HMS Belfast (C35) — Town-Class Light Cruiser Model, 36 in
HMS Belfast (C35) — Town-Class Light Cruiser Model, 36 in
How big is it?
Length about 91 cm / 36.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 36 in / 91 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM579
The larger edition of the Thames museum ship, at 36 inches.
Specification
- 36 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Four triple main turrets with individual barrel detail
- Secondary and anti-aircraft armament, torpedo tubes, boats and cranes
- Masts, radar arrays and rangefinders
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
Why a light cruiser carried twelve guns
Naval treaties capped cruisers at 8-inch guns for heavy ships and 6-inch for light ones — but set no limit on how many 6-inch guns you could fit. The Town class was Britain's answer to Japanese and American designs that had already worked this out: twelve 6-inch guns in four triple turrets, firing considerably faster than an 8-inch gun could.
A treaty written to restrain warship size instead produced a generation of light cruisers as large and as expensive as the heavy ones they were meant to be cheaper than.
Service
Mined in 1939, rebuilt, led the pursuit of Scharnhorst at North Cape, bombarded Normandy on D-Day, served in Korea, and is preserved on the Thames.