It sounds like an urban myth. The forward-facing guns of HMS Belfast are permanently positioned to score a direct hit on the London Gateway service station at Scratchwood. It is no myth. The target is intentional.
How far can HMS Belfast guns firing?
about 14 miles
AC: We’re now stood in A Turret on HMS Belfast. This is the foremost Turret of the four six-inch turrets fitted to the ship. Each gun is capable of firing eight rounds per minute to a range of about 14 miles.
Is HMS Belfast seaworthy?
HMS Belfast is regularly dry-docked, and the plate thickness is checked with ultrasound and issued the required certification to remain on an active waterway. This means she should be seaworthy and is watertight, but she likely would not be able to move under her own steam.
What size guns did HMS Belfast have?
6-inch guns
Belfast’s main armament comprised twelve Mk XXIII 6-inch guns in four triple turrets directed by an Admiralty Fire Control Table. With a rate of fire of up to eight rounds per gun per minute, her main battery was capable of a total maximum rate of fire of 96 rounds per minute.
What is HMS Belfast famous for?
HMS Belfast was immediately called into action and played a crucial role in protecting the arctic convoys, Russia’s supply route throughout the war. Most notably in her role during the Battle of North Cape which saw the sinking of the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst and the loss of all but 36 of her 1,963 crew.
Can a battleship fire all guns at once?
Well, there are actually a lot of good reasons why battleships and other large artillery platforms typically fire all of their guns or a lot of them at once. This practice, known as a salvo, has different uses.
The BL 18-inch Mk I naval gun was a breech-loading naval rifle used by the Royal Navy during World War I. It was the largest and heaviest gun ever used by the British.
BL 18-inch Mk I naval gun.
| BL 18-Inch Mk1 | |
|---|---|
| Effective firing range | 31,400 yd (28,700 m) |
| Maximum firing range | 40,500 yd (37,000 m) |
| Filling weight | 243 lb (110 kg) |
Is HMS Belfast strong?
The H.M.S. Belfast was the largest, most powerful battle cruiser owned by the British Navy during World War Two and took part in combat until 1963. The sailors’ hammocks, kitchen and dental surgery are all open for viewing over nine decks.
Can you sleep on HMS Belfast?
Sleep onboard famous HMS Belfast!
Up to 52 children (26 boys and 26 girls for mixed-gender groups) and six adults can stay for up to three nights on board, immersing themselves in the ship’s history by sleeping in real sailors’ bunks.
Can HMS Belfast be reactivated?
No. HMS BELFAST is a mothballed museum piece, with no boilers or steam turbines. Hence, totally inoperative.
Today, the U.S. Navy operates just two main gun types—a rapid-fire 57-millimeter gun on board the littoral combat ships and the 5-inch/62 Mk 45 lightweight gun, fitted to Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. Each cruiser has two 5-inch guns, while a destroyer mounts one.
Which warship had the most guns?
Which battleship had the most guns? H.M.S. Agincourt, launched in 1913, had fourteen 12-inch guns mounted in seven twin turrets on her centerline. She had been laid down in Britain for Brazil in 1911, but was sold before completion to Turkey in 1914.
What ship has the most guns?
She was the heaviest-armed ship in the world when rebuilt, and bore the most guns of any ship of the line outfitted in the Age of Sail.
Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad.
| History | |
|---|---|
| Class and type | 140-gun first-rate |
| Displacement | 4,950 tons |
| Length | 61.3 m (201 ft) |
| Beam | 16.2 m (53 ft) |
Is HMS Belfast worth?
IS HMS BELFAST WORTH THE VISIT? As one of only three remaining D-Day warships, HMS Belfast holds a special place in history. Visiting the ship and learning about notable events its history as well as how life was onboard during its active service, we found our visit to HMS Belfast to well worth it.
Why is Titanic Belfast so popular?
The city is as vibrant as it is varied with tonnes of things to do from shopping and sight-seeing to cultural and historical tours which give you a unique opportunity to relive Belfast’s troubled past. The Titanic Museum is situated in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, which is the original site of the ship build.
Did HMS Belfast sink the Scharnhorst?
At 7.45pm HMS Belfast was ordered in to finish Scharnhorst with torpedoes but before it could fire Scharnhorst’s radar blip vanished and there was a series of muffled underwater explosions. In total, 1,927 German sailors were killed, with only 36 survivors. British dead numbered 18.
Can a nuke destroy a battleship?
It is clear from the Able test that even within a thousand yards, the detonation of an atomic weapon would not destroy a modern battleship, or even cause enough damage to disable it.
Do battleships move sideways when they fire?
What looks like a side-ways wake is just the water being broiled up by the muzzle blasts. The ship doesn’t move an inch or even heel from a broadside. The guns have a recoil slide of up to 48 inches and the shock is distributed evenly through the turret foundation and the hull structure.
How far can a 16 inch battleship gun shoot?
35,000-yard
The 16 in/45 were improved versions of the Mark 5 guns mounted on the Colorado-class battleships, with their limit of a 2,240-pound (1,020 kg) shell with a maximum 35,000-yard (32,000 m) range and their turret limit of 30-degree elevation.
Range: 13 nautical miles (14.9 statute miles) with conventional ammunition. Type Fire: 16-20 rounds per minute automatic, conventional ammunition. Magazine Capacity: 600 rounds conventional for Destroyers; 1200 rounds conventional for Cruisers.
The 16″/50 caliber gun, when firing armor piercing shell, had a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second (762 meters per second), notably about 100 feet per second (18 meters per second) slower than the 46 cm (18.1 in) gun’s 2,600 feet per second (780 meters per second).