HMS Belfast

Last week, Year 6 made the journey to Central London to visit the famous vessel, HMS Belfast. As part of our enrichment trips, the children had the wonderful experience of exploring the warship. As we stepped aboard the magnificent boat it was as if we were transported back to the past to discover what life was like on board for the crew at war and at sea.

Prior to our visit, the children found out interesting facts about the HMS Belfast and the important role it played on D-Day, the beginning of the end of the war. On June 6th 1944, HMS Belfast crossed the English Channel to Normandy. It was the flagship of Bombardment Force E, which supported troops landing at Gold and Juno beaches. Her first target was the German gun battery, which resulted in the German battery not playing a meaningful role in the defences of the beach.

Did you know...

HMS Belfast is one of only three remaining vessels from the bombardment fleer which supported the Normandy landings on 6th Jube 1944. The other vessels, which are the destroyerr USS Laffey and battleship USS Texas, can be found in South Carolina and Taxas in North America.

Many veterans of the HMS Belfast believe their ship was the first to open fire but this wasn't the case. Lieutenant Peter Brooks Smith, who served onboard the ship, recorded in his diary that another cruiser to the west fired first at 0523. The log records on board the ship show that she opened fire three minutes laterat 0527, 'with full broadside to port.'

The invasion of Normandy was the last time HMS Belfast fired her guns during the Second World War. 

"I wan scared at first as I don't like boats or being at sea  but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the HMS Belfast. It was of my most favourite Broadford trips!"

Sophie Adams, Palm class