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HMS Duke of York (17)

1941 COLD WAR WORLD WAR 2

HMS Duke of York (17) History

The King George V-class battleships proved to be an important cog in the British war machine of World War II. The group consists of HMS King George V (41), HMS Prince of Wales (53), HMS Duke of York (17), HMS Anson (79) and HMS Howe (32), which represent some of the UK's newest fleet of ships.

Of the five ships in service, only one was killed in the war (HMS Prince of Wales, Air Raid in the South China Sea, December 1941).

By 1960, all four surviving ships were scrapped - including the HMS Duke of York (1958).

By the end of the war in 1945, the ship could accommodate a crew of more than 1,550. The double-headed catapult mentioned above, used to launch the middle part of the Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance seaplane (which could carry up to four) was lost in early 1944.

These aircraft were also salvaged amidships using crane elements.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Duke of York's first mission was to transport Winston Churchill to Maryland to meet US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Her "reorganized" cruise then ended in Scapa Flow in mid-January 1942, passing through Bermuda.

From there in October 1942 the ship supported the Allied convoy before becoming part of Force H at Gibraltar. Their guns were used against enemy positions during the Allied invasion of North Africa, "Operation Faker." Subsequent modifications were made in local waters. She enlisted in May 1943, supported Operation Gearbox in June, and then participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily through Operation Husky (July-August 1943).

Next came the raid in Norwegian waters.

The Battle of the Northern Cape took place off the coast of Norway on 26 December 1943 by combined British-Norwegian forces against the German battleship Scharnhorst. The battle resulted in the sinking of the German battleship, killing 1,932 people. The incident marked the last engagement between British and German capital ships and reduced the German threat in Anglo-Norwegian waters. The HMS Duke of York then supported air raids that attempted to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, although these hunts proved unsuccessful in their primary objective.

In September 1944, the ship was brought into port and overhauled, which resulted in her receiving more radar equipment and improved air defenses.

With the end of the European War in the spring of 1946, the HMS Duke of York was ordered allied with the British Pacific Fleet to continue serving in the remaining battles against the Japanese. Although the Japanese surrendered in mid-August, marking the official end of World War II, she arrived in Sydney, Australia, in late July, but was delayed by a power issue that forced her to stop in Malta. The HMS Duke of York was involved in several raids only by providing shelter for the surrender of the Allied aircraft carrier. She then participated in Allied operations in Tokyo Bay before returning home after a stopover in Hong Kong.

She returned to her home waters in June 1946, and her postwar career continued until April 1949. She was decommissioned in November 1951, her name was dropped on May 18, 1957, and her hull was scrapped shortly thereafter.