HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum. Construction of Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the capital of Northern Ireland and one of ten Town-class cruisers, began in December 1936. She was launched on Saint Patrick's Day 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939, Belfast triggered a German mine and, in spite of fears that she would be scrapped, spent more than two years undergoing extensive repairs.