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To: Homer_J_Simpson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast_(C35)

HMS Belfast is an ex-Royal Navy Town-class cruiser and now a museum ship operated by the Imperial War Museum. Commissioned in August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast spent much of the early war years undergoing repairs after being damaged by a German mine in November 1940. Recommissioned in November 1942, she saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during 1943 and participated in the Battle of North Cape in December of that year. In June 1944 Belfast took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings. She saw further action during the Korean War.

Decommissioned in 1963 following a number of overseas tours Belfast was initially expected to be disposed of as scrap. After a campaign by a private trust she was preserved as a museum ship and berthed on the River Thames in the Pool of London. Opened to the public in 1971 Belfast has been maintained as a branch of the Imperial War Museum since 1978. In Royal Navy service for 24 years HMS Belfast was, in the view of historian and Imperial War Museum director Noble Frankland, capable of representing “a whole generation of [historical evidence]”.[2] A popular tourist attraction, Belfast receives around a quarter of a million visitors per year.[3] As a branch of a national museum, Belfast is supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, by admissions income and the Imperial War Museum’s other commercial activity.

http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk/


5 posted on 11/21/2009 5:17:46 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: abb
Commissioned in August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast spent much of the early war years undergoing repairs after being damaged by a German mine in November 1940.

Does Wiki have the year wrong? At this point the Brits think she was torpedoed by a U-Boat.

7 posted on 11/21/2009 5:25:31 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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