The Last Big Gun: At War & At Sea with HMS Belfast

by Brian Lavery

As she lay in dry dock, devastatingly damaged by one of Hitler’s newly deployed magnetic mines after barely two months in service, few could have predicted the illustrious career that lay ahead for the cruiser HMS Belfast. After three years of repairs to her broken keel, engine- and boiler-rooms, and extensive refitting, she would go on to play a critical role in the protection of the Arctic Convoys, would fire one of the opening shots at D-Day and continue supporting the Operation Overlord landings for five weeks.

Her service continued beyond the Second World War both in Korea and in the Far East before she commenced her life as one of the world’s most celebrated preserved visitor ships in the Pool of London. Her crowning glory however came in December 1943 when, equipped with the latest radar technology, she was to play the leading role in the Battle of the North Cape sinking the feared German battlecruiser Scharnhorst, the bête noir of the Royal Navy. In doing so the ship’s crew made a vital contribution to, what was to be, the final big-gun head-to-head action to be fought at sea

In The Last Big Gun Brian Lavery, the foremost historian of the Royal Navy, employs his trademark wide-ranging narrative style and uses the microcosm of the ship to tell the wider story of the naval war at sea and vividly portray the realities for all of life aboard a Second World War battleship. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs and illustrations and will appeal to all those with an interest in military history and life in the wartime Royal Navy.

Table of Contents

Preface
Mined

1 The Birth of a Cruiser
2 Preparing for Sea
3 War with Germany
4 Repair
5 Russian Convoy,
6 The War in the North
7 The Scharnhorst
8 To Normandy
9 To the East
10 Showing the Flag
11 Wars in the East
12 Recovered from the Reserve Fleet

Bibliography
Index

440 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2015

About the author

Brian Lavery is a British naval historian, author, and Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nearly 40 years ago, I visited London for the first time. Three things I particularly wished to see were the Imperial War Museum, the Battle of Britain Museum, and HMS Belfast. This book is a detailed accounting of the cruiser from the late 30s until its final role as a museum, located on the Thames near the Tower of London.

During the early part of WWII, HMS Belfast spent quite a bit of time being repaired or modernized due to a mine, which exploded under her keel. In 1942, she finally took up her work protecting the Murmansk convoys, a hellacious job that tested the mettle of all aboard. One of her finest moments was the participation in the sinking of the SCHARNHORST in northern waters in 1943.

The cruiser's next big moment came on D-Day, when she provided covering fire on the British and Canadian landing beaches. When the end of the war came, she was on her way to the Far East, expecting to take part in eventual landings, which never took place.

The last part of the book deals with HMS Belfast's post-war career, including Korea, until at last her work was done. Fortunately, a private concern and the Imperial War Museum guaranteed that she would not be scrapped as so many great ships were. HMS Belfast may not have fought in the famous battle against the BISMARCK, but she and her men served their country and the world well.

[Manray9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Lavery's The Last Big Gun is the biography of a ship. The light-cruiser HMS BELFAST (C35) steamed in Arctic convoys, shelled the D-Day beaches, fought in the sea battle that sank Scharnhorst and bombarded shore targets during the Korean War. The episode, however, that pleased the old sailor in me was the ship's survival after falling victim to a German magnetic mine in the Firth of Forth in 1939. Keen ship-handling, a well-trained crew, and excellent damage control procedures saved BELFAST from disaster at the very dawn of her long service.

I enjoyed Lavery's book, but it suffered from repetitiveness and too great a focus on the mundane activities of a warship's life. The performances of the ship's sports teams, routine training efforts, and commonplace personnel movements are simply not very interesting. It's better than Three Stars, but not quite up to Four.

[Sindre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and long overdue book about the construction and career of HMS Belfast, which to this day serves a museum ship at the very heart of London.

I found the details about her construction and her crew very interesting, as well as describing her working up routine and the aftermath of her devastating mine strike.

The main detractor for me however, is the Scharnhorst chapter, which feels like a quick summary. I found the description of the battle wanting in context and lead up, with the pivotal role of Belfast and the rest of Force 1 somewhat underplayed and too quickly summarized. It may be due to my previous knowledge of the battle, but I was ever so slightly disappointed.

On the whole very informative, but at times it feels like nothing more than a copy/paste of the ship's logbook.