#44: HMS Belfast: The D-Day Cruiser Preserved on the Thames
HMS Belfast fired some of the first shots on D-Day (June 6, 1944) her twelve 6-inch guns hammering German positions on Gold and Juno beaches from over 12 miles offshore. A single broadside from Belfast could land nearly a ton of high-explosive shells on target, and she fired continuously for hours to support the Allied landings in Normandy.
Commissioned in 1939, this Edinburgh-class light cruiser had already survived a magnetic mine that nearly broke her back, requiring two years of repairs. She went on to play a key role in the Battle of North Cape in 1943, helping sink the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst, and later served in the Korean War. Today she is permanently moored on the Thames near Tower Bridge as a branch of the Imperial War Museum, one of the most significant preserved warships in military history.
