Ship on the Thames in London. HMS Belfast - light cruiser Belfast. Views from the shore. Opening hours of the museum cruiser Belfast

Military Cruiser Belfast (HMS Belfast) is the pride of the British fleet, forever moored on the Thames in the very center of London. It once took part in military battles and distinguished itself during the Second World War, and now it is a naval museum, popular with tourists and residents of the UK.

It was built in 1936 in Ireland, and was named after its capital, Belfast. It just so happened that he was immediately destined to take part in hostilities.

On August 31, 1939, the ship Belfast was added to the 18th cruiser squadron, and from September 3 it took part in the naval blockade of Germany. True, he was unlucky - almost immediately he was blown up by a mine and was under repair until 1942.

When he finally returned from his “vacation”, he was fully involved in military operations: he accompanied sea cargo to the allies in the USSR - goods and military equipment.

And in December 1943, the cruiser Belfast became famous for the destruction of the German battleship Scharnhost. He was transferred to the British Pacific Fleet, where he saw the end of the war patrolling the waters of the Far East.

The Belfast ship also provided considerable assistance during the Korean War in 1950-1953, but was heavily damaged during an artillery attack.

HMS Belfast from the Tower

After repairs in the 1960s, she was decommissioned and was almost sent to be melted down, but she was rescued by the Imperial War Museum, which turned her into a popular floating museum.

Opening hours of the museum cruiser Belfast

Cruiser Belfast compared to a regular cruise ship.

What to see on the cruiser Belfast?

This ship is big, very big, you can see it when you get closer - it has 9 decks! And you can visit them all, look into every nook and cranny, examine every detail. To get started, I recommend downloading and familiarizing yourself with it.

In Great Britain they know how to make museums - this is not just a ship, but an exhibition of a real warship! Everywhere there are figures of sailors going about their business, in the cabins there are re-enactments of sea life.

Cost of visiting HMS Belfast

It's only from a distance that it's so small.

Private Guided Tours

Prices are presented for a group of up to 12 people.

This excursion is a unique tour led by one of the ship's company members. Naval Clerks (Yeomen) are highly trained crew members with unparalleled knowledge of the cruiser Belfast.

They will talk about how sailors survived in the harsh conditions of cold Arctic convoys, its role in history and the lives of sailors living and working on board.

The entrance to the cruiser Belfast is that long covered bridge.

The price for this excursion is indicated for a group (it seems to be up to 15 people, but you need to clarify). This can be done by mail [email protected], if interested. At the same address you can find out the details of the tour and the possibility of booking it.

How to get to HMS Belfast?

Finding this ship is easy - it is moored on the river between London Bridge and Tower Bridge.

Nearest metro station: London Bridge (5 minutes walk), Tower Hill (10 minutes)

Nearest railway station:London Bridge (5 minutes)

Buses: any that go to London Bridge.

It's time to continue the story about London's military museums. After a series of articles about, I want to talk about another worthy object - the cruiser "Belfast", installed on a conditionally eternal parking lot near the Tower Bridge in the city of fugitive oligarchs and journalists, the capital of Great Britain, London.

This cruiser is a veteran of the Second World War, she participated, among other things, in the battle in which the German battleship Scharnhorst was sunk, in operations to cover the Allied landings in Normandy, as well as in protecting Arctic convoys from the ports of Iceland and the British Isles to THE USSR. It is worth noting that these convoys delivered about half of all Lend-Lease aid to the USSR.

1. The cruiser "Belfast" in eternal parking in front of the Tower Bridge in London:

Of course, I was “lucky” with the weather that day. The rain, usual for the local population, began in the morning. I had to take a number of tricks to take pictures so as not to get the camera and lens wet. But I think I still managed to get a few decent shots of this museum ship.

Entrance to the museum ship is via a special ramp, at the beginning of which there is a ticket office and, part-time, a souvenir shop with a small restaurant.

2. The difference between high and low tides on the Thames is clearly visible. The water in the river is extremely muddy. Outside the museum pavilion, kegs of beer are cooling:

3. I buy a ticket at the ticket office and climb the ladder aboard the cruiser. I show the ticket to a specially trained inspector. If you wish, you can take an audio guide, including in Russian:

4. In case of bad weather (which, as we know, happens quite often in London), an awning is stretched on the poop - this is the aft part of the upper deck. Immediately near the entrance there is a screen on which newsreel footage of the cruiser Belfast is scrolled:

5. I look around on deck:

6. On the other bank of the Thames you can see the famous Tower of London, which has been a fortress, a palace, a treasure repository, an arsenal, a mint and even a prison:

7. A ladder is visible leading upward to the last aft turret of the main caliber:

8. The ship’s coat of arms and the main stages of its combat activity:

It is noticeable that these stages (conducting Arctic convoys and the battle with Scharnhorst in 1943, shelling of German coastal fortifications in Normandy in 1944 and participation in the Korean War on the side of UN forces in 1950-1952) are not included a rather offensive explosion on a bottom mine in November 1939.

On November 21, 1939, the cruiser Belfast was leaving its mooring in the Firth of Forth (east coast of Scotland) for firing training when a German aircraft bottom mine went off under its keel. It should be noted that the cruiser was lucky, since as a result of a mine explosion, the underwater part of the hull was severely deformed, but not destroyed. In fact, most of the shock wave fell on the keel, which eventually bent noticeably and burst. Repairing the ship ultimately turned out to be a very difficult task and took almost three years.

In addition to repairing the lining and the keel itself, the radar equipment was updated. So, after repairs, all the cruiser’s artillery was equipped with radar target acquisition.
In the battle with Scharnhorst, the ability of British ships to “see” the enemy and fire in the absence of visual contact played a decisive role in the destruction of the German battleship on the evening of December 26, 1943 (the Scharnhorst’s own radar installation was destroyed by a direct hit at the very beginning of the first phase battle, still in the morning).
As a result of a long battle with superior forces of the British fleet (one battleship, 4 cruisers and 8 destroyers), the Scharnhorst, which had lost its speed, was finished off by torpedoes. In the final attack, four destroyers fired 19 torpedoes at it. But at the beginning of this day, “Scharnhorst” seriously hoped to profit from the ships of the allied convoy passing near the North Cape...
As I already said, the cruiser Belfast played an important role in this battle, maintaining contact with Scharnhorst and periodically firing at it, controlled by radar readings.

10. Ship's Bell:

11. “The Last Witness” sign. What does it mean?

12. This means that our “native” oligarchs chipped in to repair this certainly worthy, but still foreign museum ship:

I think that many military museums in Russia could use such help.

13. Information stand, a museum employee stands nearby, trying to explain something to his colleague:

Let's get to know the cruiser "Belfast" better. HMS Belfast (C35) is a pre-war British Town-class (Edinburgh-class) light cruiser, one of 10 cruisers of her class. Four of them were sunk by the enemy during World War II, but the remaining six more or less successfully completed it and served until the end of the 1950s, after which they were slowly dismantled for metal.

The cruiser "Belfast" was lucky again - museum workers became interested in its preservation, who managed to prevent the ship from being dismantled and created a special fund for its repair. Since 1971, the cruiser Belfast has become a museum ship, and since 1978, a branch of the Imperial War Museum.

14. 152-mm main caliber guns are installed in four three-gun turrets, two each in the bow and stern:

According to the English naval tradition, the bow towers are designated by the letters A (first), B (second), etc., and the stern ones - X (penultimate), Y (last).

15. Main caliber towers are open for free access:

16. We approach the ladder leading to the aft 152 mm “Y” turret. On a special board, the time until the next visitors starts is counted down. Five minutes are allotted for viewing the tower, but no one, of course, will chase away a slightly delayed visitor:

17. We go into the tower, moving aside the fabric canopy:

18. A “working atmosphere” has been created inside the tower - everything seems to be in a haze of powder gases, secretly located speakers transmit the clanging sounds of bolts and rammers:

19. Special lamps highlight individual elements of internal equipment:

20. At some point, a “shot” is heard, the tower really twitches, everything around rumbles, a well-camouflaged disco fog generator releases another batch of steam into the tower:

21. In general, visiting the main caliber aft tower is a real show, people get really scared when the “shot” is fired, some visitors fly out of the tower as if scalded:

Anti-aircraft artillery of the cruiser before the second modernization in the second half of the 1950s. was represented by eight twin 40-mm automatic cannons QF 2-pounder Mark VIII (due to the characteristic sound of the shots they were given the nickname “pom-pom”). It is worth noting that the British pom-poms were noticeably inferior in efficiency to similar 40-mm anti-aircraft guns from the Swedish company Bofors, which, for example, were actively installed on American warships of that time (their licensed production was established in the USA).

22. After the second modernization, anti-aircraft guns began to look like this:

23. 8 twin Pom-Poms were replaced by 6 twin Bofors (Mk V 40mm Bofors):

24. At the same time, anti-aircraft fire control after repairs and the first modernization in 1939-42. has already been carried out according to radar readings:

25. Twin anti-aircraft 40-mm machine gun "Bofors" (Mk V 40mm Bofors):

26. The cruiser's universal artillery was initially represented by six, and after the second modernization in the 1950s. - four paired 102 mm art. installations (QF 4 inch Mk XVI):

Depending on the situation, universal guns could act as anti-aircraft artillery, be used to combat lightly armored naval targets, or to suppress enemy coastal defense units. For example, while supporting the Allied landings in Normandy in the first weeks after the start of the operation, the cruiser's 102-mm guns managed to suppress several German strong points - until the front line in Normandy moved away from the shore to a distance exceeding the firing range of its artillery.

27.

A curious story connects the cruiser with the name of British Prime Minister Churchill. A few days before the landing in Normandy, Churchill wanted to personally observe what was happening, for which he asked that a cabin be prepared for him on the cruiser Belfast. Having learned of this intention, Admiral Cunningham (First Sea Lord) and General Eisenhower (leader of the Anglo-American forces during the landing of troops in Normandy) tried to dissuade him, but were sent... to go about their business further. Fortunately for the Belfast captain and his crew, the situation was saved by the intervention of the English king, whose opinion Churchill decided to take into account. As a result, nothing prevented the cruiser from calmly and without regard to the highest ranks of the empire from carrying out its tasks of suppressing enemy batteries.

28.

29. Veterans:

Let's see what else interesting is on the deck of the cruiser.

30. Main superstructure:

31. Visor:

32. View from the navigation bridge to the bow of the ship:

33. Antenna facilities:

As I already mentioned, the cruiser Belfast managed to take part in the Korean War on the side of the UN forces. At school, during history lessons (and other political information), I was told that in that war the “bad” attacked the “good”. Then it turned out that no, it was still the “good” (according to the previous classification) who attacked the “bad” themselves. But in the end, no one was able to win.

35. Artillery fire control station:

36. Here the signalmen kept their signal flags.

"Belfast"(English HMS Belfast) is a British light cruiser that functions as a museum. The ship was built in the 30s of the 20th century and today it is the last surviving cruiser of Great Britain.

There were only two such ships (Town class, Belfast subclass) - Edinburgh and Belfast, and both of them performed well in World War II. The cruisers fought heroically in the north, but the Edinburgh was sunk by a German submarine, and the Belfast participated in battles for a long time and was used to guard Lend-Lease cargo. Despite the fact that the cruiser was a light cruiser, that is, it had limitations in displacement and caliber of artillery pieces, its armament was excellent.

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Ship specifications:

• displacement 10 thousand tons;
• dimensions - 190 meters (length), 19 meters (width);
• maximum speed - 32 knots;
• crew - 730 people;
• three spotter aircraft;
• two torpedo tubes;
• armament - 152 mm main caliber guns (4 turrets with 3 guns in each turret).

The cruiser underwent modernization from time to time, during which small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery was reinstalled. Subsequently, the aircraft and torpedo tubes were removed from the ship. Today Belfast is moored directly opposite the Tower, on the River Thames. In panoramas of the Thames you can often see this floating museum, a memory of the Second World War. The entrance to it is from the embankment along a ladder.

The Second World War for Belfast began with an explosion - in 1939 the cruiser was blown up by a German mine and it took three years to restore it. These years were the most tense for the British navy during the entire conflict. At this time, the Edinburgh, which was transporting Soviet gold - payment for British aid, sank in the Barents Sea. When Belfast returned to the water, she was used as cover for Lend-Lease convoys heading to Murmansk. He also supported Allied troops during the Normandy landings. Later, the cruiser took part in the Korean War, and in the early 60s it was sent to reserve. When it became clear that the Belfast was the last cruiser that took part in the events of the Second World War, the British public came out with a request to preserve the ship for posterity as a museum. In fact, the ship actually owes its "life" to one of its former commanders, Rear Admiral Morgan-Giles. Its construction once cost Britain more than 2 million pounds. Today it costs about £2,000 a day to maintain and park.

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The architecture of the ship differs in the position of the engine installation - it is located closer to the stern to accommodate the seaplane. Outside you can see the main caliber bow turrets (152 mm), Bofors anti-aircraft guns, of which there are 6 in total on the ship. The interior is decorated as it looked during the war. To create the atmosphere, the rooms contain wax mannequins in appropriate Royal Navy uniforms from the last century. Cooks in the ship's bakery and galley, doctors bending over an anesthetized patient in the operating room, a hospital with recovering sailors, a carpentry shop, an artillery cellar, a fire control post. Officers' cabins, sailors' quarters, shower and latrine. Why, on the ship you can even see a dummy of Frankenstein's red cat, who catches a dummy rat. In the radio room, the radio operator plays English music so that the eight hundred sailors who lived for months in this house on the water don’t miss their homeland so much. Former sailors who served on the Belfast are now serving as guides on the ship. It is difficult to get lost in the ship's premises - there are signs everywhere, you can consult information stands with movie screens or even take an audio tour. At the entrance to the ship there is a traditional souvenir shop with military-historical literature at “museum” prices.

- group tour (no more than 15 people) for a first acquaintance with the city and main attractions - 2 hours, 15 pounds

- see the historical core of London and learn about the main stages of its development - 3 hours, 30 pounds

- find out where and how the culture of tea and coffee drinking was born, and plunge into the atmosphere of those glorious times - 3 hours, 30 pounds

On the third day, in the morning, I had to separate from our group and go to solve financial problems with the exchange of old 20-pound notes, which were carefully handed to me at a Moscow exchange office near the Krasnoselskaya metro station.
But the morning was not in vain. Instead of the planned Whitechapel Gallery, I visited the wonderful naval museum "HMS Belfast".
This is a long-promised upgrade to reporting. In the meantime, a view from Tower Bridge to the cruiser Belfast. The ill-fated bridge that leads to the ship is clearly visible. I will tell you about his accident seven months after my visit at the end of the report.

The British light cruiser of the Second World War, HMS Belfast, is forever moored on the right bank of the Thames, opposite the Tower. The cruiser museum is a branch of the Imperial War Museum. From my point of view, this is the most illustrative example of the methodology and techniques of museumification of such complex objects as a warship.
The cruiser is so well known that I don’t want to bore the reader with a detailed retelling of its history and technical parameters, however, I will dwell on some pages of its history.

HMS Belfast is a light cruiser built for the Royal Navy. It is currently a museum ship permanently moored on the River Thames in London and operated by the Imperial War Museum.
In December 1936, construction began on Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the capital of Northern Ireland and one of ten light cruisers. She is the sistership of another famous cruiser, Edinburgh, sunk by a German submarine in 1942 in the Barents Sea with a cargo of Soviet gold.
In August 1939, the cruiser entered service and initially took part in the British naval blockade of Germany.
In November 1939, the ship was hit by a German mine and spent more than two years undergoing major repairs and modernization.
In November 1942, Belfast returned to combat with improved firepower, installed radar equipment and increased armor protection.
In 1943, the cruiser was engaged in escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, and in December 1943, she played an important role in the Battle of the North Cape, helping to destroy the German battleship Scharnhorst.
In June 1944, he took part in Operation Overlord, supporting the Normandy landings.
In June 1945, he moved to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet, arriving shortly before the end of the Second World War.
The cruiser Belfast took part in hostilities in 1950-52 during the Korean War. In the period from 1956 to 1959 it underwent radical modernization.

Since 1967, efforts have been made to prevent the cruiser from being scrapped and to preserve it as a museum. A joint committee of the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Ministry of Defense was established. In June 1968, a decision was made on the advisability of preserving the cruiser. In 1971 the government decided to abandon the idea, prompting the formation of the private HMS Belfast Trust. The Trust's efforts were successful and the government handed over the ship to the Trust in July 1971. The ship was moved to London and permanently moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge. In October 1971, the cruiser opened to the public, and in 1978 it became a branch of the Imperial War Museum.
As a popular tourist attraction in London, the cruiser attracts more than a quarter of a million visitors a year. As a branch of the National Museum and part of the National History Fleet, Belfast is supported by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, receipts from the museum's box office and commercial activities. The ship was closed to visitors after an accident in November 2011 and reopened on May 18, 2012.

View from the bow, with Tower Bridge in the background

Belfast-class light cruisers were the most heavily armed in their class:
4x3 6"/50 (152 mm) Mk-XXIII guns in MK-XXIII turrets
6x2 4"/45 (102 mm) twin Mk-XIX guns
8×2 2-lb 40 mm pom-pom guns
2 TR-4 21" (533 mm) three-tube torpedo tubes
3 aircraft with powder catapult

The number of small-caliber artillery constantly changed during modernizations, and aircraft, due to the development of echolocation, were soon abandoned. The torpedo tubes were also dismantled.
In terms of its armament, it is in no way inferior to another museum ship - the post-war artillery cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov, moored in Novorossiysk.
Displacement 10 thousand gross registered tons, speed 32.5 knots, length 190 meters.

View of the cruiser Belfst from London Bridge

Isn't he handsome?
The cruiser was painted in camouflage from the period of World War II, which as a result led to extensive controversy among specialists, because the appearance of the ship had seriously changed since that time and a contradiction arose between it and its coloring.

HMS Belfast serves as the headquarters of the London Sea Cadet Corps and, with its prime location in central London, frequently serves as a berth for other vessels.

View of the cruiser from the left side from the pier leading to the ship. To moor the ship, extensive dredging work was carried out and two structures were installed to ensure the ship moves in a vertical plane during high and low tides.

View of the stern of the ship with main caliber gun turrets

Two turrets of twin 4"/45 (102 mm) Mk-XIX guns in the central part. Fire control devices are located on top under the covers. Interestingly, a garbage container sticks out from the side and also air conditioners on the same deck

6-pounder 6-pdr (2.244"/40 57 mm) QF Mk I Hotchkiss naval gun or, more familiar to Russian ears, the 57-mm rapid-fire Hotchkiss gun. The gun was adopted for service in 1884. The gun could be used for firing for aerial targets. Aiming in the vertical and horizontal planes was carried out only manually by the gunner's shoulder. In later modifications of the Mk IV, a sector-type mechanism for vertical aiming appeared.
About 1,700 of these guns survived until World War II and were used to arm small ships, in coastal defense and air defense.
What this clearly outdated gun does on a cruiser is not entirely clear. If this is a salute cannon, then why is it not in the bow of the ship? It doesn’t seem to be in standard equipment. I photographed these guns in detail a little later.

On November 29, 2011, two workers suffered minor injuries after part of the ship's bridge walkway collapsed during repair work. The ship has been closed to visitors since the accident. An investigation later determined that the bridge collapse was caused by a subcontractor cutting through the support beams of the walkway during repair work. Cruiser Belfast reopened on 18 May 2012.

I visited the cruiser seven months before the collapse. Having walked from the embankment to approximately the middle of the bridge, the tourist gets to the ticket office and a traditional information center with a souvenir shop.
The entrance fee is 12.5 British pounds, which is three times more expensive than it was in 2009. However, the crisis...
Exit from the museum is organized only through the souvenir shop, which is very smart, but you can also visit it in front of the museum.

Literature on naval subjects. The average cost of a book is 10-20 pounds.

I buy a ticket, a book about the cruiser and walk closer to the stern along the gangway.
His accident delayed the construction of a new two-story pavilion. The new pavilion includes a ground floor café, shop, reception area and rooftop bar. The pavilion was previously expected to be completed in the summer of 2012, but it actually opened only in April 2013.

Cruiser « Belfast"is the only artillery ship in Europe that took part in the Second World War and has survived to this day. In 1971, it was permanently moored as a cruiser "", almost in the very center of London.

cruiser Belfast

English cruiser « Belfast"is interesting in many respects. Firstly, this is the most powerful light cruiser in the history of the British Navy. Secondly, he had the opportunity to take an active part in the famous battles of the Second World War. One of the most striking stories is the fiery voyages in the Arctic Ocean. The ship took part in operations to escort military cargo to the Soviet Union - they were considered the most difficult operations in the history of the world wars.

the legendary British cruiser Belfast

Cruiser "Belfast“At the beginning of the war, it was blown up by a mine and was out of action for a long time. But then he took full revenge for himself. His finest hour was the battle with the German « Scharnhorst» in December 1943, which ended with the destruction of the fascist military vessel.

The British Admiralty considered it an important tool in the implementation of its maritime policy. Previously, confusion and vacillation reigned in this class. With the advent of dreadnoughts, cruisers were divided into classes. Battlecruisers, which became the successors to armored cruisers, very quickly turned into a type of fast battleship. During the First World War, these were most actively built in England and Germany.

cruiser "Belfast" in the roadstead

Cruiser « Belfast"was built on March 17, 1938 at the shipyard of the company" Harland & Wolff» . Entered the British Navy on 3 August 1939. The starting point when designing the Belfast was the requirement to increase the number of 152 mm gun barrels to at least 15. It can be considered one of the most powerful light cruisers in the class. The thickness of the armor belt reached 114 mm.

cruiser "Belfast" lord of the seas

Aviation weapons in the 30s were considered a very important element of the combat power of large ship. On a cruiser " Belfast", like its predecessors, three Walrus seaplanes were constantly based. Two of them were stored with folded wings in individual hangars in the bow superstructure, the third was stored openly on the catapult. The catapult was gunpowder. The aircraft were lifted on board by two 7-ton electric cranes installed behind the catapult. The development of radar quickly negated the importance of seaplanes as the main means of reconnaissance. Therefore, during repairs in 1944 - 1945, the seaplanes with all the equipment were removed.

the cruiser Belfast fired a salvo

Among the large family of British lungs cruisers, « Belfast» differed from his brothers in fighting qualities. In terms of the power of its weapons and armor protection, it was undoubtedly the leader in its class - the “lords of the seas.”

cruiser "Belfast" - art

Ship « Belfast"was part of the 18th squadron of the Metropolitan Fleet, and from the first days carried out patrol and reconnaissance service in the Atlantic. In 1942, he actively took part in convoying convoys JW-54A and B, RA-54A and B to the USSR. After glorious battles, the ship needed major repairs. He went to one of the docks in England, where he stayed until May 1945. While under repair, ship received new radar equipment, anti-aircraft weapons, and seaplanes were removed as unnecessary. But it never had to be used - the Second World War ended. In January 1946, while off the coast of China, “ Belfast" Was assigned flagship by ship 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet. In this capacity, for almost two years, he was in eastern waters, sailing between India, New Zealand and Japan and thereby “ensuring the interests” of the weakened British Empire in this region. On October 15, 1947, the cruiser was put into reserve and returned to Portsmouth. After a long break, from May 12, 1955, he served in campaigns and visited Hong Kong, Ceylon, India, Australia and Singapore. These were friendly visits. In 1962 " Belfast"visited Pearl Harbor, cities on the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada, and returned to England in June.