield the convoy, Admiral Fraser on the battleship HMS Duke of York, positioned his ship as well as the cruisers HMS Jamaica and four destroyers south to let the trap snap shut. The next morning, the Scharnhorst had to leave her destroyers due to extremely rough sea, her destiny is sealed. The British ships caught hold of the Scharnhorst with their modern radar already at a time when the German ship did not even know yet how close she was to the convoy. When the British cruisers opened fire, it was already too late for a retreat. English radar guided guns fired spot on. A 20 cm shell of the HMS Norfolk hit the Scharnhorst which still tried to invade the convoy but recognized the senselessness of the manoeuvre. Then she tried to escape with the help of her higher speed. HMS Belfast and HMS Sheffield were hard on the heels.
The Scharnhorst was unaware of the proximity of the heavy British units due to its radar failure. She was only made aware by a salvo of the 36 cm of guns of the HMS Duke Of York. The German battle cruiser was a sitting duck now. Without any chance the ship fought against an overwhelming superior force. Now, defencelessly in the North Atlantic she was fired at with torpedoes by three destroyers as well as HMS Belfast and HMS Jamaica. Both ships also fired their torpedoes on the now completely motionless ship. The Scharnhorst sank with 1 936 German sailors close to the North Cape. Only 36 are saved.
On April 3 was the HMS Belfast also part of a powerful armada out of destroyers, cruisers, four escort carriers and the two carriers Victorious and Furious which threatenws the battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the Bismarck, in the Altenfjord. 42 Barracuda bomber and 80 fighters took off from the carriers 120 miles off the Norwegian coast and the Tirpitz. They achieved 14 hits on the Tirpitz, which killed 108 Sailors and hurt further 284. But the Tirpitz still was afloat. Only on November12, 1944 twelve Lancaster bombers took off in Scotland and managed to sink the ship with Tallboy bombs. 902 crew members died, 880 were saved.
During the invasion in Normandy the HMS Belfast was part of the operation Neptune, the maritime part of Overlord. The flagship was the HMS Belfast of the bombardment group with the order to support the British landing zone with her heavy guns. The last salvo was fired on July 8 as she, along with the battleship HMS Rodney and the monitor HMS Roberts, supported the attacks around the city of Caen.
After the war the ship was transferred as flagship of the 5. Cruiser Fleet the cruiser to the Far East. At outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950 she supported with shellfire the retreating South Korean and U.S. troops. On September 27, 1952 after 404 days of active service, her guns fired for the last time. She then spent more peaceful years in Europe before she was put out of service on August 24, 1963. On October 21, 1971 on Trafalgar day, the cruiser was brought over to London, where she acts as a museum ship for the Imperial War Museum today.