HMS King George V (41)

HMS King George V enters Apra Harbour, Guam with sailors on deck in 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS King George V
Namesake	George V
Builder	Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Laid down	1 January 1937[1]
Launched	21 February 1939[1]
Commissioned	1 October 1940[1]
Decommissioned	1949
Stricken	17 December 1957[1]
Nickname(s)	KGV
Honours and awards	Jutland 1916 (inherited) Atlantic 1941 Bismarck 1941 Arctic 1942−43 Sicily 1943 Okinawa 1945 Japan 1945
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1957
Notes	Pennant number 41[2][1]
General characteristics
Class and type	King George V-class battleship
Displacement	42,200 tons (1941)
Length	745 ft (227 m)
Beam	103 ft (31 m)
Draught	32.6 ft (9.9 m)
Propulsion	8 Admiralty three-drum small-tube boilers with superheaters 4 Parsons single-reduction geared turbines 4 three-bladed propellers, 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m) diameter 125,000 shp (93,000 kW)
Speed	28.0 knots (51.9 km/h) (1941 trials)
Range	+5,400 nautical miles (10,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) (11.9 tons/hour fuel burn)
Complement	1,314 to 1,631
Armament	10 × BL 14-inch (356 mm) Mk VII guns 16 × QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) Mk I guns 64 × 2 pounder "pom-pom" (40 mm)
Armour	Main belt: 15 inches (380 mm) lower belt: 6 inches (150 mm) deck: up to 5.6 inches (140 mm) main turrets: 13 inches (330 mm) barbettes: 13 inches (330 mm)
Aircraft carried	4 Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, 1 double-ended catapult

HMS King George V (pennant number 41) was the lead ship of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, King George V operated during the Second World War in all three major naval theatres of war, the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific, as well as part of the British Home Fleet and Pacific Fleets. In May 1941, along with HMS Rodney, King George V was involved in the hunt for and pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck, eventually inflicting severe damage which led to the German vessel's sinking. On 1 May 1942 the destroyer HMS Punjabi sank after a collision with King George V in foggy conditions. King George V took part in Operation Husky (the allied landings in Sicily) and bombarded the island of Levanzo and the port of Trapani. She also escorted part of the surrendered Italian Fleet, which included the battleships Andrea Doria and Duilio, to Malta. In 1945 King George V took part in operations against the Japanese in the Pacific.

King George V was made flagship of the British Home Fleet on 1 April 1941, she remained so during the rest of the war and became a training battleship in November 1947.^[1]