Lighting it up, 72 years ago on this day:
(IWM Photo)
Starboard 4-inch (102 mm) Mk XVI dual purpose guns of the Town-class light cruiser HMS BELFAST (C35) open fire on German positions around Ver-sur-Mer on the night of 27 June 1944. Just weeks before on D-Day, she was flagship of Bombardment Force E, supporting troops landing at Gold and Juno beaches. Her first target was the German gun battery at La Marefontaine and fired some 5,000 shells over the course of the month– the vibration cracking the crew’s toilets.
Commissioned 5 August 1939, Belfast enjoyed just under a month of peacetime service before Britain entered WWII and went on to provide 24 years of hard service to HM’s Royal Navy.
Her honours include:
Arctic 1943
North Cape 1943
Normandy 1944
Korea 1950–52
Her motto: Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus
