BELFAST HMS 1938
Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:52 pm
Built as a modified Southampton class cruiser by Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast for the Royal Navy.
10 December 1936 keel laid down.
17 March 1938 launched under the name HMS BELFAST.
Displacement 10.553 tons, dim. 187 x 21 x 6.1m. (draught)
Four Parsons steam turbines, driving four shafts, 80.000shp., speed 32 maximum.
Armament: 9 – 6 inch, 12 – 4 inch AA, 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes. During the war the armament was increased, in the end of the war she had an armament of 12 – 6 inch, 12 – 4 inch AA, 16 – 2pdrs.AA, 8 – 0.5 inch AA, 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes. Two aircraft and a catapult.
Crew 750, when in use as flagship 850.
05 August 1939 commissioned, under command of Capt. G.A.Scott. At that time she was the largest cruiser in the Royal Navy.
By outbreak of World War II was she a unit of the 18th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet with Scapa Flow as homebase.
After outbreak used for patrols in Northern waters to impose a maritime blockade on Germany.
09 October 1939 she intercepted the German liner CAP NORTE who was underway from Pernambuco for Germany, the CAP NORTE was intercept in a position NW of the Faroe Islands, the crew tried to scuttle her but due to bad weather it was unsuccessful. With a prize crew on board she was escorted to Scapa Flow.
21 November 1939 while leaving the Firth of Forth, Scotland she was shortly before 10.00am severely damaged by a magnetic mine, casualties were light but the damage to her hull and machinery was so severe that she was under repair for up to three years at Devonport.
November 1942 she joined again the Home Fleet in the Tenth Cruiser Squadron in Scapa Flow, under command of Capt. Parham. Her standard displacement increased to 11.533 ton standard.
21 February 1943 wearing the flag of Rear Admiral Burnett she sailed from Iceland for North Rusland to give cover for convoy JW53.
From 28 November to 02 December 1943 she did give cover of convoy JW 54B.
Other convoys to North Russia she did give cover was JW 55A, JW 55B, RA 53, RA 54A, RA 54B, RA 55A.
During convoy JW 55B she took part in the sinking of the German cruiser SCHARNHORST, on 26 December, only 36 men of the SCHARNHORST, of her complement of 1.963 were rescued.
30 March 1944 she sailed from Scapa Flow in company with a powerful force of battleships and aircraft carriers in Operation Tungsten to destroy the battleship TRIPITZ who was at anchor in the heavily defended anchorage of the Altenfjord in North Norway. 15 bombs from Allied airplanes damaged the TRIPITZ, but the attack did not sink her.
During the D-Day landings in Normandy was she part of Rear Admiral Dalrymple-Hamilton’s bombarding force. The BELFAST was one of the first vessels on 06 June 1944 at 5.30am to open fire on the German positions on the Gold and Juno beaches. For 5 weeks she was almost continuously in action firing thousands shells from her 6 and 4 inch guns. Her last shot she fired in this landings was on 8 July during heavy fighting to liberate the French city of Caen.
She sailed to Devonport for a refit for tropical duties in the Far East, but before she arrived there the war was over.
Performed most useful work in the Far East to help evacuate the emaciated survivors of Japanese prisoners of war and civilian internment camps from China.
Till the end of 1947 was she fully occupied with peacekeeping duties in the Far East.
She returned to the UK for a refit and then sailed back to the Far East in December 1948 as flagship of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron.
After World War II China in turmoil, and the war between the Nationalist Government and the Chinese Communist Party, when the British sloop HMS AMETHYST in 1949 was blockaded in the Yangtze River by the communist forces, the HMS BELFAST was in Hong Kong and all orders given to the AMERHYST emanated from the BELFAST.
During the Korean War (1950-1952) the BELFAST remained in the Pacific, she was one of the first British ships to go into auction off Korea, and she fired during this war more rounds against the enemy shore emplacements than she had done in all World War II.
27 September 1952 sailed home.
Then again appointed to the Far East and between the years 1959 –1962 she carried out exercises and showed the flag cruises she returned home, after a last visit to the city she was named after Belfast she made a exercise voyage to the Mediterranean before being paid off.
24 August 1963 paid off at Devonport. During her operational life she had steamed nearly a half million miles.
In use as an accommodation ship in Portsmouth.
She escaped the scrapyard when she was brought to London and opened to the public as museum ship in the Thames River, opposite the Tower of London on 21 October 1971.
Gambia 1994 75b sg1855, scott1553.
Isle of Man 2004 £2.00 sgMS?, scott?
Montserrat 2004 $5 sg?, scott?
Seychelles 1969 20c sg265,scott260, 1972 20c sg306, scott? 1975 20c sg334, scott? 1975 20c sg338, scott? 1976 20c sg374, scott?
South Georgia 1974 25p sg41. scott?
Grenada 2005 $2 sg?, scott?
Turks and Caicos Islands 1994 35c sg, scott 1102 (deck scene)
Source: Mainly from http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00e004001 Convoys to Russia 1941-1945 by Ruegg and Hague. Ships of the World by L. P.Paine.
10 December 1936 keel laid down.
17 March 1938 launched under the name HMS BELFAST.
Displacement 10.553 tons, dim. 187 x 21 x 6.1m. (draught)
Four Parsons steam turbines, driving four shafts, 80.000shp., speed 32 maximum.
Armament: 9 – 6 inch, 12 – 4 inch AA, 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes. During the war the armament was increased, in the end of the war she had an armament of 12 – 6 inch, 12 – 4 inch AA, 16 – 2pdrs.AA, 8 – 0.5 inch AA, 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes. Two aircraft and a catapult.
Crew 750, when in use as flagship 850.
05 August 1939 commissioned, under command of Capt. G.A.Scott. At that time she was the largest cruiser in the Royal Navy.
By outbreak of World War II was she a unit of the 18th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet with Scapa Flow as homebase.
After outbreak used for patrols in Northern waters to impose a maritime blockade on Germany.
09 October 1939 she intercepted the German liner CAP NORTE who was underway from Pernambuco for Germany, the CAP NORTE was intercept in a position NW of the Faroe Islands, the crew tried to scuttle her but due to bad weather it was unsuccessful. With a prize crew on board she was escorted to Scapa Flow.
21 November 1939 while leaving the Firth of Forth, Scotland she was shortly before 10.00am severely damaged by a magnetic mine, casualties were light but the damage to her hull and machinery was so severe that she was under repair for up to three years at Devonport.
November 1942 she joined again the Home Fleet in the Tenth Cruiser Squadron in Scapa Flow, under command of Capt. Parham. Her standard displacement increased to 11.533 ton standard.
21 February 1943 wearing the flag of Rear Admiral Burnett she sailed from Iceland for North Rusland to give cover for convoy JW53.
From 28 November to 02 December 1943 she did give cover of convoy JW 54B.
Other convoys to North Russia she did give cover was JW 55A, JW 55B, RA 53, RA 54A, RA 54B, RA 55A.
During convoy JW 55B she took part in the sinking of the German cruiser SCHARNHORST, on 26 December, only 36 men of the SCHARNHORST, of her complement of 1.963 were rescued.
30 March 1944 she sailed from Scapa Flow in company with a powerful force of battleships and aircraft carriers in Operation Tungsten to destroy the battleship TRIPITZ who was at anchor in the heavily defended anchorage of the Altenfjord in North Norway. 15 bombs from Allied airplanes damaged the TRIPITZ, but the attack did not sink her.
During the D-Day landings in Normandy was she part of Rear Admiral Dalrymple-Hamilton’s bombarding force. The BELFAST was one of the first vessels on 06 June 1944 at 5.30am to open fire on the German positions on the Gold and Juno beaches. For 5 weeks she was almost continuously in action firing thousands shells from her 6 and 4 inch guns. Her last shot she fired in this landings was on 8 July during heavy fighting to liberate the French city of Caen.
She sailed to Devonport for a refit for tropical duties in the Far East, but before she arrived there the war was over.
Performed most useful work in the Far East to help evacuate the emaciated survivors of Japanese prisoners of war and civilian internment camps from China.
Till the end of 1947 was she fully occupied with peacekeeping duties in the Far East.
She returned to the UK for a refit and then sailed back to the Far East in December 1948 as flagship of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron.
After World War II China in turmoil, and the war between the Nationalist Government and the Chinese Communist Party, when the British sloop HMS AMETHYST in 1949 was blockaded in the Yangtze River by the communist forces, the HMS BELFAST was in Hong Kong and all orders given to the AMERHYST emanated from the BELFAST.
During the Korean War (1950-1952) the BELFAST remained in the Pacific, she was one of the first British ships to go into auction off Korea, and she fired during this war more rounds against the enemy shore emplacements than she had done in all World War II.
27 September 1952 sailed home.
Then again appointed to the Far East and between the years 1959 –1962 she carried out exercises and showed the flag cruises she returned home, after a last visit to the city she was named after Belfast she made a exercise voyage to the Mediterranean before being paid off.
24 August 1963 paid off at Devonport. During her operational life she had steamed nearly a half million miles.
In use as an accommodation ship in Portsmouth.
She escaped the scrapyard when she was brought to London and opened to the public as museum ship in the Thames River, opposite the Tower of London on 21 October 1971.
Gambia 1994 75b sg1855, scott1553.
Isle of Man 2004 £2.00 sgMS?, scott?
Montserrat 2004 $5 sg?, scott?
Seychelles 1969 20c sg265,scott260, 1972 20c sg306, scott? 1975 20c sg334, scott? 1975 20c sg338, scott? 1976 20c sg374, scott?
South Georgia 1974 25p sg41. scott?
Grenada 2005 $2 sg?, scott?
Turks and Caicos Islands 1994 35c sg, scott 1102 (deck scene)
Source: Mainly from http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00e004001 Convoys to Russia 1941-1945 by Ruegg and Hague. Ships of the World by L. P.Paine.