HMS Duke of York (17)

HMS Duke of York in March 1942, while escorting Convoy PQ 12
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Duke of York
Namesake	George VI (previously the Duke of York)[1]
Ordered	16 November 1936
Builder	John Brown and Company, Clydebank
Laid down	5 May 1937
Launched	28 February 1940
Commissioned	4 November 1941
Decommissioned	November 1951
Stricken	18 May 1957
Identification	Pennant number: 17
Fate	Scrapped in 1957 at Shipbreaking Industries, Ltd., Faslane, Scotland
General characteristics
Class and type	King George V-class battleship
Displacement	42,076 long tons (42,751 t) deep load
Length	745 ft 1 in (227.1 m) (overall) 740 ft 1 in (225.6 m) (waterline)
Beam	103 ft 2 in (31.4 m)
Draught	34 ft 4 in (10.5 m)
Installed power	8 Admiralty 3-drum small-tube boilers 110,000 shp (82,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 sets Parsons geared turbines
Speed	28.3 knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph)
Range	15,600 nmi (28,900 km; 18,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	1,556 (1945)
Sensors and processing systems	Type 281 air warning radar Type 273 surface warning radar Type 284 radar. 4 × Type 285 gunnery radar. 6 × Type 282 radar for "pom-pom" direction. Radars added between 1944 and 1945: Type 281B radar added, 2 × Types 277, 282 and 293 radars added.[3]
Armament	10 × BL 14 in (356 mm) Mark VII guns 16 × QF 5.25 in (133 mm) Mk. I DP guns 48 × QF 2 pdr 40 mm (1.6 in) Mk.VIII AA guns 6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns
Armour	Main Belt: 14.7 inches (370 mm) Deck: 5–6 inches (127–152 mm) Main turrets: 12.75 inches (324 mm) Bulkheads: 10–12 inches (254–305 mm) Conning tower: 3–4 inches (76–102 mm).[2]
Aircraft carried	4 × Supermarine Walrus seaplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × double-ended catapult

HMS Duke of York was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy. Laid down in May 1937, the ship was constructed by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 4 November 1941, subsequently seeing combat service during the Second World War. In mid-December 1941, Duke of York transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Between March and September 1942 Duke of York was involved with convoy escort duties, including as flagship of the Heavy Covering Force of Convoy PQ-17, but in October she was dispatched to Gibraltar where she became the flagship of Force H.

In October 1942, Duke of York was involved in the Allied invasion of North Africa, but saw little action as her role only required her to protect the accompanying aircraft carriers. After the invasion, Duke of York was involved in Operations Camera and Governor, which were diversionary operations designed to draw the Germans' attention away from Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. On 4 October, Duke of York operated with her sister ship Anson in covering a force of Allied cruisers and destroyers and the American carrier Ranger, during Operation Leader, which raided German shipping off Norway. The attack sank four merchant ships and badly damaged a further seven.

On 26 December 1943 Duke of York was part of a task force which encountered the German battleship Scharnhorst off the North Cape of Norway. During the engagement that followed, Scharnhorst hit Duke of York twice with little effect, but was herself hit by several of Duke of York's 14-inch shells, silencing one of her turrets and hitting a boiler room. After temporarily escaping from Duke of York's heavy fire, Scharnhorst was struck several times by torpedoes, allowing Duke of York to again open fire, contributing to the eventual sinking of Scharnhorst after a running action lasting ten-and-a-half hours. In 1945, Duke of York was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet as its flagship, but arrived too late to see any action before Japan surrendered. After the war, Duke of York remained active until she was laid up in November 1951. She was eventually scrapped in 1957.