HMS Duke of York was one of five battleships built for the Royal Navy (RN) shortly before the Second World War. Completed in November 1941, the ship transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt the following month. Between March and September 1942 she was assigned to convoy escort duties, including as flagship of the Heavy Covering Force of Convoy PQ-17, but in October she was transferred to Gibraltar where she became the flagship of Force H. The following month, Duke of York played a minor role in the Allied invasion of North Africa. After the invasion, the ship was participated in diversionary operations designed to draw the Germans' attention away from Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. In October, Duke of York covered a force of Allied ships that attacked German shipping off Norway (Operation Leader).
In December 1943 the ship was part of a task force which encountered the 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 shells from Duke of Yorks main guns, silencing one of her turrets and hitting a boiler room. After temporarily escaping from the battleship's fire, Scharnhorst was struck several times by torpedoes, allowing Duke of York to again open fire, contributing to the eventual sinking of Scharnhorst. In 1945, the ships was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet as its flagship, but arrived too late to see any action before Japan surrendered. After the war, she remained active until she was laid up in November 1951. She was eventually scrapped in 1957.
Background
Maybe start with plans for new ships upon expiry of London then explain treaty restrictions?
In the aftermath of the First World War, the Washington Naval Treaty was drawn up in 1922 in an effort to stop an arms race developing between Britain, Japan, France, Italy and the United States. This treaty limited the number of ships each nation was allowed to build and capped the displacement of capital ships at . These restrictions were extended in 1930 by the London Naval Treaty, although France and Italy refused to sign it. Both nations laid down a pair of battleships armed with 15-inch (380 mm) gun by 1934, although these nominally complied with the 35,000-ton limit of the naval treaties. The Admiralty became concerned that both countries would have modern ships well under construction before the RN could legally begin construction of any ships of their own once the London Treaty expired on 1 January 1937.
and the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936, further limited the maximum calibre of the guns which they could carry in Article 4 to 14-inch (356 mm) guns. However, a so-called "escalator clause" was included at the urging of American negotiators in case any of the countries that had signed the Washington Naval Treaty refused to adhere to this new limit. This provision allowed the signatory countries of the Second London Treaty—France, the United Kingdom and the United States—to raise the limit from 14-inch guns to 16-inch (406 mm) ones if Japan or Italy still refused to sign after 1 April 1937. The United Kingdom declined to invoke the clause, as redesigning the vessels and developing the proposed 15-inch guns would have delayed construction by 18 months, and since these new battleships were badly needed it was considered prudent to build vessels already finalized with 14-inch guns, even if that meant accepting a reduction in firepower compared to adversaries.
therefore ordered the construction of a new battleship class: the . Due to the provisions of both the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Treaty, both of which were still in effect when the King George Vs were being designed, the main armament of the class was limited to the guns. They were the only battleships built at that time to adhere to the treaty and even though it soon became apparent to the British that the other signatories to the treaty were ignoring its requirements, it was too late to change the design of the class before they were laid down in 1937.
Description
Duke of York displaced as built and fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . Her designed metacentric height was at normal load and at deep load.
She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts. Steam was provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers which normally delivered , but could deliver at emergency overload.
This gave Duke of York a top speed of . The ship carried of fuel oil, which was later increased to . At full speed Duke of York had a range of at .
Armament
thumb|left|Duke of York leads , , , and during Operation Torch.
Duke of York mounted 10 BL Mk VII guns, which were mounted in one Mark II twin turret forward and two Mark III quadruple turrets, one forward and one aft. The guns could be elevated 40 degrees and depressed 3 degrees, while their training arcs varied. Turret "A" was able to traverse 286 degrees, while turrets "B" and "Y" could both move through 270 degrees. Hydraulic drives were used in the training and elevating process, achieving rates of two and eight degrees per second, respectively. A full gun broadside weighed , and a salvo could be fired every 40 seconds. The secondary armament consisted of 16 QF Mk I dual purpose guns which were mounted in eight twin turrets. The maximum range of the Mk I guns was at a 45-degree elevation, the anti-aircraft ceiling was . The guns could be elevated to 70 degrees and depressed to 5 degrees. The normal rate of fire was ten to twelve rounds per minute, but in practice the guns could fire only seven to eight rounds per minute.
Construction and career
Duke of York was the third ship in the King George V class, and was laid down at John Brown & Company's shipyard in Clydebank on 5 May 1937. The title of Duke of York was in abeyance at that time, having been that held by King George VI prior to his succession to the throne in December 1936. The battleship was launched on 28 February 1940 and completed on 4 November 1941, and joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.
Second World War
thumb|right|Whisky, the [[ship's cat, off duty]]
thumb|[[Arts_Council_of_Great_Britain#History|CEMA performers and a Royal Navy officer aboard the Duke of York at Scapa Flow]]
In mid-December 1941, Duke of York embarked Prime Minister Winston Churchill for a trip to the United States to confer with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, on 22 December 1941, made a shakedown cruise to Bermuda in January 1942, and departed for Scapa Flow on 17 January with Churchill returning home by air.
On 1 March 1942, she provided close escort for Convoy PQ 12 in company with the battlecruiser , the cruiser , and six destroyers. On 6 March, that force was reinforced with one of Duke of Yorks sister-ships, , and the aircraft carrier , the heavy cruiser , and six destroyers as a result of Admiral John Tovey's concerns that the might attempt to intercept the convoy. On 6 March, the German battleship put to sea and was sighted by a British submarine around 19:40; no contact was made, however, except for an unsuccessful aerial torpedo attack by aircraft from Victorious. In early April, Duke of York, King George V, and the carrier Victorious formed the core of a support force that patrolled between Iceland and Norway to cover several convoys to the Soviet Union. In late April, when King George V accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer in dense fog, sustaining significant bow damage, Duke of York was sent to relieve her. She continued in these operations through May, when she was joined by the American battleship . In mid-September, Duke of York escorted Convoy QP 14.
In October 1942, Duke of York was sent to Gibraltar as the new flagship of Force H, and supported the Allied landings in North Africa the following month. During this time Duke of York came under air attack by Italian aircraft on several occasions, but the raids were relatively small scale and were swiftly dealt with by the "umbrella" provided by the aircraft from the accompanying carriers Victorious, and . After this action, Duke of York returned to Britain for a refit.
thumb|King [[George VI and Admiral Bruce Fraser aboard Duke of York at Scapa Flow, August 1943]]
With her refit completed, Duke of York resumed her status as flagship from 14 May 1943 pending the departure of King George V and Howe for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. Operation Gearbox in June 1943 involved a sweep by Duke of York and , in company with the US battleships and , to provide distant cover for minor operations in Spitsbergen and the Kola Inlet, while the following month diversionary operations, code-named "Camera" and "Governor of Norway," were carried out to draw the Germans' attention away from Operation Husky.
Action against Scharnhorst
In 1943 the German battleship Scharnhorst moved to Norway, a position whence she could threaten the Arctic convoys to Russia. With Tirpitz and two armoured ships also in Norwegian fjords, it was necessary for the Royal Navy to provide heavy escorts for convoys between Britain and Russia. One of these was sighted by the Germans in early December 1943, and Allied intelligence concluded that the following Convoy JW 55B, would be attacked by the German surface ships. Two surface forces were assigned to provide distant cover to JW 55B, which had left Loch Ewe on 22 December. On 25 December 1943, Scharnhorst was reported at sea. The Force 1 cruisers , and , with four destroyers, made contact shortly after 09:00 on 26 December. A brief engagement occurred around 09:30, but Scharnhorst outdistanced her pursuers, and again outran them after a brief skirmish around noon.
Force 2, including Duke of York, the cruiser and four destroyers, was closing, and it was estimated that a night action with Scharnhorst would commence around 17:15. Scharnhorst altered course, and contact was made at 16:32, at a distance of . Force 2 manoeuvred for broadside fire. Belfast, with Force 1, fired star shells at 16:47 to illuminate Scharnhorst. This failed, so Duke of York fired a star shell from one of her guns, taking Scharnhorst by surprise with her main battery trained fore and aft. By 16:50 Duke of York had closed to and opened fire with a full ten-gun broadside, scoring one hit. Although under heavy fire, Scharnhorst straddled Duke of York a number of times and hit her twice. A shell passed through the main mast and its port leg without detonating but fragments from the hit destroyed the cable for the main search radar. A shell also pierced the port strut of the foremast without exploding. At 16:55 a shell silenced Scharnhorsts Anton and Bruno turrets, but she maintained speed so that by 18:24 the range had opened to , when Duke of York ceased fire after firing fifty-two broadsides. One shell from the final salvos hit and exploded in Scharnhorsts number one boiler room, slowing the ship and allowing the pursuing destroyers to overtake her.
thumb|Members of Duke of Yorks gun crews at Scapa Flow after the Battle of the North Cape
Force 2's destroyers then attacked with torpedoes, firing 28, of which three hit. This slowed Scharnhorst, and at 19:01 Duke of York again opened fire, at a range of , but ceased fire at 19:30 Following her sinking, and the retreat of most of the other German heavy units from Norway, the need to maintain powerful forces in British home waters was diminished. The ship operated in the Arctic and as cover for carriers conducting the Goodwood series of air strikes on Tirpitz in mid- to late August. In September she was overhauled and partially modernized at Liverpool, with radar equipment and additional anti-aircraft guns added. She was then ordered to join the British Pacific Fleet and sailed in company with her sister ship Anson on 25 April 1945. A problem with the ship's electrical circuitry delayed her while she was at Malta so that she did not reach Sydney until 29 July, too late for significant action against the Japanese Empire before its surrender. After the conclusion of hostilities, Duke of York and King George V participated in the surrender ceremonies that took place in Tokyo Bay. The following month Duke of York sailed for Hong Kong, to join the fleet that assembled there to accept the surrender of the Japanese garrison.
Post war
thumb|upright=.75|HMS Duke of York ship's bell
Duke of York was flagship of the Home Fleet following the end of the war and remained in active service until April 1949. The ship's bell was salvaged and given to the Duke of York School (since renamed the Lenana School) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Refits
During her career, Duke of York was refitted on several occasions to bring her equipment up-to-date. The following are the dates and details of the refits undertaken.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dates !! Location !! Work
|-
| April 1942 || Rosyth || 8 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon added.
|-
| December 1942 – March 1943 || Rosyth || 14 × single 20 mm added.
|-
| Early 1944|| || 2 × single 20 mm removed; 2 × twin 20 mm added.