What classified documents are you most looking forward to be being declassified and further to that will any controversial information come to light in the sinking of HMS Glorious??
When the Japanese attacked Pearl harbour, the Japanese decided to after they had sent in the battleships and an invasion force to take the island, could they do it and hos does the war change with the Hawaiian islands beeing under Japanese control?
Yeah that's a serious bruh moment. Here in the US we don't have nearly as much naval history as the UK but somehow we have around 6 Battleships, 3 Carriers, and an Armoured Cruiser as museum ships if I remember correctly.
Town class HMS Sheffield had all her brightwork in stainless steel rather than brass, as the city of Sheffield was famous, in particular, for stainless steel cutlery. Her nickname based on this was 'Old Shiny' or 'Shiny Shef'
Stainless steel was also invented in Sheffield in 1913, by Harry Brealey. He was trying to develop new steels to reduce erosion in gun barrels by the addition of chromium.
@@lordsummerisle87 Also about 1740 in Sheffield (well technically first in Doncaster, but nobody cares about that place... before moving to Sheffield) was Benjamin Huntsmen, the inventor of crucible steel. There's a pub and a hospital wing named after him in Sheffield.
That's a good question. I live only a few miles from where USS Wisconsin is moored as a museum ship in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Be interesting to find out what her main and secondary batteries are aimed at.........
There is a gaint sign on interstate 40 about 20 miles from Wilmington NC telling you are now in the USS North Carolina's gun range. Thought that was clever marketing.
A news article I read today said: The mysterious animal deaths in Kamchatka cannot be attributed to oil My first reaction was: "It must have been those damn torpedo boats again."
Wrong Kamchatka. Kamchatka in this case refers to a city on the Russian Pacific coast. Yes, the infamous repair ship was named after the city of Kamchatka.
Great grandad served in the 'B' turret on Belfast during WW2. We have his Arctic star and a fascinating box of photographs from the Arctic convoys showing just how thick the ice was on the Hull and Turrets. I wish I was around when he was so I could've talked about it.
I can remember talking to my Great Grand Father about what he did in the German Army before WWI. He was able to travel all through the Austrian and Ottoman Empires and a few other places the British would not be so keen of a German officer being at that time. Luckily he got married and decided to come over to the US about a year before the war. Both my grand fathers were either to young for WWI or WWII or to old for WWII. My one grandpa since he was older he was able to go to medical training due to all the doctors going off to war especially in rural areas of the US. The number of people that I still run across asking about my uncles now and telling me that they were delivered or worked on by my grandfather is impressive. Some how after he died it allowed him to have a flag at his grave for service during WWII. The interesting part other than my mother and uncle telling me what he did when I was home on leave once, I never knew about it. Over the last 15 years people have talked about what he was doing back then.
At some 600 feet long, HMS Belfast (a light cruiser) is similar in length to a First World War dreadnought (and longer than HMS Dreadnought herself). A really excellent ship and floating museum, and well worth a visit. Great video, Drachinifel!
Not that unusual the Town class light cruisers from 1910 where 460 feet in length and displaced 5000 tonnes half what a WW2 Town class did. It's beam where a battleship is huge compared to cruisers that are long but thin.
I remember when I first visited belfast as a 7 year old, I thought she was a battleship because she seemed so big (and had 4x 3-gun turrets which I also used to associate with battleships)... Still never actually been on a battleship (except victory).
Every schoolkid in the home counties has visited her at some point I think. I definitely remember the time I visited as a child even though it was more than 30 years ago.
@@hmskinggeorgev7089 I went to school 7 miles away (or 3 stops on the train) from HMS Belfast, it would have been weird if I didn't go visit her at some point.
I had the great privilege to be visiting the Belfast when several of the crew had returned for the 60th anniversary of her commissioning. 21 years ago these old gents made a great impression on my 7yo self but mostly I remember one of the old deck-hands showing me photos of the ship's cat, and telling me about where she used to sleep, hunt, and hide. I suppose as fighting was far from their most common duty the activities of their cat was of great interest. :D (I suppose all her war serving crew will have died now, thankfully people like Drach will have preserved many of their stories)
When you mentioned how complicated the secondary gun mechanism is, I wanted to provide some perspectiv for people used to hearing you talk about 15 and 16 inch guns, for many of whom 4 inch probably sounds small. But remember that the standard British Army field gun of WWII (the glorious 25-pounder) was about a 3.5 inch caliber and the standard heavy AA gun was 3.7 inches. These small secondary guns on a warship would have truly been heavy artillery on land.
When a battleship was damaged near Loch Ewe at the beginning of WW2 she was taken inside and two (of her) 5" guns were mounted as AA guns on land nearby. I was able to see the remaining structure for one, a large iron rail making a complete circle surrounded by a series of concrete hutches for ammunition. There were other ammunition stores scattered around for the regular AA guns. They protected the anchorage after there was space in a dockyard to repair the battleship.
I love the fact that A & B 6" triple turrets are elevated and trained to obliterate a motorway service station in north London as a convenient target to show the range the main guns were capable of.
I play Azur Lane and I still don’t know why nearly all the British light cruisers are maids, not complaining though, but considering how many historical references that game has, there has to be some historical reference in that, I’m genuinely curious
When I visited HMS Belfast earlier last year when I was still in the UK, the strongest feeling I got was just how cramped the whole place was. There really was not a lot of room to move around. The hatches and passages were all only just wide enough - everyone had to really tuck in their limbs to fit through. I guess it helped that people back then generally had a smaller stature, but I'm not too big either (178cm) so man I don't know. Life aboard military ships was tough.
Oh Bollocks .... Nelsons Capt'n Hardy - was about 6' 3" ..... It was - And still is - Really cramped & tough...Space costs money - and servicemen just have to suck it up! Politicians don't care! Officers have better conditions where posible ......
I agree with you. I visited HMS Belfast in 2019 having watched a few documentaries about her service (particularly her role in taking down KMS Scharnhorst) and the whole time, I kept wondering just how a crew of nearly a thousand men was able to efficiently move around in such a cramped ship especially during combat.
Thanks! I have been to the HMS Belfast several times on my trips from the US, and I never tire of stopping in every couple of years to give her a healthy pat on the back.
These days you can get away with very few people on watch in an engine room. The carrier I was on has only 4 machinist's mate watches and a senior supervisor on at a time. Pretty good for an engine room with two 70,000hp shafts and two comparably big turbine generators.
You are right about the Scratchwood services - several mintues sustained bombardment from Belfast would improve them. Obviously shot falling short would be a unfortunate for the residents of Edgware, Barnet and Brents Cross. Still might get the Shopping centre - so two birds with one stone etc.....
I visited HMS Belfast during the 50th anniversary of the D Day landings. Maps of the beaches and attack plans were displayed on the navigation bridge. It was a VERY complicated invasion.
My Brother and myself sent a splendid afternoon having a guided tour from one of the staff regarding the Ventilation and damage control systems of the ship as we were interested and he too was an Engineer sharing his knowledge..... a day well sent. The removal and replacing of the Engineer Room Asbestos with a faux product that looked correct and its cost was a story. A disruptive camouflage pattern on a Naval ship looks so good and mean.
When I was a 13 year old german boy I visited with english friends the HMS BELFAST. It was fascinating for me. I have still some photos from that day. Now I am 62 and I remember that as it was yesterday😊
Ah I visited her roughly a year a go. 1st Oct 2019. It started as a rainy day but it cleared up at noon. Spent 5 hours to explore the ship and talked with the staff.
I used to work in the 'City of London', repairing mechanical accounting machines, before the electronic 'revolution' of the mid seventies. Me and my mates 'bunked off work' to go to London Bridge and watch her coming in. All the ships sirens, the fireboats and a RNAS 'Stringbag' overhead, it was a memorable moment. I first visited the ship almost as soon as she was opened up and I spent the entire day there, asking endless questions of the very knowledgeable guides. I got the impression they were all ex Belfast's? I notice the shell rooms are open and several other spaces, but on my first visit, it was all a bit restricted and the one thing I wanted to see most of all was; the mighty 'Admiralty Fire Control Table MkVI'. On subsequent visits, I got to see it and much else, but your documentary has reminded me; I need to go again before I get too old.
I would dearly like to see an episode of the launching mechanisms of the seaplanes and of course, the seaplanes themselves used in the cruisers like the HMS Belfast.
Sometime in October of 1982 i bought a ticket and wandered everywhere i was allowed in this wonderful piece of preserved history. Nothing can replace physical contact with history, but damn if this wasn't in many ways better! Thank you Drac!:-) 👍👌🖖
I visited HMS Belfast in the 70s, and at the time there was a map on the bridge with a circle denoting the maximum range of the main armament. A large red cross marked the Scratchwood Services on the M1 motorway, which is apparently where the 6" guns were aimed! It would have made a hell of a mess. Nice video. It is a fascinating ship to visit.
The critical parameter for the steam turbine is not rotational frequency, but blade tangential velocity. The turbine does not need to spin really fast, BUT, if it is not spinning really fast, the only way to get the blade speed high enough is to use a large radius. One of the early great liners (whose name escapes me) compromised the design of the propellers and turbines to allow a turbine fourteen feet across to directly drive a propeller designed to run at 420 revolutions per minute. The big penalty of direct drive turbines is the volume of the equipment. For the same efficiency and power, a turbine that runs at twice the RPM occupies only a quarter of the volume (spinning twice as fast at half of the radius gives the same blade tangential velocity). It does not take much of a reduction in volume to justify the reduction gearing and end up saving space.
A great ship to visit. Being able to sit in the Captain's chair, the navigator's chair, and on another bridge the Admiral's chair was very enjoyable! It was a very quiet day without people lining up & that made the visit even better.
Really quite like this video. I think the format of on-scene footage with voice over recorded in calm produces a grat quality. I think it would be really helpful if you sometimes could freeze the footage to give use the best view on what you are talking about, sometimes the object of interest was leaving the frame just when you were starting to mention it. Freezing the video and maybe highlighting the interesting part of the picture, e.g. by darkening the rest, would really help identify the most interesting parts. I am not sure how much additional effort this would be in editing and appreciate how much high quality content you are producing. Really great video on a great channel. Thanks a lot Drach!
I'm 13 minutes into this video and it is easily my favorite from this channel because of the nice little tour of this ship work retail so I will never be able to afford a trip to England to see this ship in person but the little tour has made the distance between my bedroom where I'm watching this and HMS Belfast herself significantly shorter
Another great video! Having a machine shop onboard I think came from the example of US Navy practice. The US Navy did not have as many overseas bases as Britain did so it was important that the crews could make repairs themselves. I know that US battleships even had a forge to cast small parts, though I don't know if smaller ships did. Saving the Belfast was one of the best things the Royal Navy has ever done due to the positive public relations value, and no doubt they regret not saving more ships, especially the Warspite.
RN ships had dedicated repair experts and areas on ships for centuries. At RN museum Hartlepool they had an exhibition about it when I was young. From carpenters to engineers. The royal navy had nothing to do with the decisions sadly. The armed forces here don't have the political pull that they have in the US. Preservation of a ship is a political question and of course that comes down to money as much as anything
@@AdamMGTF While it was true on sailing ships, it seems after 1900 the Royal navy reduced the number of special craftsmen on ships. On US Navy ships such specialists as blacksmiths and lathe operators were not duplicated in the RN. This was probably a cost saving measure, and the larger number of ports Britain had at the time meant a ship could always find a place to make repairs at. This abundance of ports also meant the RN didn't have to worry about fuel range, 4,000-5,000 miles being accepted as sufficient. The US did not have nearly as many overseas ports, in fact during the cruise of the Great White Fleet some of the US navy ships were diverted to Japan to be serviced because the facilities in Manila weren't capable. Thus US Navy ships had more repair facilities onboard their ships, plus larger fuel tankage with 10,000 miles at 10 knots being the standard cruising capability of all US battleships. Later this was expanded to 15,000 miles at 15 knots. Plus the US led the way in underway refueling. During WW2 US destroyers and even destroyer escorts were capable of escorting convoys from Halifax to Liverpool with no problem. Compare this with the fact that RN destroyers only escorted ships a third of the way before turning back to port. My father's ship the DE-188 O'Neil had a small machine shop on board and one of his friends in the engine room was also a qualified lathe operator. They escorted seven convoys across the Atlantic before being transferred to the Med in 1943. Later they would serve in the Pacific after the fall of Germany.
Exactly, she wouldn't be scrapped, decided to go for a cruise of her own. You are right though, she is one of a number of ships that should have been preserved. She served Cunningham faithfully with great distinction in the Mediterranean.
I visited the ship when I was in London once. Beautiful ship. One of two museum ships I've seen. The other one is the Georgios Averoff, which I visited just a few weeks ago.
Visiting the museum was one of my best experiences studying in London. It's amazing to see the degree of complexity of the old engine room machinery and to think about having to remember how to operate it under duress.
I visited London 6 times, never had the chance to visit HMS Belfast for various reasons. This episode is the next best thing to being there in person and maybe even more insightful. Thank you very much
“Average viewing time is 1.5 hours” says the IWM blurb... 4.5 hours later I left. Surprise trip on my birthday when found myself in London with that day free!
I really enjoyed that video, I was a very young guest aboard in the early 70s and the ship has been close to my heart ever since, thank you. I would humbly suggest HMS M33 would be a prime candidate for a similar video. She is also a friend of mine.
Belfast surviving a mine breaking her keel is an example of how tough the Town class were; Edinburgh took an incredible amount of damage before she sank, HMS Liverpool lost her bow and survived, and pretty much the entire class survived being torpedoed at least once. Immensely tough ships that were damn hard to put down, they have always fascinated me even as a child.
@@tango6nf477 The Union Castle liner Dunottar Castle built in 1936 was only scrapped a few years ago after 66 years at sea .Canberra lasted nearly 40 years .With Harland and Wolff you certainly got your money's worth. As they say "price is what you pay -value is what you get " And the last White Star Line vessel built by Harland and Wolff still exusts in Belfast -now some 110 years old .!!!
The thing I find fascinating about her is standing in the superstructure and seeing that the original outside wall is now the inside wall of the circular corridor and that the corridor and outer rooms were originally just deck. Its a massive increase in the amount of enclosed space.
Another wonderful program, the ship looks as good as when I viewed it in person many years ago. I have read with great interest the after action reports involving the Brooklyns with their 15 six inch guns, the description from the US Army describe them as looking like gigantic machine gun shells , as, they seemed to fire so quickly. My favorites were the Des Moines, having served on board all three but I love Belfast and I’m so glad she still survives.
Wonderful program, perhaps a tie with the second Russian Pacific Squadron. USN career officer, ship driver not engineering. Once saw a 1200 psi leak almost severe a limb but in general, the 600 psi systems seemed very reliable and powerful.
A truly wonderful video. I have been to the UK twice and both times I have visited HMS Belfast. Having been to multiple US ships, I think I can say that she is one of my favorite ships that I have had the pleasure to visit.
I think back to when you started this channel out, sure go to the Belfast make a video crawling into all areas of the ship while it is closed. You have been producing nice short five minute guides or close enough that have impressed others and all of your hard work have given you access to things not possible before. Nice work.
I like the voice over of the new footage (rather than trying to talk and film at the same time). The sound usually suffers if you do it the other way. Might be a good idea for the camera guy to have a light when filming in a dark place like an engine room. I wonder where the shells from the naval guns outside the Royal War Museum would land.
Thank you very much for this look at this wonderful lady. I still wish I had had the time to visit her the one time I was in London on Liberty. We were moored in Portsmouth where QE and POW tie up now. So much to see on that half day in London and not not nearly enough time. She was born at just the right time, when she was needed the most. One quick note about the 40mm Bofers, these guns remained in service in some USN auxiliary ships up through the mid 1980s, in quad mounts. Just because a weapon might be 'old' technology does not mean it's useless or harmless to an enemy. The last time I cruised the Persian Gulf (1991) when Iranian small craft were considered a threat I thought a twin or quad 40mm would be very useful.
I remember some data in a 1963 book on the World’s Warships. It said that t UK started WW2 with 60 cruisers and ended the war with 60, having lost and replaced 30 during WW2. That always stuck with me.
Thanks Drach....was in London and France for the 75th anniversary and saw this beautiful ship while in town but didn’t get the opportunity to board. After this thorough tour what else can I say. There’s something to be be said about a well done virtual tour!
I visited HMS Belfast in 2010, with a friend from Winnipeg. It was fascinating to see how complex the guns and machinery were. My dad managed a machine shop, so the ship's machine shop surprised me as to how well equipped it was in such a confined space. So glad she survived, especially since it was a near run thing.
Seeing how few ships Britain preserved, I feel spoiled to have A battleship, A victory Ship, the HMS Queen Mary, and a soviet submarine near by, and the aircraft Midway a few hours away,
Further north in San Franciscon you can visit three other museum ships in the Bay Area: a Liberty ship, an Essex-class carrier, and a Balao-class submarine.
A minor piece of fictional trivia. In Nigel Kneale's novelization of the final Quatermass series, simply entitled Quatermass. There is a brief description of the novels future London in which HMS Belfast has been replaced by a guided missile frigate named HMS Arbelast.
When I was a small boy living in Dar-es-Salaam, HMS Belfast paid us a visit, which was a huge excitement. They had a party for us children on board, plus a tour of the ship, which I've always remembered. But the highlight of the day was when a Rating gave me his naval issue hat, which I had admired. I still have it, around 60 years on. (It used to live in our children's 'dressing-up box'.) I've wondered since how the sailor explained his missing hat? Maybe 'lost overboard'!
Enjoyed having a close look at all the doodads. If you ever make your way to the states you should check out Boston, they have the USS Cassin Young parked right next to the Constitution. NYC has the Intrepid and a 50's era sub too.
I did this 23 years ago. The tour experience was a lot like that of the North Carolina except a lot smaller. It's still big enough, but I don't think I'd want to spend much time in rough seas.
Spent a whole day on this brilliant ship a couple of years ago and I will do again this ship shows how we did so well around the world it’s pretty much self dependant,apart from fuel and supplies
excellent video! I really appreciate the choice to do a voice over. It sounds better, and lets you enjoy the ship in person, rather than you trying to record sound on location at the same time
visited her in 2016. amazin experience as someone who had never seen a warship in real life. the thickness of the steel makes you think off how powerfull this weapons of war really are.
I visited her back in '94 and was really impressed by the quality of the preservation work, especially the public audio of the Battle of North Cape. I think that her set-back funnels make her much prettier than her sisters. She looks particularly good in stern three-quarter view; rather like Brigette Bardot. Very coquetteish.
I just read The Ship by C.S. Forester today Drach, so this is excellent timing. A lot of the equipment shown was described in the book (Arethusa class rather than Town, but close enough). It's a nice quick read if anyone's interested in a fictionalised account of a light cruiser in action.
Wish we had time to visit HMS Belfast while in London, too many other things to see in a couple days. Would like to if the opportunity occurs again. Hope they take care her better than the rust on the deck indicates.
Thanks for the good video. I'd love to visit her sometime in London. You forgot to mention her helping provide cover for the USS Ranger during Operation Leader (albeit not as illustrious a duty as helping sink the Scharnhorst).
Active-duty marine engineer with the Royal Canadian Navy here. Let me know if you've got any questions regarding the machinery spaces, engineering practices, etc. I'd be more than happy to contribute my knowledge to your work.
Thanks. I have visited her many times, mostly with my Dad. One time HMS London (the just commissioned but now long gone ) was docked beside her and we toured her too. A great asset to the world as there are not nearly enough ships to tour and certainly not enough British ships left!
My Lodger rather upset the staff when he discovered on a school trip the hand wheels in one of the gun turrets worked (think it was AA). Lots of alarms, running about and shouting. In fact so much so they didn't catch him in the confusion!
Thanks for another rum ration Drach A well done and comprehensive look at a vastly underrated ship. In fact the whole Town and Crown classes are underrated. Despite being classed as CL's due to their 6inch guns, they carried armour as good as the supposedly superior German and Japanese ships and it was better distributed. All this on a displacement that complied with the Treaty's, unlike the Germans and Japanese who dishonourably lied and broke their oaths.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
What does KMS stands for?
What classified documents are you most looking forward to be being declassified and further to that will any controversial information come to light in the sinking of HMS Glorious??
As so many ships were obviously not treaty compliant, how did various countries verify the size of other countries ship size/weight?
When the Japanese attacked Pearl harbour, the Japanese decided to after they had sent in the battleships and an invasion force to take the island, could they do it and hos does the war change with the Hawaiian islands beeing under Japanese control?
Pleaseeee can we get more Ran and Royal newzealand navy
“The single largest preserved military museum ship in the United Kingdom”
As much as I love Belfast, it always hurts my soul to hear that.
Yeah that's a serious bruh moment. Here in the US we don't have nearly as much naval history as the UK but somehow we have around 6 Battleships, 3 Carriers, and an Armoured Cruiser as museum ships if I remember correctly.
F warspite
And at least one sub.
As much as I love sunbathing in the Thames, I wish Warspite-sama had that title.
Well I guess that's what happens when the country is nearly bankrupt but hey ho belfast is a very interesting ship indeed
15:23 A fully equipped machine shop that allows the crew to fabricate parts
Huh, that explains the god-like repair ability of Royal Navy ships in WoWS
PROBLEM SOLVED, SIR!
imaging if they could all switch between rn he shells and sap.
Lookn at you Goliath
of course, just make another one
There is a great era Navy film covering this trade on RUclips.
Town class HMS Sheffield had all her brightwork in stainless steel rather than brass, as the city of Sheffield was famous, in particular, for stainless steel cutlery. Her nickname based on this was 'Old Shiny' or 'Shiny Shef'
I'd heard that and also that part of the reason for that was that the city of Sheffield had donated the stainless steel for that purpose.
As a studying engineer in Sheffield, that makes me really happy.
Stainless steel was also invented in Sheffield in 1913, by Harry Brealey. He was trying to develop new steels to reduce erosion in gun barrels by the addition of chromium.
Cool... they are paid for.. then do represent... stand and fight for the people
@@lordsummerisle87 Also about 1740 in Sheffield (well technically first in Doncaster, but nobody cares about that place... before moving to Sheffield) was Benjamin Huntsmen, the inventor of crucible steel. There's a pub and a hospital wing named after him in Sheffield.
The fact that Belfast's guns are pointing at a gas station makes me wonder where other museum ship guns are pointing.
That's a good question. I live only a few miles from where USS Wisconsin is moored as a museum ship in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Be interesting to find out what her main and secondary batteries are aimed at.........
There is a gaint sign on interstate 40 about 20 miles from Wilmington NC telling you are now in the USS North Carolina's gun range. Thought that was clever marketing.
The Navy missed an opportunity there, should have pointed at the House of Commons, we need to discuss this years funding.
@@CSSVirginia i was about to mention that lol
@@Axel0204 if I recall from Reddit. Wisconsin's guns are pointed at the PETA office.
A news article I read today said: The mysterious animal deaths in Kamchatka cannot be attributed to oil
My first reaction was: "It must have been those damn torpedo boats again."
Injuries from being hit from thrown binoculars perhaps ?
@@davidbrennan660 Maybe, who knows.
Wrong Kamchatka. Kamchatka in this case refers to a city on the Russian Pacific coast. Yes, the infamous repair ship was named after the city of Kamchatka.
I thought it as the coal dust that did for the Menagerie on the Kamchatka not oil so that headline checks out.
@@sadams12345678 I thought it was named after the kamchatka sea...
Great grandad served in the 'B' turret on Belfast during WW2. We have his Arctic star and a fascinating box of photographs from the Arctic convoys showing just how thick the ice was on the Hull and Turrets. I wish I was around when he was so I could've talked about it.
I can't find the source but I'm sure the Sheffield had the roof of A or B turret taken off by a wave on arctic convoy duty.
May he rest in peace , never to be forgotten for the outstanding heroic work he and his shipmates did for our freedom
I bet he never complained about Winter weather again.
I can remember talking to my Great Grand Father about what he did in the German Army before WWI. He was able to travel all through the Austrian and Ottoman Empires and a few other places the British would not be so keen of a German officer being at that time. Luckily he got married and decided to come over to the US about a year before the war. Both my grand fathers were either to young for WWI or WWII or to old for WWII. My one grandpa since he was older he was able to go to medical training due to all the doctors going off to war especially in rural areas of the US. The number of people that I still run across asking about my uncles now and telling me that they were delivered or worked on by my grandfather is impressive. Some how after he died it allowed him to have a flag at his grave for service during WWII. The interesting part other than my mother and uncle telling me what he did when I was home on leave once, I never knew about it. Over the last 15 years people have talked about what he was doing back then.
Reddsoldier it's was truly amazing time to be alive. Thanks for sharing.
At some 600 feet long, HMS Belfast (a light cruiser) is similar in length to a First World War dreadnought (and longer than HMS Dreadnought herself). A really excellent ship and floating museum, and well worth a visit. Great video, Drachinifel!
Finally someone who understands that this cruiser is near enough the same size as ww1 battleships
I really enjoyed your museum :)
Not that unusual the Town class light cruisers from 1910 where 460 feet in length and displaced 5000 tonnes half what a WW2 Town class did.
It's beam where a battleship is huge compared to cruisers that are long but thin.
It needs paint !
@@adamcharman8726 We enjoy our museum, too!
The good ol' near one hr long "5 minutes or so" guides to warships.
You're awesome Drach.
HMS Belfast was the first warship I ever saw so this ship has a really big spot in my heart. Once again THANK YOU DRACH! :)
I remember when I first visited belfast as a 7 year old, I thought she was a battleship because she seemed so big (and had 4x 3-gun turrets which I also used to associate with battleships)... Still never actually been on a battleship (except victory).
Every schoolkid in the home counties has visited her at some point I think. I definitely remember the time I visited as a child even though it was more than 30 years ago.
Mister The Geoff I’m really glad to here that they send school kids to see her they don’t do the same for the Haida here in Canada.
@@hmskinggeorgev7089 I went to school 7 miles away (or 3 stops on the train) from HMS Belfast, it would have been weird if I didn't go visit her at some point.
I had the great privilege to be visiting the Belfast when several of the crew had returned for the 60th anniversary of her commissioning. 21 years ago these old gents made a great impression on my 7yo self but mostly I remember one of the old deck-hands showing me photos of the ship's cat, and telling me about where she used to sleep, hunt, and hide. I suppose as fighting was far from their most common duty the activities of their cat was of great interest. :D
(I suppose all her war serving crew will have died now, thankfully people like Drach will have preserved many of their stories)
When you mentioned how complicated the secondary gun mechanism is, I wanted to provide some perspectiv for people used to hearing you talk about 15 and 16 inch guns, for many of whom 4 inch probably sounds small. But remember that the standard British Army field gun of WWII (the glorious 25-pounder) was about a 3.5 inch caliber and the standard heavy AA gun was 3.7 inches. These small secondary guns on a warship would have truly been heavy artillery on land.
When a battleship was damaged near Loch Ewe at the beginning of WW2 she was taken inside and two (of her) 5" guns were mounted as AA guns on land nearby.
I was able to see the remaining structure for one, a large iron rail making a complete circle surrounded by a series of concrete hutches for ammunition.
There were other ammunition stores scattered around for the regular AA guns. They protected the anchorage after there was space in a dockyard to repair the battleship.
I liked this irl filming with a voice over, made the audio quality so much better
I love the fact that A & B 6" triple turrets are elevated and trained to obliterate a motorway service station in north London as a convenient target to show the range the main guns were capable of.
Let's skip the fact that said services direly need the application of the A&B turrets...
Headforthehillsuk -it us Scratchwood Services in the M1 I believe .
@@ronnieince4568 aka London Gateway services
@@headforthehillsuk is that a new name for Scratchwood Services ???
@@ronnieince4568 apparently been officially named London Gateway since '99.
Ah Belfast, such a storied warship. With a tale as grand as many vessels. Also best maid.
I See what you did there ;)
Azur lane fan?
I couldn't say that better myself.
I play Azur Lane and I still don’t know why nearly all the British light cruisers are maids, not complaining though, but considering how many historical references that game has, there has to be some historical reference in that, I’m genuinely curious
Why, thank you, Mr Calibjo.
When I visited HMS Belfast earlier last year when I was still in the UK, the strongest feeling I got was just how cramped the whole place was. There really was not a lot of room to move around. The hatches and passages were all only just wide enough - everyone had to really tuck in their limbs to fit through. I guess it helped that people back then generally had a smaller stature, but I'm not too big either (178cm) so man I don't know. Life aboard military ships was tough.
People were much smaller before color came about
@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 Nice. Technically true
Oh Bollocks .... Nelsons Capt'n Hardy - was about 6' 3" ..... It was - And still is - Really cramped & tough...Space costs money - and servicemen just have to suck it up! Politicians don't care! Officers have better conditions where posible ......
I agree with you. I visited HMS Belfast in 2019 having watched a few documentaries about her service (particularly her role in taking down KMS Scharnhorst) and the whole time, I kept wondering just how a crew of nearly a thousand men was able to efficiently move around in such a cramped ship especially during combat.
Thanks! I have been to the HMS Belfast several times on my trips from the US, and I never tire of stopping in every couple of years to give her a healthy pat on the back.
These days you can get away with very few people on watch in an engine room. The carrier I was on has only 4 machinist's mate watches and a senior supervisor on at a time. Pretty good for an engine room with two 70,000hp shafts and two comparably big turbine generators.
This video can't possibly be from the UK, The weather is entirely too nice.
Probably sacrificed a few homeless people to Satan requesting good weather. A trick commonly used by RAF groundcrew servicing the Hawker Typhoon.
You are right about the Scratchwood services - several mintues sustained bombardment from Belfast would improve them. Obviously shot falling short would be a unfortunate for the residents of Edgware, Barnet and Brents Cross. Still might get the Shopping centre - so two birds with one stone etc.....
I visited HMS Belfast during the 50th anniversary of the D Day landings. Maps of the beaches and attack plans were displayed on the navigation bridge. It was a VERY complicated invasion.
I think you'd be safe saying DDay was the most complicated amphibious invasion to date.
My Brother and myself sent a splendid afternoon having a guided tour from one of the staff regarding the Ventilation and damage control systems of the ship as we were interested and he too was an Engineer sharing his knowledge..... a day well sent.
The removal and replacing of the Engineer Room Asbestos with a faux product that looked correct and its cost was a story.
A disruptive camouflage pattern on a Naval ship looks so good and mean.
When I was a 13 year old german boy I visited with english friends the HMS BELFAST. It was fascinating for me. I have still some photos from that day.
Now I am 62 and I remember that as it was yesterday😊
Ah I visited her roughly a year a go. 1st Oct 2019. It started as a rainy day but it cleared up at noon. Spent 5 hours to explore the ship and talked with the staff.
You might have to steal the Chieftain's "oh bugger, the shell room is on fire" test!
Excellent video as usual!
I used to work in the 'City of London', repairing mechanical accounting machines, before the electronic 'revolution' of the mid seventies. Me and my mates 'bunked off work' to go to London Bridge and watch her coming in. All the ships sirens, the fireboats and a RNAS 'Stringbag' overhead, it was a memorable moment.
I first visited the ship almost as soon as she was opened up and I spent the entire day there, asking endless questions of the very knowledgeable guides. I got the impression they were all ex Belfast's? I notice the shell rooms are open and several other spaces, but on my first visit, it was all a bit restricted and the one thing I wanted to see most of all was; the mighty 'Admiralty Fire Control Table MkVI'. On subsequent visits, I got to see it and much else, but your documentary has reminded me; I need to go again before I get too old.
The inside of HMS Belfast left the engineer in me drooling, what a beauty!
I would dearly like to see an episode of the launching mechanisms of the seaplanes and of course, the seaplanes themselves used in the cruisers like the HMS Belfast.
Sometime in October of 1982 i bought a ticket and wandered everywhere i was allowed in this wonderful piece of preserved history.
Nothing can replace physical contact with history, but damn if this wasn't in many ways better! Thank you Drac!:-) 👍👌🖖
I visited HMS Belfast in the 70s, and at the time there was a map on the bridge with a circle denoting the maximum range of the main armament. A large red cross marked the Scratchwood Services on the M1 motorway, which is apparently where the 6" guns were aimed! It would have made a hell of a mess. Nice video. It is a fascinating ship to visit.
I love the way you 'threw shade' at the service station about the guns causing 'improvement' lmao!
The critical parameter for the steam turbine is not rotational frequency, but blade tangential velocity. The turbine does not need to spin really fast, BUT, if it is not spinning really fast, the only way to get the blade speed high enough is to use a large radius. One of the early great liners (whose name escapes me) compromised the design of the propellers and turbines to allow a turbine fourteen feet across to directly drive a propeller designed to run at 420 revolutions per minute.
The big penalty of direct drive turbines is the volume of the equipment. For the same efficiency and power, a turbine that runs at twice the RPM occupies only a quarter of the volume (spinning twice as fast at half of the radius gives the same blade tangential velocity). It does not take much of a reduction in volume to justify the reduction gearing and end up saving space.
"420 revolutions per minute"
nice
Well - Yes .....Obviously ....
A great ship to visit. Being able to sit in the Captain's chair, the navigator's chair, and on another bridge the Admiral's chair was very enjoyable! It was a very quiet day without people lining up & that made the visit even better.
Really quite like this video. I think the format of on-scene footage with voice over recorded in calm produces a grat quality.
I think it would be really helpful if you sometimes could freeze the footage to give use the best view on what you are talking about, sometimes the object of interest was leaving the frame just when you were starting to mention it. Freezing the video and maybe highlighting the interesting part of the picture, e.g. by darkening the rest, would really help identify the most interesting parts.
I am not sure how much additional effort this would be in editing and appreciate how much high quality content you are producing.
Really great video on a great channel. Thanks a lot Drach!
I'm 13 minutes into this video and it is easily my favorite from this channel because of the nice little tour of this ship work retail so I will never be able to afford a trip to England to see this ship in person but the little tour has made the distance between my bedroom where I'm watching this and HMS Belfast herself significantly shorter
Another great video! Having a machine shop onboard I think came from the example of US Navy practice. The US Navy did not have as many overseas bases as Britain did so it was important that the crews could make repairs themselves. I know that US battleships even had a forge to cast small parts, though I don't know if smaller ships did. Saving the Belfast was one of the best things the Royal Navy has ever done due to the positive public relations value, and no doubt they regret not saving more ships, especially the Warspite.
RN ships had dedicated repair experts and areas on ships for centuries. At RN museum Hartlepool they had an exhibition about it when I was young. From carpenters to engineers.
The royal navy had nothing to do with the decisions sadly. The armed forces here don't have the political pull that they have in the US. Preservation of a ship is a political question and of course that comes down to money as much as anything
@@AdamMGTF While it was true on sailing ships, it seems after 1900 the Royal navy reduced the number of special craftsmen on ships. On US Navy ships such specialists as blacksmiths and lathe operators were not duplicated in the RN. This was probably a cost saving measure, and the larger number of ports Britain had at the time meant a ship could always find a place to make repairs at. This abundance of ports also meant the RN didn't have to worry about fuel range, 4,000-5,000 miles being accepted as sufficient. The US did not have nearly as many overseas ports, in fact during the cruise of the Great White Fleet some of the US navy ships were diverted to Japan to be serviced because the facilities in Manila weren't capable. Thus US Navy ships had more repair facilities onboard their ships, plus larger fuel tankage with 10,000 miles at 10 knots being the standard cruising capability of all US battleships. Later this was expanded to 15,000 miles at 15 knots. Plus the US led the way in underway refueling. During WW2 US destroyers and even destroyer escorts were capable of escorting convoys from Halifax to Liverpool with no problem. Compare this with the fact that RN destroyers only escorted ships a third of the way before turning back to port. My father's ship the DE-188 O'Neil had a small machine shop on board and one of his friends in the engine room was also a qualified lathe operator. They escorted seven convoys across the Atlantic before being transferred to the Med in 1943. Later they would serve in the Pacific after the fall of Germany.
Love this old battle barge, shame Warspite was never saved
She saved herself by defiantly putting two fingers up to the scrappers But I know how you feel
Exactly, she wouldn't be scrapped, decided to go for a cruise of her own. You are right though, she is one of a number of ships that should have been preserved. She served Cunningham faithfully with great distinction in the Mediterranean.
Perhaps there will be another Warspite soon.
Her Q.E. & Vanguard, last of Dreadnoughts descendants
I visited the ship when I was in London once. Beautiful ship. One of two museum ships I've seen. The other one is the Georgios Averoff, which I visited just a few weeks ago.
USS Worden CG18 EM here, Thank you guys for doing this, It's BADASS! Love your work!
This channel is absolutely brilliant. If only there were such fascinating documentaries on TV.
Thank you for this video. My late father served on the Belfast when she struck the mine, your video brought back memories of the story he told.
@Drachinifel can we pleaseee get some more videos on the Royal Australian Navy and Royal New Zealand navy?
HMNZS Kiwi and HMNZS Moa vs the Japanese Sub I-1 would make a great story
Visiting the museum was one of my best experiences studying in London. It's amazing to see the degree of complexity of the old engine room machinery and to think about having to remember how to operate it under duress.
This was a wonderful video about the HMS Belfast. I wish I had this before I toured her in 2016. Thank you for continuing to produce great content.
I visited London 6 times, never had the chance to visit HMS Belfast for various reasons. This episode is the next best thing to being there in person and maybe even more insightful. Thank you very much
“Average viewing time is 1.5 hours” says the IWM blurb... 4.5 hours later I left. Surprise trip on my birthday when found myself in London with that day free!
I really enjoyed that video, I was a very young guest aboard in the early 70s and
the ship has been close to my heart ever since, thank you. I would
humbly suggest HMS M33 would be a prime candidate for a similar video. She is also a friend of mine.
Oh hey, it's Enterprise's maid today.
(Sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself. After all, technically, she serves Queen Elizabeth in the Royal Maids.)
I see,you're shikikan of culture as well
@@fitofernando01 - Everyone must have a command and mastery of some of the finer things in life.
I see youre a man of culture as well. Im on Lexington server by the way.
I somehow knew that there was gonna be something azur lane related in this comment section.
Btw... *floof* for life
Belfast surviving a mine breaking her keel is an example of how tough the Town class were; Edinburgh took an incredible amount of damage before she sank, HMS Liverpool lost her bow and survived, and pretty much the entire class survived being torpedoed at least once. Immensely tough ships that were damn hard to put down, they have always fascinated me even as a child.
Built in Belfast mate one of the greatest shipbuilders in the world now sadly gone, they made them good!
@@tango6nf477 The Union Castle liner Dunottar Castle built in 1936 was only scrapped a few years ago after 66 years at sea .Canberra lasted nearly 40 years .With Harland and Wolff you certainly got your money's worth. As they say "price is what you pay -value is what you get " And the last White Star Line vessel built by Harland and Wolff still exusts in Belfast -now some 110 years old .!!!
The thing I find fascinating about her is standing in the superstructure and seeing that the original outside wall is now the inside wall of the circular corridor and that the corridor and outer rooms were originally just deck. Its a massive increase in the amount of enclosed space.
Another wonderful program, the ship looks as good as when I viewed it in person many years ago. I have read with great interest the after action reports involving the Brooklyns with their 15 six inch guns, the description from the US Army describe them as looking like gigantic machine gun shells , as, they seemed to fire so quickly. My favorites were the Des Moines, having served on board all three but I love Belfast and I’m so glad she still survives.
Wonderful program, perhaps a tie with the second Russian Pacific Squadron. USN career officer, ship driver not engineering. Once saw a 1200 psi leak almost severe a limb but in general, the 600 psi systems seemed very reliable and powerful.
A truly wonderful video. I have been to the UK twice and both times I have visited HMS Belfast. Having been to multiple US ships, I think I can say that she is one of my favorite ships that I have had the pleasure to visit.
I think back to when you started this channel out, sure go to the Belfast make a video crawling into all areas of the ship while it is closed. You have been producing nice short five minute guides or close enough that have impressed others and all of your hard work have given you access to things not possible before. Nice work.
Your commentary is superb! Best talk about ships I have ever heard, no joke.
I like the voice over of the new footage (rather than trying to talk and film at the same time). The sound usually suffers if you do it the other way. Might be a good idea for the camera guy to have a light when filming in a dark place like an engine room.
I wonder where the shells from the naval guns outside the Royal War Museum would land.
Thank you very much for this look at this wonderful lady. I still wish I had had the time to visit her the one time I was in London on Liberty. We were moored in Portsmouth where QE and POW tie up now. So much to see on that half day in London and not not nearly enough time.
She was born at just the right time, when she was needed the most.
One quick note about the 40mm Bofers, these guns remained in service in some USN auxiliary ships up through the mid 1980s, in quad mounts. Just because a weapon might be 'old' technology does not mean it's useless or harmless to an enemy. The last time I cruised the Persian Gulf (1991) when Iranian small craft were considered a threat I thought a twin or quad 40mm would be very useful.
I remember some data in a 1963 book on the World’s Warships. It said that t UK started WW2 with 60 cruisers and ended the war with 60, having lost and replaced 30 during WW2. That always stuck with me.
If and when I travel out to the UK, this ship will definitely be a stop on my list. Other stops I have in mind are HMS Victory and HMS Warrior.
Thanks Drach....was in London and France for the 75th anniversary and saw this beautiful ship while in town but didn’t get the opportunity to board. After this thorough tour what else can I say. There’s something to be be said about a well done virtual tour!
Please do a video on HMS Hermes/INS Viraat, she’s a ship with a great story to tell.
Pretty sure he's covered her at some point. Possibly a dry dock.
@@AdamMGTF No he has not
I visited HMS Belfast in 2010, with a friend from Winnipeg. It was fascinating to see how complex the guns and machinery were. My dad managed a machine shop, so the ship's machine shop surprised me as to how well equipped it was in such a confined space. So glad she survived, especially since it was a near run thing.
Seeing how few ships Britain preserved, I feel spoiled to have A battleship, A victory Ship, the HMS Queen Mary, and a soviet submarine near by, and the aircraft Midway a few hours away,
Further north in San Franciscon you can visit three other museum ships in the Bay Area: a Liberty ship, an Essex-class carrier, and a Balao-class submarine.
It’s really cool getting a detailed view of a Royal Navy ship. Thank you for the video Drach!
A minor piece of fictional trivia. In Nigel Kneale's novelization of the final Quatermass series, simply entitled Quatermass. There is a brief description of the novels future London in which HMS Belfast has been replaced by a guided missile frigate named HMS Arbelast.
When I was a small boy living in Dar-es-Salaam, HMS Belfast paid us a visit, which was a huge excitement. They had a party for us children on board, plus a tour of the ship, which I've always remembered.
But the highlight of the day was when a Rating gave me his naval issue hat, which I had admired.
I still have it, around 60 years on. (It used to live in our children's 'dressing-up box'.)
I've wondered since how the sailor explained his missing hat? Maybe 'lost overboard'!
Thank you, I enjoyed the tour of HMS Belfast , great presentation.
Enjoyed having a close look at all the doodads. If you ever make your way to the states you should check out Boston, they have the USS Cassin Young parked right next to the Constitution. NYC has the Intrepid and a 50's era sub too.
Was lucky enough to visit Belfast back in 86 on a trip to England as teenager. Its a shame that Britain never saved a Battleship.
Once Japan opens to foreign tourists again you could go see the mikiasa. She may not be British operated battleship but she was British built.
This is by far the best rum ration since.... ever i guess.
Great video, with all that "live footage"!
I did this 23 years ago. The tour experience was a lot like that of the North Carolina except a lot smaller. It's still big enough, but I don't think I'd want to spend much time in rough seas.
Well done! Thanks for all the working getting that completed for us to enjoy. Much appreciated.
An hour long Drach. That's my morning sorted.
Tis barely a five minute guide - by Drach's standards:-)
I remember visiting this ship 10+ years ago and your video makes it look more spacious than I remember;)
Wow I'm first. Love the channel drach. Listened for years.
Second 🤭
Interesting to see the sound powered telephones (the ones with the windy handles), still used to this day by the RN on damage control circuits.
I took the tour when I lived in London. Such a great ship and museum and as always, great video mate - keep it up!
Spent a whole day on this brilliant ship a couple of years ago and I will do again this ship shows how we did so well around the world it’s pretty much self dependant,apart from fuel and supplies
excellent video! I really appreciate the choice to do a voice over. It sounds better, and lets you enjoy the ship in person, rather than you trying to record sound on location at the same time
I had the pleasure of visiting the HMS Belfast whilst in London... beautiful, classical, ship.
Have waited so so so long for this ship to be featured. Thanks Drach!
the quantity and quality of the contet you put out is absolutely insane!
Keep up the good work
visited her in 2016. amazin experience as someone who had never seen a warship in real life. the thickness of the steel makes you think off how powerfull this weapons of war really are.
I visited her back in '94 and was really impressed by the quality of the preservation work, especially the public audio of the Battle of North Cape.
I think that her set-back funnels make her much prettier than her sisters. She looks particularly good in stern three-quarter view; rather like Brigette Bardot. Very coquetteish.
Comprehensive but always interesting. Thank you.
I just read The Ship by C.S. Forester today Drach, so this is excellent timing. A lot of the equipment shown was described in the book (Arethusa class rather than Town, but close enough). It's a nice quick read if anyone's interested in a fictionalised account of a light cruiser in action.
My favorite book was HMS Ulysses. I am a fan of RN cruisers.
I really like "The Ship" despite its propaganda overtones.
love the tour of the ship, if you ever end up stateside it would be awesome if you did a video for a battleship. my vote is for USS Massachusetts
Very cool tour, i don't know if there's some kind of lighting we may be able to bring along... for future tours below deck.
What a great way to start my Wednesday! Thanks, Drach!
Wish we had time to visit HMS Belfast while in London, too many other things to see in a couple days. Would like to if the opportunity occurs again. Hope they take care her better than the rust on the deck indicates.
So glad that I was able to be on this beauty herself in December
Thanks for the good video. I'd love to visit her sometime in London. You forgot to mention her helping provide cover for the USS Ranger during Operation Leader (albeit not as illustrious a duty as helping sink the Scharnhorst).
Active-duty marine engineer with the Royal Canadian Navy here. Let me know if you've got any questions regarding the machinery spaces, engineering practices, etc. I'd be more than happy to contribute my knowledge to your work.
Sounds great, how do you want to speak?
@@Drachinifel Whatever works for you!
@@Strelnikov403 there's a link to my Discord in the video description, if you can join there and message me :)
drach videos are a bright spot on 2020.
Love my Wednesday Rum Ration Drachinfel has the best rum in all the world.
That is Drach : answering my existential questions on a weekly basis. This week, "do warships have clutches?".
Yes! Thanks! One of my favorite ships!! Also used to be the most overpowered t7 ship in WoWs. (smokey, pew, pew!!)
Thanks. I have visited her many times, mostly with my Dad. One time HMS London (the just commissioned but now long gone ) was docked beside her and we toured her too. A great asset to the world as there are not nearly enough ships to tour and certainly not enough British ships left!
My Lodger rather upset the staff when he discovered on a school trip the hand wheels in one of the gun turrets worked (think it was AA). Lots of alarms, running about and shouting. In fact so much so they didn't catch him in the confusion!
Thanks for another rum ration Drach
A well done and comprehensive look at a vastly underrated ship. In fact the whole Town and Crown classes are underrated.
Despite being classed as CL's due to their 6inch guns, they carried armour as good as the supposedly superior German and Japanese ships and it was better distributed.
All this on a displacement that complied with the Treaty's, unlike the Germans and Japanese who dishonourably lied and broke their oaths.
12:50 Very surprised at how small the turbines are, I was picturing something 6-10 feet in diameter!