HMS King George V (1939)
 The King George V near Guam in 1945
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The HMS King George V ( 41 ) was a British battleship and the lead ship of the King George V class . Commissioned in 1940 with the Royal Navy , the ship was the second battleship to be named after King George V and was used during World War II . As the flagship of the Home Fleet , she was involved in the hunt for the Bismarck and anchored off Tokyo for the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945 .
history
Construction and commissioning
According to the British tradition of naming the first battleship built after a new monarch took office, it was originally intended to be King George VI. be called. However, the king ordered the Admiralty to name the ship King George V after his father .
The ship was on the high Walker Shipyard by Vickers Armstrong in Newcastle upon Tyne on January 1, 1937 put on Kiel . According to contemporaries, the construction went without major difficulties and within the schedule. The launch took place on February 21, 1939 and on December 11, 1940 it was put into service with the Royal Navy.
She was the second ship in the Royal Navy to be named after George V. The first was also a battleship, which in 1912 was the eponymous type ship of the corresponding class.
Second World War
The King George V was the flagship under Admiral Sir John Tovey and was involved in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck , where she and the older battleship HMS Rodney fired numerous grenades at this after the Bismarck was unable to maneuver after an air torpedo hit .
When she escorted the Northern Sea Convoy PQ-15 to Murmansk, she rammed the tribal destroyer Punjabi amidships in thick fog on May 1, 1942 , which broke in two and sank. 49 crew members of the destroyer were killed. The battleship was damaged at the bow.
In mid-1943, she secured Operation Husky , the Allied invasion of Sicily , in the Mediterranean Sea . She was attacked several times by aircraft belonging to the German Air Force and the Italian Regia Aeronautica .
In December 1943 she brought the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the Teheran Conference back to Britain.
From 1944 until the surrender of Japan , she served in the Pacific Fleet , even if she was no longer involved in major actions or skirmishes, as the US Navy bore the brunt of the fighting here. However, she was present at the official surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, where she was anchored in Tokyo Bay.
After the surrender of Japan, which ended World War II, the King George V returned to Great Britain.
After 1945
In 1946, the King George V was again used as the flagship of the Home Fleet, but only three years later was assigned to the reserve fleet. Her successor as the flagship was the significantly improved HMS Vanguard , which was commissioned in 1946 .
End of service
The King George V was finally deleted from the Royal Navy's warship register in 1957 after a conversion to a guided missile cruiser had been discarded for reasons of cost. It was then sold for demolition that same year and scrapped in Dalmuir .
Overhauls
During her service time, the HMS King George V was overhauled several times to keep her equipment modern.
| year | place | Work |
|---|---|---|
| Early 1941 | Radar type 271 added. | |
| Late 1941 | Anti-aircraft rocket launcher (UP launcher) removed; one quadruple pom-pom, one eight-way pom-pom, and 18 pieces of 20mm Oerlikon cannons added. Rocket launcher aiming device replaced by pom-pom aiming device; the type 271 radar was replaced by a type 273 radar, and five type 282 radar systems were installed. | |
| May-June 1942 | Liverpool | Repaired damage from collision with HMS Punjabi ; external degaussing loop replaced by internal one; four 285 radars added; FM2 MF D / F added. |
| Late 1943 | Added 20 20mm Oerlikon cannons. | |
| February – July 1944 | Liverpool | Quadruple pom pom, twelve 20mm Oerlikon cannons, Type 273 radar, and HF / DF removed; added three eight-pom poms, six twins 20mm, and two quadruples 40mm Bofors cannons; Radar type 279 replaced by radar type 279B, radar type 284 replaced by radar type 274; Radar systems of types 277, 293, 2 × 282 and 285, of the RH2 VHF / DF; Aircraft catapult replaced by a new structure for the ship's dinghies. |
| 1945 | two 20 mm Oerlikon cannons removed, two 40 mm Bofors cannons added. |
See also
- For the older battleship of the same name (also the lead ship of a battleship class), see HMS King George V (1911)
- Pacific War
- List of ship types
literature
- William Garzke, Robert Dulin: British, Soviet, French, and Dutch Battleships of World War II , 1980, Jane's, ISBN 9780710600783 (English)
Web links
- "HMS King_George_V - King George V-class 14in gun Battleship" Mission history at naval-history.net (English)
- Maritimequest photo gallery of HMS King George V