HMS Belfast museum, London, UK
The HMS Belfast is one of ten Town-class light cruisers built during the 1930s. The Royal Navy lost four in the Mediterranean theater during the Second World War. The other surviving ships were scrapped in the 1950s and 1960s.
The HMS Belfast was commissioned in 1936, just before the outbreak of World War II. She soon struck a German mine in August 1939. Extensively damaged, she was repaired over a two-year period and returned to fight in November 1942. She then took part in escorting the Arctic convoys to aid the Soviet Union. In December 1943, she took part in the Battle of North Cape where the powerful German battleship, the Scharnhorst was destroyed.
Later, she was part of the naval efforts in support of D-Day. As the war with Germany wound down, the British switched their attention to the Pacific Theater. There she joined the British Pacific Fleet against Japan. She later took part in the Korean War between 1950 and 1952. She was extensively modernized again in the late 1950s before going into reserve in 1963 and then decommissioned.
HMS Belfast was open to the public as a museum at a berth above Tower Bridge on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1971. Belfast was the first naval vessel to be saved for the nation since HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. Today she is the last remaining vessel of her type – one of the largest and most powerful light cruisers ever built.
HMS Belfast museum, London, UK
The HMS Belfast is one of ten Town-class light cruisers built during the 1930s. The Royal Navy lost four in the Mediterranean theater during the Second World War. The other surviving ships were scrapped in the 1950s and 1960s.
The HMS Belfast was commissioned in 1936, just before the outbreak of World War II. She soon struck a German mine in August 1939. Extensively damaged, she was repaired over a two-year period and returned to fight in November 1942. She then took part in escorting the Arctic convoys to aid the Soviet Union. In December 1943, she took part in the Battle of North Cape where the powerful German battleship, the Scharnhorst was destroyed.
Later, she was part of the naval efforts in support of D-Day. As the war with Germany wound down, the British switched their attention to the Pacific Theater. There she joined the British Pacific Fleet against Japan. She later took part in the Korean War between 1950 and 1952. She was extensively modernized again in the late 1950s before going into reserve in 1963 and then decommissioned.
HMS Belfast was open to the public as a museum at a berth above Tower Bridge on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1971. Belfast was the first naval vessel to be saved for the nation since HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. Today she is the last remaining vessel of her type – one of the largest and most powerful light cruisers ever built.