HMS Belfast (C35)

History of HMS Belfast (C35)

As Germany rearmed in the 1930s, Britain began adding ships to its steel fortresses. HMS Belfast and her sister ship HMS Edinburgh were Town-class cruisers in service before the start of World War II.

Town-class ships were built to weigh less than 10,000 tons due to the Washington Naval Treaty guidelines that limited the size and number of ships built after World War I. Belfast's main armament consisted of 12 x 6 inch guns mounted on the front 6 and rear 6, broadside capable of firing 12 x 112 pound armor-piercing rounds with a range of 14 miles. With a speed of 32 km/h and 4 inches of armor, she is a tiger ready to face danger.

Each 6" turret was operated by 26 men. Below each 175-ton turret is a turret extending down from deck 7, connecting the powder and shell magazines. A movable vertical lift belt transports cordierite powder and high-explosive rounds from the bottom of the ship to each 12-by-6-inch gun. With one battery per gun on the HMS Victory, Belfast's 6" gun required a crew of 7 to fire.

The crew practiced again and again until the entire loading process took only 8 seconds. Everyone has a job:

1. Hoist the case on the hoist to the charging case; 2. Open the clasp; 3. Swing the grenade to the breech and ram it back into the breech; 4. The gunpowder charge goes out of the box from the crane into the breech, rammed in ; 5. Close the shutter and set the fuse; 6. Raise the gun to the firing position; 7. Fire!

At the beginning of the war, she was assigned to the 18th Cruiser Squadron, in charge of the naval blockade of Germany. On November 21, 1939, Belfast left the mouth or mouth of the River Forth in Scotland, where it joins the North Sea between Fife in the north, known locally as the Firth of Forth.

While entering the North Sea, she encountered magnetic mines laid by the German submarine U-21. No one was killed, but 21 sailors were injured, with broken keels and damaged hulls, so much so that repairs at the Devonport Maintenance Dock took three years.

The damage was so severe that the Admiralty considered scrapping her, but Churchill intervened. During the hull overhaul, technical improvements were added above the waterline, increasing the width and improving her stability.

Also added is the latest radar, which is linked to the fire control system. This upgrade made her one of the most advanced cruisers of the war. This overhaul increased her tonnage to 11,533 standard tons, making her the heaviest British cruiser.

With the upgrade, Belfast became the choice of 10th Squadron Commander Rear Admiral Robert Burnett, making her the flagship.

The 10th Squadron was assigned to the aortic escort service from Great Britain and the United States to the northern Soviet ports of Arkhangel and Murmansk. Between August 1941 and May 1945, there were 78 teams.

Under the Lend-Lease program, about 1,400 merchant ships were carrying necessities to the Soviet Union. During the war, 85 merchant ships and 16 Royal Navy warships were sunk. The Germans lost many ships, including a battlecruiser, three destroyers, as well as at least 30 submarines and a large number of aircraft.

The North Atlantic is a force in itself and doesn't care which navy the ship is from. Ice builds up on the boat in winter and must be cut off, otherwise the accumulated ice will affect the weight stability of the boat.

At times, a German submarine sailed parallel to an Allied ship because the sea was too high to launch an attack. The first is the need for self-protection. The main focus of the 10th Squadron was the battlecruiser Scharnhorst in Norway.

She would come out with a platoon of destroyers and attack the convoy with her long-range 28cm 11" cannon, which could destroy an entire convoy alone.

The Admiralty, with the German naval code, had a plan to trap Scharnhorst, the first force was three cruisers Belfast, Norfolk and Sheffield, which would sail and Follow the convoy. Force II will be the British battleship HMS Duke of York and her screens, the cruiser HMS Jamaica and the Royal Norwegian Navy S-class destroyers HMS Savage, Scorpion, Saumarez, Sword and HNoMS Stord.

If Scharnhorst and her destroyers take the bait and charge the convoy, the first unit will charge and hold, while the second unit will go into the kill. Operation Eastern Front was an operation by the German Navy to intercept a Russian polar convoy JW 55B.

The convoy, which was spotted by an Air Force plane three days earlier, consisted of 19 cargo ships, escorted by destroyers HMS Onslow, HMS Onslaught, HMS Orwell, HMS Scourge, HMS Impulsive, HMCS Haida, HMCS Huron and HMCS Iroquois, and the minesweeper HMS. Gleaners. I haven't watched The Force. Part of the Admiralty's plan to lure Scharnhorst to the region was the return of a convoy of RA 55As from Russia to the UK.

RA 55A consisted of 22 cargo ships, escorted by destroyers HMS Musketeer, Opportune, Virago, Matchless, Milne, Meteor and Ashanti, HMCS Athabascan and minesweeper HMS Seagull.

On 25 December 1943, Scharnhorst set off from Alta Fjord, Norway with her Narvik-class destroyer parachutes, consisting of Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34 and Z38, to attack the two fleets. The Germans were unaware of the existence of units I and II. What was not considered in this case is that the Duke of York is 4km/h slower than Scharnhorst, which should matter if speed matters. In bad weather, Admiral Bey separated his destroyer from Scharnhorst to pick up the convoy. Before dawn on 26 December, the HMS Belfast's radar spotted the Scharnhorst and her screen from 35,000 yards away.

She went to the station and notified the other cruisers of the 1st Force, and the Duke of York.

At 13,000 yards, Scharnhorst alone failed to repel the First Force and Belfast, the other cruisers opened fire and the Battle of North Point began. Scharnhorst surprised her with volleys against Belfast and Force I but missed, but Scharnhorst was hit twice by a lucky blow that destroyed her radar tower and controls. The weather got worse, and a raging blizzard blinded Scharnhorst from my advancing troops led by the Belfast radar. Scharnhorst had to resort to the old "muzzle flash" and guess the range. Norfolk still uses the older powder, while Belfast and Sheffield use flashless powder, with Norfolk being the main target.

Feeling attacked by a warship, Scharnhorst turned and fled to Norway. The plan worked during Duke of York with her screen off and Scharnhorst sailing south at flanking speed. Sheffield and Norfolk were left behind by operational problems, while Belfast continued to use her radar to find battlecruisers. Still unaware of the Duke of York, Scharnhorst charged ahead, picking up the Germans and maneuvering to carry their 10 x 14 inch guns.

Belfast arrives and illuminates Scharnhorst with a star-shaped cannonball less than 12,000 yards, the Duke of York sees Scharnhorst and fires at least two 14in shells at Scharnhorst Special shot. Scharnhorst turned north, but was attacked by the cruisers Norfolk and Belfast, and turned east at 31 knots.

The Duke of York turned to catch up but started to fall behind with a small but significant 4mph speed penalty. The Duke of York knew the Germans would flee, so she hit from a great distance, damaging boiler room No. 1 and forcing the battlecruiser to slow down. The British destroyer caught up and forced torpedoes to attack Scharnhorst. The destroyer hit three torpedoes, but the battlecruiser remained at 22 knots.

Belfast opened fire from the north, while the Duke of York and cruiser Jamaica fired from the south, and as her speed continued to drop, Scharnhorst fired shells at Scharnhorst. The British destroyer closed and fired 19 torpedoes with a high hit rate.

Scharnhorst eventually capsized and sank at 19:45 on December 26, while her propellers were still turning. The ship's crew numbered 1,968 and only 36 were pulled from the water and rescued by British ships after the Admiralty issued a message to "take a small sample".

HMS Belfast showed that radar is the future, fighting in the last great firefight in naval history. She went on to serve and participated in the D-Day landings of 6/6/44 as a battery, which some say opened fire at Gold and Juneau beaches. Over the next five weeks, she fired thousands of shots at German positions within 14 miles.

Their last shell in WWII was fired at the Battle of Caen on 8 July 44. She was returning to Devonport, England for a necessary overhaul, her gun was worn out. After the necessary repairs, she sailed to Malaya to assist in the release of the Japanese from the island, but did not fire as the Japanese surrendered.

She returned to England for an overhaul.

Belfast served in the Korean War while supporting the UN Army through naval bombing. In July 1952, she was hit by a communist battery, killing 1 and injuring 4. She was stationed on the west coast and used her 6-inch gun against North Korean troops. Belfast was modernized between January 1956 and May 1959 with new anti-aircraft guns and a new NBC battle bridge to resemble the new Tiger cruisers.

Between 1959 and 1962, the ship conducted maneuvers and "flying the Union Jack" in the Far East, returning to Belfast for the last time on 24 August 1963. She remained at the dock and was converted into a museum ship on March 1. 1978.

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