page_title: HMS Belfast
section_title: Modernisation and final commissions 1955–1963
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Belfast / Modernisation and final commissions 1955–1963
caption_attribution_description: HMS Belfast, London
context_page_description: HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum.
  Construction of Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy 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 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, in spite of fears that she would be scrapped, 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 Scharnhorst. In June 1944, Belfast took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings.
context_section_description: In reserve, Belfast's future was uncertain: post-war defence cuts made manpower-intensive cruisers excessively costly to operate, and it was not until March 1955 that the decision was taken to modernise Belfast. Work began on 6 January 1956. Although described as only an extended refit, the cost was substantial for this large middle-aged cruiser, 5.5 million pounds Changes included: providing the new twin MK 5 40 mm and the twin 4-inch mount with individual MRS8 directors; the 4-inch guns training and elevation speed was increased to 20 degrees a second; and protecting key parts of the ship against nuclear, biological or chemical attack. This last consideration meant significantly enlarging and enclosing her bridge, creating a two-tiered, five-sided superstructure which radically altered her appearance. The most significant change was better accommodations for a smaller crew more fitting of post-war needs, her tripod masts replaced with lattice masts, and timber decking replaced with steel everywhere except the quarterdeck. The overall effect was to create a cruiser significantly more habitable but different internally and to a degree in external appearance, from wartime cruisers but still essentially a surface warfare, 'anti Sverdlov' cruiser, with anti aircraft defence, updated only for point defence, with 262 radar, locking only, 4 km, out. Belfast recommissioned at Devonport on 12 May 1959. Her close-range armament was standardised to six twin Bofors guns, and her close-range fire direction similarly standardised to eight close-range blind fire directors fitted with Type 262 radar. Her 1959 radar fit included two Type 274,lock and follow radar directors, for main armament direction, against sea and land targets, (other 1950s cruiser reconstructions of three Town cruisers and HMS Newfoundland and HMS Ceylon, had only a single main 274 director, limiting their surface effectiveness) Type 277Q and 293Q for height-finding and surface warning, Type 960M for air warning, and 974 for surface warning. In order to save weight, her torpedo armament was removed. Modern passive sonar type 174, 176 was installed and the cruiser quitened with rubber insulation of the propellor shaft.
  Belfast arrived in Singapore on 16 December 1959, and spent most of 1960 at sea on exercise, calling at ports in Hong Kong, Borneo, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, the Philippines and Japan. On 31 January 1961, Belfast recommissioned, under the command of Captain Morgan Morgan-Giles. On her final foreign commission Belfast joined a number of exercises in the Far East, and in December 1961 she provided the British guard of honour at Tanganyika's independence ceremony in Dar-es-Salaam.
  In 1961 plans were drawn up for conversion of Belfast to a hybrid helicopter cruiser for amphibious operations. The two aft 6-inch turrets would be removed to accommodate a helicopter deck and two hangars, capable of housing four Westland Wessex helicopters, while the 4-inch guns would be replaced by davits for four LCA landing craft. Only one of the ship's two boiler rooms would be used, which together with the reductions in armament would allow the ship's crew to be reduced, freeing space to carry troops. Two infantry companies, 30 officers and 230 other ranks, would be carried. The plan was rejected in December 1961, as the time required to carry out the conversions was too great.
  The ship left Singapore on 26 March 1962 for the UK, sailing east via Hong Kong, Guam and Pearl Harbor, San Francisco, Seattle, British Columbia, Panama and Trinidad. She arrived at Portsmouth on 19 June 1962.
  Recommissioned in July, she made a final visit to Belfast from 23–29 November, before paying off into reserve on 25 February 1963. In July 1963 Belfast was recommissioned for the last time, with a crew of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and a number of Sea Cadets flying the flag of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, Rear Admiral Hugh Martell. Belfast sailed for Gibraltar in company with sixteen RNR minesweepers for a two-week exercise in the Mediterranean on 10 August. Martell's o
caption: After modernisation; showing the enclosed bridge, lattice mast and twin 40 mm Bofors mountings.
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