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HMS BELFAST was the largest World War II cruiser in the Royal Navy. Her battle
honours included the engagement which destroyed the Scharnhorst; escorting Arctic
convoys supplying Russia with tanks, aircraft and munitions; the Normandy landings and the
Korean War. In her last role she fired over 400,000 shells which wore out the gun casings and
she had to return home.
The 11,200 ton ship has 9 decks, 6 of which are below water. Her top speed was 58 kph and her 6 inch guns had a range of 20km. The officers slept in cabins but accommodation for the crew was little better than in Nelson's time. Ratings lived, slept and ate in communal areas known as messes, which were crammed into every available space. Here the men ate, relaxed and slept in hammocks, often sharing as the watches changed.
The 6-inch guns were served from the two Magazines, sited in the lowest of the ship's seven habitable decks. In the advent of a hit endangering the Magazines, the compartments could be rapidly flooded, thereby saving the ship but condemning the men to a watery grave.
The cramped quarters and vertiginous ladders make it unlikely that many would have survived a direct hit from the big guns of the Scharnhorst.
Website: www.iwm.org.uk
Nearby attractions: Tower Bridge, Tower of London
Tube station: London Bridge