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Belfast was the second cruiser
in this class built for the British Royal
Navy, the first being HMS
Edinburgh. Belfast joined
the 18th Cruiser Squadron based at Scapa
Flow in the Orkney Islands/Northern
Scotland at the outbreak of World War
Two. Her first success in the war came
October 9th 1939 when she captured the
German liner Cap Norte. The
following month, November 21st,
Belfast hit a magnetic mine when
leaving the Firth of Fourth (North East
Scotland). The blast injured 21 of her
crew and repairs to the ship took almost
two years to complete. Belfast was
returned to service November 3rd 1942 as
the flagship of the 10th Cruiser
Squadron.
On December 26th 1943, Belfast
was escorting a convoy of merchant ships
to Russia when they came under attack by
the German battleship Scharnhorst.
The following battle saw
Scharnhorst outnumbered by British
warships and eventually sunk. With the
German Navy defeated by early 1945,
Belfast was transferred to the
Pacific Fleet to take part in the war
against Japan. The navy had her
decommissioned in October 1947 and
re-commissioned in November 1948 to serve
as the flagship of the 5th Cruiser
Squadron during the Korean War. The end
of that war in July 1953 led to
Belfast being placed in reserve.
Her systems were upgraded between 1956
and 1959 before joining the British Far
East Fleet. On Belfast’s
return from the Far East, she was
decommissioned for the final time August
24th 1963. She has served as museum
moored on the River Thames near Tower
Bridge since October 21st 1971.
Belfast is the only large European
Second World War warship to have been
preserved.
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