HMS Belfast (C35)

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HMS Belfast (C35) is a 6" Edinburgh-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She served in World War II and is now berthed on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in London serving as a museum ship. The ship is administered by the Imperial War Museum as the last of the nation's big-gun warships..

Belfast was the Royal Navy's largest-ever cruiser. Launched in March 1938, she struck a mine soon after the start of war in 1939 and broke her back. This put her out of action for three years. Once returned to action, with her original displacement of 13,175 tons now increased to 13,500 tons, she served with distinction for the rest of the war. Amongst her best-known activities are the sinking of the German battlecruiser (or light battleship) Scharnhorst (Operation Tungsten) and the bombadrment of enemy positions at the beginning of the landing phase of the D-Day landings (Operation Neptune). She was later given a brief refit for Pacific service in the Far East, and joined Operation Zipper which was intended to eject the Japanese from Malaya but turned into a relief operation following the Japanese surrender. During the last days of the war in Europe she was spotted in the North Sea by a German submarine without being aware of it. The German captain decided not to fire, however, since the war was almost over.

She also served in the Korean War, in which her guns were used for shore bombardment in support of the United Nations forces.

HMS Belfast was decommissioned in 1963 but was saved for the nation in 1971. She was towed to a new berth at Symon's Wharf in the Pool of London upstream of Tower Bridge and opened to the public on Trafalgar Day that same year. Her guns are reportedly trained on the London Gateway Service Area (formerly Scratchwood services) on the M1 motorway, 12.5 miles to the northwest.

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