Virtual Sailor: HMS Belfast

[DaveB]

Hell no Steve.. nothing personal meant in any of that As it happens, I've searched high and low for decent 'in service' shots of her (unsurprisingly.. t'internet is full of HMS Belfast on the Thames!!!) and there are few.. very few in fact There's one of her sailing up the Kola inlet (underway) and it looks like she has an Ensign staff just behind 'X' turret Others of her underway show her within harbours (thus in sight of land) and she still has the Ensign in the harbour position and on others, she's at anchor with the Jack up front but the Ensign up the main mast. On these, her Ensign staff is stowed

RN ships come in a variety of shapes and sizes (like all others) and it will be of little surprise to learn that different classes of ship fly different sizes of Ensign. I remember doing colours on Hermes once while alongside in Jockland and the wind took her Ensign and very nearly took me with it off the @rse end An Ensign of equal size on HMS Iveston would've covered the rear of the ship as well as dangled in the water! Belfast would've flown a fairly large size Ensign and as such, the rear (main) mast is the logical place to fly it. She has a fairly extensive HF main roof (wire aerial setup) and I'm pretty certain that at Ensign of the size she'd have flown may well have interfered with the main roof so you wouldn't want it up front

Pity I wasn't able to find anything really conclusive but that, sometimes, is the way.

ATB

DaveB

[steve p]

Here we go then...



HMS Belfast in the Firth of Forth, having just been mined. Ensign is just visible through the clag.



!960 and a new set of masts but the ensign is still on the main mast. On the fore mast is the flag of a Rear Admiral (St George Cross and two blobs). both photos from "Anatomy of the Ship, HMS Belfast"



HMS Naiad doing very little in the Firth of forth, 1940. Again, Rear Admiral's flag on the fore mast and ensign on the main mast. Naiad was fitted with radar.



HMS Swiftsure late in the war. Masses of radar gubbins on the fore mast.

I would be willing to bet that the positioning of the ensign was due more to high ranking naval officers wanting their flags on the fore mast than anything else. They could be seen more easily there

Cheers
Steve P

[DaveB]

Hi Steve

Yes.. I noticed the Admirals pennant straight away and that would certainly take pride of place on the foremast I have a phot of HMS Norfolk leaving Portsmouth (I think I was still onboard at the time) and we were carrying FOF2 (I think.. could've been Comstanavforlant) at the time. His flag flies from the foremast and the Ensign is flying from the Ensign staff However, we're still in sight of land and I'm sure the Ensign wouldn't have stayed there Makes me wish I was a flag-waver now and not a Radio Operator
I'll have to try and dig some shots of HMS Blake out as we also carried an Admiral (for the most part)

Thanks for digging those shots out matey. Much appreciated

EDIT..
Just to muddy the waters.. here of a couple of Blake:




In the first shot, she's flying rather more flags than usual! Looks very much like the Queens Fleet Review at Spithead which I cunningly missed due to being at Nato in Portugal The second shot shows the more usual position. Admirals flag flying centre rear of the foremast with the White duster flying stbd outer Smashing picture of Blake no.2 is I was only a kid when I joined her.. had my 18th birthday the day we sailed from Singapore enroute to Rio.. a side splitting month at sea! Upper windows are the Captains/navigation bridge.. the row below are the Admirals bridge. The wireless shack was just behind the Admirals bridge on the same deck though for much of my time, I lived in the UHF/HF office which was somewhere below the garage on the back


ATB

DaveB