HMS Belfast was Town Class Light Cruiser. They were built for the Royal Navy during the years of 1934 to 1939. Town Class Cruisers were originally built in response to the powerful US Brooklyn-class and Japanese Mogami-class light-cruisers, and consisted of 3 sub-classes with a total of 10 ships between the sub-classes (Southampton, Gloucester & Edinburgh ).
Town Class Light Cruisers served between the years of 1937 to1960
Preceded by: Arethusa class
Succeeded by: Dido class
HMS Belfast joined the 18th cruiser squadron on August 5, 1939, and by September she was part of the maritime blockade on Germany. In October she seized the German liner SS Cap Norte while she was trying to return to Germany pretending to be a neutral vessel. She was in fact the largest German merchantman capture so far for the Royal Navy, which came with a substantial financial prize for the crew.
Shortly after, in November, HMS Belfast departed the Firth of Forth to participate in a gunnery exercise she fell victim to a German magnetic mine placed by the German U-Boat U-21. There were no immediate fatalities, but the ship took heavy damage and had to put in for extensive repairs. She would be out of the War for the next three years.
During her time in dock for repair, HMS Belfast received many upgrades that came as the war machine continued to grind. Such things as Radar and remote fire control, improved and thicker armor. She returned to service as flagship of the 10th cruiser squadron in November 1942 under the command of Rear-Admiral Robert Burnett. She was now the Royal Navies largest and most powerful cruiser. Belfast provided close range heavy cover for convoys transporting supplies and equipment to the Soviet Union.
On the day after Christmas in 1943, HMS Belfast participated in the Battle of the North Cape as she and other British warships, including the battleship HMS Duke of York, engaged and sank the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst as the German warship was hunting for the Arctic convoys.
In March of 1944 HMS Belfast participating as an escort for a British carrier strike against the German battleship Tirpitz ,then returned home to Britain.
June 6, 1944 and HMS Belfast is the flagship of bombardment force E as part of the Eastern Naval Task Force, Belfast participated in the D-Day landings. Providing gunfire support to British and Canadian forces hitting the Gold and Juno beaches, Belfast was one of the first ships to begin the opening bombardment at 5:30am. She remaining in the area for five weeks, HMS Belfast provided impressive gunfire support to British and Canadian forces as they fought their way inland near the city of Caen.
