WWII Tech Pubs Briefing
King George V Class Battleship
Written by
James Davies
May 22, 1941.
HMS King George V under way from Scapa Flow in pursuit of the Bismarck.
She was part of the force that sank the mighty German battleship.
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Country of Origin:
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Great Britain
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Manufacturers:
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Vickers-Armstrongs (Tyne); Cammell Laird (Birkenhead);
John Brown (Clydebank); Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson (Tyne);
Fairfield (Glasgow)
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Role:
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Ship of the line, shore bombardment
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Operated by:
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Royal Navy
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First Laid Down:
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Jan. 1, 1937
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Last Completed:
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Aug. 29, 1942
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Units:
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King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke
of York, Anson, Howe
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Overview
The design of the King George
V class of battleships began in a period of uncertainty, when the
inter-war naval treaties were coming to an end but there was no clear
direction to the future of global naval arms limitation. Great
Britain was pushing to limit the calibre
of main guns to 14.0 in (356 mm), while other nations had their own agendas.
Discussions over a new naval treaty to replace those that would lapse
at the end of 1936 dragged on through the mid-1930s.
The limiting step in capital ship
construction time was the production of main guns, including the mountings
and turrets, which itself had to be preceded by outline ship design work.
While the Admiralty would have preferred to wait for a new treaty to have
been finalised, it needed to place gun contracts for its new battleships
before the talks had concluded in order to get them in service in 1940
(to match the Bismarck and Tirpitz). This deadline, and
to keep them within Great Britain’s own policies on gun calibre and existing
treaty limits on tonnage during the talks, profoundly influenced the ship’s
design.
In mid-1936, while talks
proceeded, the designers opted for 14.0-inch (356-mm) main guns, in line
with the British diplomatic moves intended to limit all new capital ships
to that calibre. The class was initially intended to carry 12 guns, but
designers decided to thicken the armour surrounding the magazines and
in order to remain within the 35,000-long-ton (35,561-tonne) treaty limitations,
B turret was reduced from four to two guns. When, in late 1936, naval
treaty negotiations were abandoned without result, the Admiralty considered
the six or 12-month delay entailed in upgrading the design grossly unacceptable
and kept the original design.
The British followed the
French example of fitting dual HA/LA (high angle/low angle) secondary
guns instead of the traditional separate secondary guns for surface targets
and smaller tertiary guns for air targets, as the Germans and Italians
were doing. This had the advantage of employing more guns for either air
defence or surface defence, provided that both were not required at the
same time. The British installed a new 5.25-in (133-mm) gun, fitting 16
into eight power-operated turrets (four on each side).
Close-range anti-aircraft
defence was light, in common with most ships at that time. The eight-barrelled
pom-pom was chosen as the primary close-range weapon, and six were fitted
to the first two ships in the class. This was increased to eight in subsequent
vessels. Several unrifled projector (UP) rocket mounts, which fired an
explosive charge attached to a parachute and a line, were fitted in the
first two ships but these were so clearly useless that subsequent ships
replaced them with 20-mm (0.79-in) machineguns. The anti-aircraft armament
increased considerably as the war progressed.
Armour protection gave the ships
a theoretical immunity zone of 17,200 to 32,000 yd (15,700 to 29,300 m)
against 15.0-in (381-mm) shells, meaning that at ranges below 17,200 yd
a shell that size could be expected to penetrate the side armour, and
above 32,000 yd it could be expected to penetrate the deck armour. It
must be stressed that this is theory only, as in practice several factors
(particularly the sea state) affect the actual resistance to shells at
the instant they hit, and the immunity zone is constantly changing as
the ship heaves, rolls, and pitches.
The British place great emphasis
on the need for speed in these ships, as existing Royal Navy battleships
could not hope to catch new capital ships. The class was designed to reach
27.5 kt (51 km/h) at deep load displacement, an increase of 6.5 kt (12
km/h) over the previous class of British battleship. A catapult and two
hangars served a pair of Supermarine Walrus amphibious biplanes used in
a reconnaissance role and to spot the fall of shot. As radar became able
to fulfil these roles, the aircraft were removed, eliminating a major
fire hazard.
These ships gave magnificent service,
and had a profound influence on the war. The Prince of Wales inflicted
the damage that caused the Bismarck
to abort her first and only sortie and the King George V helped
destroy that German ship in the final engagement. Elsewhere, damage inflicted
by the Duke of York forced the Scharnhorst to slow and be
caught. The class achieved such success despite an unacceptable number
of stoppages in the newly designed main guns and a flawed bow design that
let spray interfere with the A and B turret range-finders and sometimes
let water into A turret. These problems derived from the design process
and were exacerbated by the Royal Navy’s delicate strategic position;
difficulties with the guns were identified during design but could not
be fixed due to Great Britain’s
urgent need to counter the new German capital ships. In the final analysis,
the King George V class ships were able to fulfil their defined
roles despite their shortcomings and proved equal to the task of containing
the enemy surface threat.
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Units
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King George V
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Builder
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Laid Down
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Launched
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Completed
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Left Service
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Vickers-Armstrongs
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Jan.
1, 1937
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Feb.
21, 1939
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Oct.
1, 1940
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Dec.
17, 1957
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After transporting Great
Britain’s new ambassador to the
United States,
the King George V took part in the Loften
Islands raid in March
1941, and then returned to the Atlantic to
protect convoys from the Gniesnau and Scharnhorst,
which were at sea.
On May
22, 1941, she sailed to intercept the Bismarck,
and was part of the force that destroyed her on May 27. She then
went into dock for work on her main guns. In October, she attacked
German ships in Glomfjord, Norway
before beginning Arctic convoy work. On May 1, 1942, she collided with the
destroyer Punjabi, and returned to duty on July 1, after
repairs. In May 1943, she took part in the invasion of Sicily,
and remained in the Mediterranean for the
Salerno operation before
returning to the United Kingdom.
She was refitted between March and June 1944 and transferred to
the British Pacific Fleet in October. She conducted several bombardments
of Japanese facilities, and was present at the formal Japanese surrender
on Sept. 2, 1945.
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Prince of Wales
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Builder
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Laid Down
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Launched
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Completed
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Left Service
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Cammell Laird
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Jan.
1, 1939
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May
3, 1939
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Mar.
31, 1941
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Dec.
10, 1941
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After working up, the Prince of Wales was
declared fit to join the fleet May 21, 1941, and that same day she was ordered to sea
to intercept the Bismarck
breakout. Along with the Hood, she intercepted the Bismarck
three days later and straddled her with her third or fourth salvo,
scoring two hits and causing sufficient damage to force the Bismarck
to decide to withdraw. After the loss of the Hood, the Prince
of Wales shadowed the Bismarck
until losing her in poor visibility. She returned to port and, after
repairs, took Winston Churchill to the Atlantic Charter meeting
in August 1941. She was later assigned to the Mediterranean
where she saw action against aircraft while escorting convoys.
She was ordered to Singapore
in October 1941 and sortied from there to attack Japanese landings
in Malaya with the Repulse. On Dec. 10, 1941, Japanese aircraft.sank
her, along with the Repulse.
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Duke of York
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Builder
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Laid Down
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Launched
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Completed
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Left Service
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John Brown
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May
5, 1937
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Feb.
28, 1940
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Nov.
4, 1941
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1957
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The Duke of York began service escorting
Arctic convoys, with brief breaks to transport Winston Churchill
to the United States
and to take part in the invasion of North Africa
in October 1942. She was part of the covering force assigned to
protect convoy JW55B, which the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst
sortied to attack in December 1943. When action was joined on Dec.
26, the Duke of York scored several hits that slowed the
Scharnhorst enough to enable the Royal Navy to catch and
sink her. Duke of York continued to serve in Arctic waters
until September 1944, then went for refit in Liverpool.
She left for the Pacific in April 1945, and was flagship of the
British Pacific Fleet at the Japanese surrender.
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Anson
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Builder
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Laid Down
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Launched
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Completed
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Left Service
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Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson
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July
22, 1937
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Feb.
24, 1940
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June
22, 1942
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1957
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The Anson was the only one of the class
never to fire her main guns in anger. She saw service covering Arctic
convoys until June 1944, when she was sent to Plymouth
for modification. In April 1945, she and the Duke of York,
sailed to join the British Pacific Fleet, although they arrived
too late to see any action.
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Howe
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Builder
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Laid Down
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Launched
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Completed
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Left Service
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Fairfield
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June
1, 1937
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Apr.
9, 1940
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Aug.
29, 1942
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1957
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The Howe covered Arctic convoys until May
1943. In July, she transferred to the Mediterranean
for the invasion of Sicily,
and after the surrender of Italy
in September, she returned to home. A refit in Devonport in December
1943 prepared her for service in the Pacific, which began in Ceylon,
August 1944, where she became flagship of the British Pacific Fleet.
She saw action during the Okinawa campaign,
bombarding Japanese islands and providing anti-aircraft fire for
the fleet. In June 1945, she again went into dock for overhaul,
this time in Durban, South
Africa, and was still there when
the war ended.
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Specifications
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King George V (as built) Note
1
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Howe (as built) Note
1
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Displacement
- Standard
- Full Load
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37,430 long tons (38,030 tonnes)
41,570 long tons (42,240 tonnes)
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38,830 long tons (39,450 tonnes)
41,860 long tons (42,530 tonnes)
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Length (OA)
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745 ft 0.13 in (227.08 m)
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745 ft 0.25 in (227.08 m)
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Length (WL)
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740 ft 0.25 in (225.56 m)
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740 ft 0.25 in (225.56 m)
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Length (PP)
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700 ft 0.25 in (213.37 m)
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700 ft 0.25 in (213.37 m)
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Beam
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112 ft 4.25 in (34.25 m)
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112 ft 6.25 in (34.30 m)
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Draft (Standard)
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29 ft (8.84 m)
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29 ft (8.84 m)
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Draft (Full Load)
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32 ft 6 in (9.91 m)
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34 ft 10.5 in (10.63 m) Note 2
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Block Coefficient
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0.60
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0.60
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Propulsion
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111,700 shp (83,300 kW)
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112,930 shp (84,200 kW)
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Speed
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28 kt (52 km/h)
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27.5 kt (51 km/h)
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Weapons
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Main Guns
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Ten 14.0-in (356-mm) guns in two quadruple turrets
and one twin turret
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Ten 14.0-in (356-mm) guns in two quadruple turrets
and one twin turret
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Other Guns
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16 5.25-in (133-mm) in eight double mounts
32 2-lb (0.91-kg) pom-poms in four octuple mounts
Four UP launchers in single mounts
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16 5.25-in (133-mm) in eight double mounts
48 2-lb (0.91-kg) pom-poms in six octuple mounts
18 20-mm (0.79-in) single machine guns
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Magazine
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1,000 14.0-in rounds
6,400 5.25-in rounds
86,400 pom-pom rounds
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1,000 14.0-in rounds
6,400 5.25-in rounds
115,200 pom-pom rounds
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Armour
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Side Belt
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13.75 in (349 mm) tapering to 5.5 in (140 mm)
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13.75 in (349 mm) tapering to 5.5 in (140 mm)
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End Bulkheads
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11.76 in (299 mm) forward
9.80 in (249 mm) aft
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11.76 in (299 mm) forward
9.80 in (249 mm) aft
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Magazine
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14.70 in (373 mm) sides
6.00 in (152 mm) top
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14.70 in (373 mm) sides
6.00 in (152 mm) top
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Barbette
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11.76 in (299 mm) forward
12.75 in (324 mm) sides
10.82 in (275 mm) aft
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11.76 in (299 mm) forward
12.75 in (324 mm) sides
10.82 in (275 mm) aft
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Turret
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12.75 in (324 mm) face
8.84 in (225 mm) sides
5.88 in (149 mm) roof
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12.75 in (324 mm) face
8.84 in (225 mm) sides
5.88 in (149 mm) roof
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Deck
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5.00 in (127 mm)
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5.00 in (127 mm)
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Miscellaneous
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Aircraft
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Two Supermarine Walrus
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Two Supermarine Walrus
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Complement
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1,409
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1,556
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1: Specifications for first
and last of the class. Others differ in detail, particularly in close-range
armament.
2: Draft as built is unknown. Draft given is for deep load
displacement of 44,512 long tons (45,226 tonnes).
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