NEW CRUISER

Evening Star, Issue 23382, 27 September 1939, Page 7

NEW CRUISER

BRITISH NAVY'S LATEST FAST, MODERN VESSEL H.M. cruiser Belfast, which was laid down at the Queen’s Island shipyard, Belfast, of Messrs Harland and Wolff, Limited, under the Admiralty programme, for the year 1936, recently sailed for Portsmouth, where she will be commissioned prior to joining the Second Cruiser Squadron. The Belfast, which is the first ship of His Majesty’s Navy to bear this name, was launched by Mrs Neville Chamberlain on March 17, 1938, and has undergone a series of exhaustive trials, culminating in the successful completion of the acceptance trials. The vessel is a cruiser of the improved Southampton type, her sister ship in this class being H.M.S. Edinburgh, built at the Walleend-on-Tyne shipyard of Messrs Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson Limited. The acceptance trials of the latter were carried out on July 6. H.M.S. Belfast has a standard displacement of 10,000 tons, a length of 579 ft, and a beam of 63ft tin. Her propelling machinery consists of geared turbines, developing a total shaft horsepower of 80,000 and driving four screws, steam being supplied by oil-fired water-tube boilers. The estimated speed of the vessel, on full-power trial, was 32.5 knots. The armament of the Belfast includes 12 6in guns, 12 Sin high-angle guns, four three-pounder guns, and six torpedo tubes, together with the usual complement of smaller guns and machine guns. The: cruiser is commanded by Captain G. A. Scott. It may he of interest to note, in conclusion, that H.M.S. Southampton* from which type the Belfast has been derived, was laid down in 1934 and completed in 1937. She has a displacement of 9,100 tons, and her engines have a designed shaft horsepower of 75,000, giving her a speed of 32 knots.—(‘Engineering’).