Difference between revisions of "HMS Belfast"

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(Started writing about HMS Belfast. Will finish it later. I couldn't get any game stats because I was working on a computer without War Thunder.)
(Edits.)
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The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a premium rank {{Specs|rank}} British cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update 1.93 "Shark Attack"]].
 
The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a premium rank {{Specs|rank}} British cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update 1.93 "Shark Attack"]].
 +
 +
== General info ==
 +
=== Survivability and armour ===
 +
''Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.''
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
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|32 knots (59 km/h)
 
|32 knots (59 km/h)
 
|}
 
|}
 
== General info ==
 
=== Survivability and armour ===
 
''Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.''
 
  
 
=== Mobility ===
 
=== Mobility ===
''Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.''
+
<!--''Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.''-->
  
The HMS Belfast has 80.000 shaft horse power. This power is provided by 4 Admiralty oil-fired 3-drum boilers. The 4 propellers are driven by 4 Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines. This gives the Belfast a maximum forward speed of 32 knots (59 km/h) .  
+
The HMS Belfast has 80,000 shaft horsepower on its screws. This power is provided by four Admiralty oil-fired 3-drum boilers. The four propellers are driven by four Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines. This gives the Belfast a maximum forward speed of 32 knots (59 km/h).  
  
 
== Armament ==
 
== Armament ==
 
=== Primary armament ===
 
=== Primary armament ===
''Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: <code><nowiki>{main|Weapon name (calibre)}</nowiki></code>. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.''
+
<!--''Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: <code><nowiki>{main|Weapon name (calibre)}</nowiki></code>. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.''-->
  
The HMS Belfast comes with 12 x Ordnance BL 6 inch (152 mm) gun Mk XXIII naval guns. These guns are housed in a turret with 3 guns each and Belfast has 4 of those turrets. Two are facing forward and two are facing backwards. The guns have a rate of fire of eight round per minute and fire three types of shell's. One of them being the S.A.P. Shell. This shell is a effective shell to fight other cruisers. The other one is the HE shell, use this shell to fight Destroyers and small patrol boats. HE can really shred an destroyer apart in 3 salvo's. The last shell is the timed HE shell witch can be used to fight airplanes. However this is not an effective method so I recommend not taking this shell for the main armament. Take around 600 shell's HE and 1800 shell's AP. You will never be out of ammo because the Belfast can carrier around 2200 shell's. So another option is to take less shell's to minimize the chance to get ammo wrecked. 400 HE and 800 AP shell's should be more than enough.
+
The HMS Belfast comes with 12 x Ordnance BL 6 inch (152 mm) gun Mk XXIII naval guns. These guns are housed in a turret with 3 guns each and Belfast has 4 of those turrets. Two are facing forward and two are facing backwards. The guns have a rate of fire of eight round per minute and fire three types of shells. One of them being the S.A.P. Shell. This shell is an effective shell to fight other cruisers. The other one is the HE shell, use this shell to fight Destroyers and small patrol boats. HE can really shred a destroyer apart in 3 salvos. The last shell is the timed HE shell witch can be used to fight airplanes. However, this is not an effective method so I recommend not taking this shell for the main armament. Take around 600 shell's HE and 1800 shell's AP. You will never be out of ammo because the Belfast can carrier around 2,200 shells. So another option is to take less shell's to minimize the chance to get ammo wrecked. 400 HE and 800 AP shell's should be more than enough.
  
 
=== Secondary armament ===
 
=== Secondary armament ===
''Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control <code>Select secondary weapon</code>. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.''
+
<!--''Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control <code>Select secondary weapon</code>. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.''-->
  
Belfast has 4 secondary turrets (2 at each side) containing two Ordnance QF 4 inch (102 mm) gun Mk XVI wich are dual purpose. They can fire 3 types of shell's. An AP shell, HE shell and a times HE-shell. I recommend taking AP shell's (to fight destroyers and smaller patrol boats) and timed HE-shells to fight aviation. The ration AP : timed-HE should be 40-60
+
Belfast has 4 secondary turrets (2 at each side) containing two Ordnance QF 4 inch (102 mm) gun Mk XVI which are dual purpose. They can fire 3 types of shells, an AP shell, HE shell and a timed (fuzed) HE-shell. I recommend taking AP shell's (to fight destroyers and smaller patrol boats) and timed HE-shells to fight aviation. The ratio AP:timed-HE should be 40-60
  
 
=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
 
=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
When fighting aviation in the Belfast, you have the Ordnance QF 4 inch gun Mk XVI turrets and you do get the British Bofors 40 mm L/60 on Mk VII in dual turrets. In total you have six of those turrets. There is no ammunition you can chose from. You will only get the HE belt and this belt is very effective when shooting down planes.  
+
<!--''An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control <code>Select anti-aircraft weapons</code>. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.''-->
 +
 
 +
When fighting aviation in the Belfast, you have the Ordnance QF 4 inch gun Mk XVI turrets and you do get the British Bofors 40 mm L/60 on Mk VII in dual turrets. In total, you have six of those turrets. There is no ammunition you can select between, you will only get the default HE belt, but don't dismay, this belt is very effective when shooting down planes.  
  
 
== Usage in battles ==
 
== Usage in battles ==
HMS Belfast is a very strong cruiser and gives you the ability to fight other cruisers very effectively. However there is a very dangerous cruisers wich should be your main priority to kill. These cruiser are the [[USS Brooklyn (CL-40)]] and [[USS Helena (CL-50)]]. These cruisers can fire 15 shell's and do significant damage to your ship. So when starting a match, make sure you try and kill these cruiser as soon as possible.  
+
<!--''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).''-->
 +
 
 +
HMS Belfast is a very strong cruiser and gives you the ability to fight other cruisers very effectively. However, there are very dangerous cruisers which should be your main priority to kill. These cruisers are the [[USS Brooklyn (CL-40)]] and [[USS Helena (CL-50)]]. These cruisers can fire 15 shell's and do significant damage to your ship. So when starting a match, make sure you try and disable or destroy these cruisers as soon as possible.  
  
A typical cruiser game starts very slow. You and your team mates are spawning in the back and far away from the light fleet. As a cruiser, you need your light fleet because they can cap and win the game. As a cruiser, a lot of places on the map are not accessible. Your ship has a draught of 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m) so you can't go anywhere you want. Your main goal is to achieve supremacy over the other team in terms of cruiser and destroyer power. Destroyers are very vulnerable against other cruisers so your main goal is to fight these cruisers. Destroyers should help the patrol boats with capping and getting an advantage. When killing other cruiser you make sure your destroyers can fulfill this role. This also means that when the majority of the enemy cruisers is destroyed, you should be focusing on shooting down enemy destroyers. This increases the chance of the survivability of the small fleet to capture the points. Don't be that cruiser captain that is desperate to kill another cruiser that is far away from your fleet and far away from a capture point. The fleet needs you because you can tank a lot of shot's. Stick with your team, make sure that they don't need to worry about big guns so you achieve a victory.  
+
A typical cruiser game starts very slow. You and your teammates are spawning in the back and far away from the light fleet. As a cruiser, you need your light fleet because they can cap and win the game. As a cruiser, a lot of places on the map are not accessible. Your ship has a draught of 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m) so you can't go anywhere you want. Your main goal is to achieve supremacy over the other team in terms of cruiser and destroyer power. Destroyers are very vulnerable against other cruisers so your main goal is to fight these cruisers. Destroyers should help the patrol boats with capping and getting an advantage. When destroying other cruisers, make sure your destroyer can fulfil this role. This also means that when the majority of the enemy cruisers are destroyed, you should be focusing on shooting down enemy destroyers. This increases the chance of the survivability of a small fleet to capture the points. Don't be that cruiser captain that is desperate to kill another cruiser that is far away from your fleet and far away from a capture point. The fleet needs you because you can tank a lot of shots. Stick with your team, make sure that they don't need to worry about big guns so you achieve a victory.  
  
 
=== Pros and cons ===
 
=== Pros and cons ===
 +
<!--''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''-->
 
'''Pros:'''
 
'''Pros:'''
  
 
* Powerful main armament
 
* Powerful main armament
* Strong armor (citadel is very well protected)
+
* Strong armour (citadel is very well protected)
 
* Effective AA protection
 
* Effective AA protection
 
* Doesn't flood very easily   
 
* Doesn't flood very easily   
* Decent manouvrability
+
* Decent manoeuvrability
 
 
*
 
  
 
'''Cons:'''
 
'''Cons:'''
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* Mediocre barbettes
 
* Mediocre barbettes
  
*
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== History ==
 +
<!--''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).''-->
  
== History ==
+
The light cruiser ‘Belfast’ was the next big step in shipbuilding design, following the Manchester cruisers, and, according to experts, this vessel (tied together with her sister ship, the cruiser Edinburgh) was the most advanced light cruiser in the Royal Navy of Great Britain during WWII. Belfast was laid down in 1938, and a year later, the cruiser came into service. The ship initially played a part in the British naval blockade against the German forces during WWII, however, in November 1939, the Belfast struck a mine and spent three years undergoing repairs, during which she also received a number of upgrades.
''The light cruiser ‘Belfast’ was the next big step in shipbuilding design, following the Manchester cruisers, and, according to experts, this vessel (tied together with her sister ship, the cruiser Edinburgh) was the most advanced light cruiser in the Royal Navy of Great Britain during WWII. Belfast was laid down in 1938, and a year later, the cruiser came into service. The ship initially played a part in the British naval blockade against the German forces during WWII, however, in November 1939, the Belfast struck a mine and spent three years undergoing repairs, during which she also received a number of upgrades. ''
 
  
''The modernised light cruiser was then deployed to escort Arctic convoys heading to the USSR, where she fought the German fleet for the first time. In June 1944, the Belfast provided cover for the US landing troops on the well-known D-Day, which took place in Normandy. At the end of World War II, Belfast was sent to the Pacific Ocean, where she joined the British Pacific Fleet. The next combat action the light cruiser saw was the Korean War, in which she participated from 1950 to 1952.''
+
The modernised light cruiser was then deployed to escort Arctic convoys heading to the USSR, where she fought the German fleet for the first time. In June 1944, the Belfast provided cover for the US landing troops on the well-known D-Day, which took place in Normandy. At the end of World War II, Belfast was sent to the Pacific Ocean, where she joined the British Pacific Fleet. The next combat action the light cruiser saw was the Korean War, in which she participated from 1950 to 1952.
  
''After taking part in a number of military operations and missions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the old war dog finally retired from the battlefield in 1963. The era of those ships was over and it seemed that the Belfast was essentially doomed to become scrap metal. However, fortune favoured the cruiser, as a group of enthusiastic war historians, among whom was a former Belfast commander, persuaded the British government to use the ship as a museum of war history. Since 1978, light cruiser Belfast has served as a branch of the Imperial War Museum and is permanently moored on the Thames in London.''
+
After taking part in a number of military operations and missions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the old war dog finally retired from the battlefield in 1963. The era of those ships was over and it seemed that the Belfast was essentially doomed to become scrap metal. However, fortune favoured the cruiser, as a group of enthusiastic war historians, among whom was a former Belfast commander, persuaded the British government to use the ship as a museum of war history. Since 1978, light cruiser Belfast has served as a branch of the Imperial War Museum and is permanently moored on the Thames in London.
  
(From Dev Blog on the War Thunder forum: [https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/467964-development-belfast-the-guardian-of-the-thames/])
+
From Dev Blog on the War Thunder forum: [https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/467964-development-belfast-the-guardian-of-the-thames/ Belfast - The Guardian of the Thames]
  
 
== Media ==
 
== Media ==
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* ''other literature.''
 
* ''other literature.''
  
{{Britain cruisers}}
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{{Britain light cruisers}}
 
{{Britain premium ships}}
 
{{Britain premium ships}}

Revision as of 12:23, 2 November 2019

Rank VI USA | Premium | Golden Eagles
A-10A Thunderbolt (Early)
HMS Belfast
uk_cruiser_belfast.png
HMS Belfast
AB RB SB
5.7 5.7 5.7
Purchase:8 020 Specs-Card-Eagle.png
Show in game

Description

GarageImage HMS Belfast.jpg


The Town-class, HMS Belfast (C35), 1959 is a premium rank IV British cruiser with a battle rating of 5.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.93 "Shark Attack".

General info

Survivability and armour

Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.

Complement: 781–881 (as flagship, 1939)
Displacement: 11,550 tons
Length: 613 ft 6 in (186.99 m) overall
Beam: 63 ft 4 in (19.3 m)
Draught:
  • 18 ft 3 in (5.56 m) forward
  • 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) aft
Armour:
  • Main belt: 4.5 inches (114 mm)
  • Main turrets: Up to 4 inches (102 mm)
  • Decks over magazines: 3 inches (76 mm)
  • Decks over machinery: 2 inches (51 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 2.5 inches (63.5 mm)
Installed power: 80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion:
  • 4 × Admiralty oil-fired 3-drum boilers
  • 4 × Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines
Speed: 32 knots (59 km/h)

Mobility

The HMS Belfast has 80,000 shaft horsepower on its screws. This power is provided by four Admiralty oil-fired 3-drum boilers. The four propellers are driven by four Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines. This gives the Belfast a maximum forward speed of 32 knots (59 km/h).

Armament

Primary armament

The HMS Belfast comes with 12 x Ordnance BL 6 inch (152 mm) gun Mk XXIII naval guns. These guns are housed in a turret with 3 guns each and Belfast has 4 of those turrets. Two are facing forward and two are facing backwards. The guns have a rate of fire of eight round per minute and fire three types of shells. One of them being the S.A.P. Shell. This shell is an effective shell to fight other cruisers. The other one is the HE shell, use this shell to fight Destroyers and small patrol boats. HE can really shred a destroyer apart in 3 salvos. The last shell is the timed HE shell witch can be used to fight airplanes. However, this is not an effective method so I recommend not taking this shell for the main armament. Take around 600 shell's HE and 1800 shell's AP. You will never be out of ammo because the Belfast can carrier around 2,200 shells. So another option is to take less shell's to minimize the chance to get ammo wrecked. 400 HE and 800 AP shell's should be more than enough.

Secondary armament

Belfast has 4 secondary turrets (2 at each side) containing two Ordnance QF 4 inch (102 mm) gun Mk XVI which are dual purpose. They can fire 3 types of shells, an AP shell, HE shell and a timed (fuzed) HE-shell. I recommend taking AP shell's (to fight destroyers and smaller patrol boats) and timed HE-shells to fight aviation. The ratio AP:timed-HE should be 40-60

Anti-aircraft armament

When fighting aviation in the Belfast, you have the Ordnance QF 4 inch gun Mk XVI turrets and you do get the British Bofors 40 mm L/60 on Mk VII in dual turrets. In total, you have six of those turrets. There is no ammunition you can select between, you will only get the default HE belt, but don't dismay, this belt is very effective when shooting down planes.

Usage in battles

HMS Belfast is a very strong cruiser and gives you the ability to fight other cruisers very effectively. However, there are very dangerous cruisers which should be your main priority to kill. These cruisers are the USS Brooklyn (CL-40) and USS Helena (CL-50). These cruisers can fire 15 shell's and do significant damage to your ship. So when starting a match, make sure you try and disable or destroy these cruisers as soon as possible.

A typical cruiser game starts very slow. You and your teammates are spawning in the back and far away from the light fleet. As a cruiser, you need your light fleet because they can cap and win the game. As a cruiser, a lot of places on the map are not accessible. Your ship has a draught of 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m) so you can't go anywhere you want. Your main goal is to achieve supremacy over the other team in terms of cruiser and destroyer power. Destroyers are very vulnerable against other cruisers so your main goal is to fight these cruisers. Destroyers should help the patrol boats with capping and getting an advantage. When destroying other cruisers, make sure your destroyer can fulfil this role. This also means that when the majority of the enemy cruisers are destroyed, you should be focusing on shooting down enemy destroyers. This increases the chance of the survivability of a small fleet to capture the points. Don't be that cruiser captain that is desperate to kill another cruiser that is far away from your fleet and far away from a capture point. The fleet needs you because you can tank a lot of shots. Stick with your team, make sure that they don't need to worry about big guns so you achieve a victory.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Powerful main armament
  • Strong armour (citadel is very well protected)
  • Effective AA protection
  • Doesn't flood very easily
  • Decent manoeuvrability

Cons:

  • Doesn't have any torpedo armament
  • Mediocre turret protection
  • Weak bridge protection
  • Mediocre barbettes

History

The light cruiser ‘Belfast’ was the next big step in shipbuilding design, following the Manchester cruisers, and, according to experts, this vessel (tied together with her sister ship, the cruiser Edinburgh) was the most advanced light cruiser in the Royal Navy of Great Britain during WWII. Belfast was laid down in 1938, and a year later, the cruiser came into service. The ship initially played a part in the British naval blockade against the German forces during WWII, however, in November 1939, the Belfast struck a mine and spent three years undergoing repairs, during which she also received a number of upgrades.

The modernised light cruiser was then deployed to escort Arctic convoys heading to the USSR, where she fought the German fleet for the first time. In June 1944, the Belfast provided cover for the US landing troops on the well-known D-Day, which took place in Normandy. At the end of World War II, Belfast was sent to the Pacific Ocean, where she joined the British Pacific Fleet. The next combat action the light cruiser saw was the Korean War, in which she participated from 1950 to 1952.

After taking part in a number of military operations and missions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the old war dog finally retired from the battlefield in 1963. The era of those ships was over and it seemed that the Belfast was essentially doomed to become scrap metal. However, fortune favoured the cruiser, as a group of enthusiastic war historians, among whom was a former Belfast commander, persuaded the British government to use the ship as a museum of war history. Since 1978, light cruiser Belfast has served as a branch of the Imperial War Museum and is permanently moored on the Thames in London.

From Dev Blog on the War Thunder forum: Belfast - The Guardian of the Thames

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • reference to the series of the ship;
  • links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the ship;
  • other literature.


Britain light cruisers
Emerald-class  HMS Enterprise
Dido-class  HMS Dido
Leander-class  HMNZS Leander
Arethusa-class  HMS Arethusa
Town-class  HMS Belfast · HMS Liverpool · HMS Southampton
Tiger-class  HMS Tiger
Abdiel-class*  HMS Abdiel

Britain premium ships
Motor torpedo boats  MTB-1(2) · MTB-422 · Fairmile D (5001) · HMS Gay Archer
Motor gun boats  MGB-75 · SGB Grey Goose
Gunboats  HMS Spey
Sub-chasers  LÉ Orla
Frigates  HMS Whitby
Destroyers  HMS Montgomery · HMS Valhalla · HMS Verdun · ORP Garland · HMS Jervis · HMCS Haida · HMS Mohawk · HMS Cadiz · HMS Diamond
Light cruisers  HMS Belfast
Battleships  HMS Iron Duke