[26] Twenty officers and men required hospital treatment for injuries caused by the explosion, and a further 26 suffered minor injuries. That day Belfast fired an accurate 350-round bombardment from her 6-inch guns, and was praised by an American admiral as a "straight-shooting ship". Oh, and if we've helped, a thank-you is appreciated! These records consist of the Crew Lists and Ships' Agreements, with some Official (Crew) Log Books, which were required by law to be sent to the Registrar of Shipping and Seamen for ships registered in the United Kingdom. [32], On 26 December 1943, Belfast participated in the Battle of North Cape. Her Type 281 air warning set was replaced by a single-antenna Type 281B set, while a Type 293Q was fitted for close-range height-finding and surface warning. [33], After North Cape, Belfast refuelled at Kola Inlet before sailing for the United Kingdom, arriving at Scapa to replenish her fuel, ammunition and stores on New Year's Day 1944. In September 1951 Belfast provided anti-aircraft cover for a salvage operation to recover a crashed enemy MiG-15 jet fighter. and useful information about WW2. Catalogue description Registry of Shipping and Seamen: War of 1939-1945; Merchant Seamen's Service on Royal Navy Ships Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.. On 14 August, Belfast took part in her first exercise, Operation Hipper, in which she played the role of a German commerce raider attempting to escape into the Atlantic. We have place for a photo as well if provided. [8] A popular tourist attraction, Belfast received over 327,000 visitors in 2019. You can e-mail us the information here. Over the last twenty years we have worked with hundreds of people and many archives around the world to make the largest database of . This information will help us make improvements to the website. [38][56] On 14 April 1967 museum staff visited Gambia, a Crown Colony-class cruiser also moored in Fareham Creek at the time. Belfast is a cruiser of the third Town class. HMS BELFAST DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR | Imperial War Museums The operations room was restored to its appearance during Exercise Pony Express, a large British-Australian-American joint exercise held off North Borneo in 1961. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. [36], The invasion was to begin on 5 June but bad weather forced a 24-hour delay. 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. Help us improve catalogue descriptions by adding tags. hms belfast crew list 1945 (These were originally described as 'Asian seamen' but that is misleading. [19] On 8 September Belfast put to sea from Scapa Flow with the battlecruisers Hood, Renown, her sister ship Edinburgh and four destroyers, on a patrol intended to intercept German ships returning from Norway. from our data, or from other data sites, or by helping you find the original documents so that you can order copies. Light Cruiser Belfast | World War II Database She evaded them by weighing anchor and moving to the concealment of a smoke screen. [31] Her 1959 radar fit included two Type 274 lock and follow radar directors for main armament direction against sea and land targets,[a] Type 277Q and 293Q for height-finding and surface warning, Type 960M for air warning, and 974 for surface warning. This last consideration meant significantly enlarging and enclosing her bridge, creating a two-tiered, five-sided superstructure which radically altered her appearance. [78][79], When Belfast was first opened to the public, visitors were limited to the upper decks and forward superstructure. Although described as only an extended refit, the cost of 5.5 million[49] was substantial for this large middle-aged cruiser. British shipping, at that time the largest merchant fleet in the world, is also well documented and we explain how to access those records too. We are glad to list them on our acknowledgements page: NB! Unfortunately, it proved impossible to manufacture the main armament so the British Admiralty settled for a main armament of twelve 6-in guns in four turrets. [30] The squadron was responsible for the hazardous task of escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, operating from Scapa Flow and bases in Iceland. [97], The closure delayed the construction of a new two-storey bank-side pavilion to replace Belfast's existing retail and admissions building. ww2dbaseIn 1936, the British Royal Navy attempted to acquire two enlarged and improved versions of the Southampton class light cruisers. At 11:40 that morning, Belfast received the message Commence hostilities at once against Germany. If you need help, we're glad to assist. He described Belfast as being in "a really wonderful state of preservation" and that saving her for the nation represented a "case of grasping the last opportunity". In the second and third categories, the ships had first to be identified, and these sections are by no means comprehensive; in any case, we could only have the documents if they were not required by the port of registry. We are the largest and fastest growing community of UK forces veterans on the web with over 500,000 members! ww2dbaseRetaliation came quickly on November 21, 1939 for as Belfast left the Firth of Forth, she ran into a German magnetic mine that the German submarine U-21 left behind. Crew List Index Project var lastmod=new Date(document.lastModified); [2] This gave her a maximum range of 8,664 nautical miles (16,046km; 9,970mi) at 13 knots (24km/h; 15mph). Please note that we do not do privately commissioned research, not at any price - we'd like you to have the fun. She arrived at Portsmouth on 19 June 1962. A Type 274 set was fitted for main armament fire direction. The primary purpose of this list is to provide the names of ships for which crew lists and agreements are deposited in the Southampton Record Office, with the dates and number of items. HMS Carolineis a decommissionedC-classlight cruiserof the Royal Navythat saw combat service in the First World Warand served as an administrative centre in the Second World War. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from 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. Or perhaps additional information?If you wish to add a crewmember to the listing we would need most of this information: ship name, nationality, name, dob, place of birth, service (merchant marine, ), rank or job on board. ww2dbaseRemaining 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. Based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands, 18th Cruiser Squadron was part of the British effort to impose a naval blockade on Germany. Denomination: H.M.S. hms belfast crew list 1945. From the Chairman The Official Log is not the full ship's log, but only a record of certain incidents relating to the crew and sometimes to passengers, such as deaths on board, which had to be reported to the Registrar. [41] She was recommissioned on 22 September 1948 and, before returning to the Far East, visited her home city of Belfast, arriving on 20 October. CLIP databases provide a range of indexes and finding aids to help your research. On October 9, 1939, Belfast successfully seized the . It had previously been used by a battlecruiser sold in 1921. She also received a Type 273 general surface warning radar, Type 251 and 252 sets for identification friend or foe (IFF) purposes, and a Type 281 and Type 242 for air warning. The old masts were then cut down in sections, the new masts erected, and the original fittings replaced. HMS Mohawk (destroyer) B top Baldwin, CharlesEdward Son of Catherine M. Baldwin, of Stamshaw, Portsmouth. Many records are available online, sometimes on more than one site. Cumberland was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent-subclass. [63], Now a museum, the ship's opening was well received: in 1972 the HMS Belfast Trust won the British Tourist Authority's "Come to Britain" trophy. He did, however, agree to postpone any decision on the scrapping of Belfast to allow the Trust to put together a formal proposal. in detail the crews of a hundred thousand ships. Over the last twenty years we have worked with hundreds of people [91], HMS Belfast also serves as the headquarters of the City of London Sea Cadet Corps,[92] and her prestigious location in central London as a result means she frequently has other vessels berthed alongside. BBC - WW2 People's War - HMS Belfast 60 Years On document.write("This page was last modified on " + lastmod.getDate()+" " + monthlist[lastmod.getMonth()] +" " + lastmod.getFullYear()+""); Transcribed and checked nearly 1,000,000 (one million) entries from crew lists. We've divided them into three sections: People, Ships and Documents, For more detail on our data and the sources we have used, please click here: [64][82], The second section, "The inner workings", below the waterline and protected by the ship's armoured belt, contains core mechanical, electrical and communication systems. Changes included: individual MRS8 directors for the new twin Mk 5 40mm and the twin 4-inch mount; the 4-inch guns training and elevation speed was increased to 20 degrees per second; and protecting key parts of the ship against nuclear, biological or chemical attack. The site also provides information and data about the records of British merchant shipping with records of every British registered ship from 1855 to the 1950s - all 200,000 of them. Portraits of Hms Belfast Veteran Crew Members [18], On 31 August 1939 Belfast was transferred to the 18th Cruiser Squadron. Imperial War Museum official photographer. We are continuing to add to [56], Following the government's refusal, a private trust was formed to campaign for the ship's preservation. CLIP is a not-for-profit volunteer project, set up to assist research into the records of British merchant seafarers of the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1967, efforts were initiated to avert Belfast's expected scrapping and to preserve her as a museum ship. 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. 1959: 4x3x6in, 4x2x4in QF Mk XVI, 6x2x40mm AA, Two Supermarine Walrus Aircraft (removed in the later part of WW2). Her commander was Captain G A Scott DSO RN. Only very basic information about deceased service personnel will be released to other enquirers, with slight more detail made available 25 years after the date of death. The covering dates relate to the dates of opening the registers. [36], For the invasion of Normandy Belfast was made headquarters ship of Bombardment Force E flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, and was to support landings by British and Canadian forces in the Gold and Juno Beach sectors. Belfast played an important role in the battle; as flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, she was among the first to encounter Scharnhorst, and coordinated the squadron's defence of the convoy. The World War II Database is founded and managed by Belfast saw further combat action in 195052 during the Korean War and underwent an extensive modernisation between 1956 and 1959. Crew List With Additional Information. She began providing gunfire starting eleven days after the invasion began and would be doing so for a total of 404 days. The number of items entered for each year is the number of documents, not of complete returns. Tai Yin had been listed by the Admiralty as suspicious, so a prize crew from Belfast sailed her to Kirkwall for investigation. [2] She was propelled by four three-drum oil-fired Admiralty water-tube boilers, turning Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts. HMS Belfast Association was formed in 1998 from past Crew members and is for members who served on HMS Belfast at any time no matter in what capacity. [59] Among the MPs who spoke in support of Morgan-Giles was Gordon Bagier, MP for Sunderland South, who served as a Royal Marine gunner aboard Belfast and was present at both the sinking of Scharnhorst and the Normandy landings. Access to the ship is via a walkway which connects the quarterdeck with the pedestrianised footpath on the south bank of the River Thames. During the Second World War, Renown was involved in the search for the Admiral Graf Spee in 1939, participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April June 1940 and the search for the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. [25], On 10 November Belfast was taken off the northern patrol and reassigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events, All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, About our That year also saw the refurbishment of the ship's Operations Room by a team from HMSVernon, and the return of Belfast's six twin Bofors mounts, along with their fire directors. [76] On 19 October 2010, the new masts were dedicated at a ceremony attended by HMS Belfast veterans, by Prince Philip and officials from the Russian embassy and government. She also mounted six Mk IV 21-inch torpedo tubes in two triple mounts, and fifteen Mk VII depth charges. We explain what indexes are available and how to use them. This was the first time she had been to sea in 28 years and thus required a Certificate of Seaworthiness from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. 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.