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HMS ''Belfast'' is a museum ship, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser, permanently moored in London on the River Thames and operated by the Imperial War Museum. Construction of ''Belfast'', the first Royal Navy ship to be named after the capital city of Northern Ireland, and one of ten Town-class cruisers, began in December 1936. She was launched on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, ''Belfast'' was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939 ''Belfast'' struck a German mine and spent more than two years undergoing extensive repairs. ''Belfast'' returned to action in November 1942 with improved firepower, radar equipment and armour. ''Belfast'' saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during 1943, and in December 1943 played an important role in the Battle of North Cape, assisting in the destruction of the German warship . In June 1944 ''Belfast'' took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings. In June 1945 ''Belfast'' was redeployed to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet, arriving shortly before the end of the Second World War. ''Belfast'' saw further combat action in 1950–52 during the Korean War and underwent an extensive modernisation between 1956 and 1959. A number of further overseas commissions followed before ''Belfast'' entered reserve in 1963. In 1967, efforts were initiated to avert ''Belfast'' expected scrapping and preserve her as a museum ship. A joint committee of the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Ministry of Defence was established, and reported in June 1968 that preservation was practical. In 1971 the government decided against preservation, prompting the formation of the private HMS ''Belfast'' Trust to campaign for her preservation. The efforts of the Trust were successful, and the government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London, she was moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in the Pool of London, in Southwark, London, England. Opened to the public in October 1971, ''Belfast'' became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978. A popular tourist attraction, ''Belfast'' receives around a quarter of a million visitors per year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Visits Made in 2010 to Visitor Attractions in Membership with ALVA )〕 As a branch of a national museum and part of the National Historic Fleet, ''Belfast'' is supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, by admissions income, and by the museum's commercial activities. The ship was closed to visitors following an accident in November 2011, and re-opened on 18 May 2012. ==Design== ''Belfast'' is a cruiser of the second Town class. The Town class had originated in 1933 as the Admiralty's response to the Imperial Japanese Navy's , an 11,200-ton cruiser mounting fifteen 6-inch guns with a top speed exceeding 35 knots. The Admiralty's requirement called for a 9,000 ton cruiser, sufficiently armoured to withstand a direct hit from an 8-inch shell, capable of 32 knots and mounting twelve 6-inch guns. Seaplanes carried aboard would enable shipping lanes to be patrolled over a wide area, and the class was also to be capable of its own anti-aircraft defence. Under the Director of Naval Construction the new design evolved during 1933. The lead ship of the new class, the 9,100-ton , and her sister , were ordered under the 1933 estimates. Three more cruisers were built to this design, with a further three ships built to a slightly larger 9,400-ton design in 1935–36. By 1935, however, the Admiralty was keen to improve the firepower of these cruisers to match the firepower of the Japanese ''Mogami''- and American s; both were armed with fifteen 6-inch guns. The Admiralty rejected a design featuring five triple turrets as impractical, while an alternative design fitting four quadruple turrets was rejected as an effective quadruple turret could not be developed. In May 1936 the Admiralty decided to fit triple turrets, whose improved design would permit an increase in deck armour. This modified design became the 10,000-ton Edinburgh subclass, named after ''Belfast''s sister ship . ''Belfast'' was ordered from Harland and Wolff on 21 September 1936, and her keel laid on 10 December 1936. Her expected cost was £2,141,514; of which the guns cost £75,000 and the aircraft (two Supermarine Walruses) £66,500. She was launched on Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March 1938, by Anne Chamberlain, the wife of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The launch was filmed by Pathe News.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pathe News film of launch )〕 From March to August 1939 ''Belfast'' was fitted out and underwent sea trials. When completed, ''Belfast'' had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . Her standard displacement during her sea trials was . She was propelled by four three-drum oil-fired Admiralty water-tube boilers, turning Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts. She was capable of and carried of fuel oil. This gave her a maximum range of at . ''Belfasts main armament comprised twelve Mk XXIII six-inch guns in four triple turrets. With a rate of fire of up to eight rounds per gun per minute, her main battery was capable of a maximum rate of fire of 96 rounds per minute. Her secondary armament comprised twelve 4-inch guns in six twin mounts. Her initial close-range anti-aircraft armament was sixteen 2-pounder "pom-pom" guns in two eight-barrel mountings, and two quadruple Vickers .50 machine guns. She also mounted six Mk IV 21-inch torpedo tubes in two triple mounts, and fifteen Mk VII depth charges. ''Belfast'' was protected by a main armour belt, with deck armour of over her magazines, and over her machinery spaces. Her six-inch turrets were protected by up to of armour. ''Belfast''s aviation capability was provided by two catapult-launched Supermarine Walrus amphibious biplanes. These could be launched from a D1H catapult mounted aft of the forward superstructure, and recovered from the water by two cranes mounted on either side of the forward funnel. The aircraft, operated by the Fleet Air Arm's HMS ''Belfast'' Flight of 700 Naval Air Squadron, were stowed in two hangars in the forward superstructure. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Belfast (C35)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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