The ship's
keel was laid down on the lst March
1937 at the Vickers-Armstrong Naval
Yard, High Water, Newcastle on Tyne.
The ship was launched by HM King
George VI at 4.25 on 21st February
1939. Our ship was named King
George V rather than King
George VI, despite the
fact that it was convention to use
the name of the reigning monarch, and
this was due to King George VI
requesting this in honour of his late
father.
KGV's first
commissioning took place on lst
October 1940 and she left the Tyne on
the 17th of that month to complete
her final sea trials and was handed
over to the Admiralty on the llth
December of that year to become a
member of the Home Fleet.
Brief
Statistics
KGV had a
standard displacement of just over 35,000
tons (36060 mt) was 740 ft
(227.1 m) and a beam of 103 ft
(31.3 m). Originally the beam
had been scheduled to be 104 ft, but
this was reduced to 103 to
enable easier docking at both
Portsmouth and Rosyth.
Armament:
10
14” guns
16
5.25” guns
64
2 pdr pom-poms
8
40 mm Bofors guns
38
20 mm Oerlikons
The
peacetime complement had been
designed for a crew of 1,200 officers
and other ranks, but during World War
II, the complement was increased to
just under 2,200. This obviously
created what one might term
`overcrowded' conditions for those
members of the lower deck.
Through a
contact I made a few years ago at
Bletchley Park (the home of the
codebreakers) it was mentioned that,
when the KGV visited America in 1941,
she carried a German Enigma coding
machine which was passed to the
Americans. I am unable to
substantiate this due to the recent
death of my informant. [Anyone
remember delivering a box?]
After
attaining a peak of fighting
efficiency, the ship took on many
duties. In April 1941, KGV became
flagship of the Home Fleet. One
of her first major encounters was to
be involved with the sinking of the
German battleship BISMARCK.
During this action 335 14"
shells were fired. Afterwards, KGV
provided escort duties for North
Russian convoys.
In April
1943, KGV joined the Mediterranean
Fleet and was part of Force H. She
took part in the invasion of Sicily
and Italy. She was also involved in
bombardment of the Sicilian coastline
in support of American
landings. With the Italians
capitulating and the surrender of the
Italian Fleet, she escorted part of
the Italian Fleet to Alexandria. KGV
also escorted convoys to Malta and,
after her spell of service in the
Mediterranean, rejoined the Home
Fleet.
Following a
decision by the then Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill, and the President
of the United States of America,
Roosevelt, it was decided that a
token force would be sent to the
Pacific Theatre of War with the
object of being involved with the war
against Japan. This force was to be
called The British Pacific Fleet.
Regretfully,
at the time high ranking officials in
the United States Navy were not
enthusiastic about this offer and, in
fact, very few in the USA know of our
existence in the war and the support
our Fleet gave to the American Navy.
Fortunately, this attitude changed
and we were accepted as a fighting
force, but even to this day few
Americans realise that we made a
contribution to the Pacific Theatre
of operations.
On our way
to the Pacific, KG was called upon to
do a bombardment on the Isle of Milos
in the Aegean Sea to assist marines
in forming a bridge head on the Isle.
After a brief encounter, the KGV
proceeded through the Suez Canal to
be part of Task Force 63, being the
flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Bernard
Rawlings. KGV supported the numerous
aircraft carriers who were making
their attacks on the oil refineries
on Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean.
For the
first six or seven months in the
Pacific, KGV was continuously at sea
remaining the flagship of Vice
Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings
(Second-in-Command, British Pacific
Fleet) and operating with United
States Third and Fifth Fleets,
becoming part of Task Force 57-37
under the supreme naval commander
C-in-C Pacific Admiral Chester Nimitz
and also Admiral Halsey.
Together
with the US Battleships, MISSOURI,
MASSACHUSETTS, INDIANA, SOUTH DAKOTA
AND NEW JERSEY, KGV
bombarded the Japanese mainland - the
targets were Hitachi, Kobe and
Hamamatsu. This powerful squadron
fired over 1000 tons of shells into
the Port and Industrial centre of
Hamamatsu, an action that has been
described as one of the most
spectacular bombardments ever seen.
The Japanese coast was aglow with
fires as the fleet discontinued its
bombardment and sailed away. KGV also
supported the Okinawa campaign.
During her
exploits in the Pacific, KGV visited
the following anchorages:
Truk
Caroline Islands
Ulithi
Caroline Islands
Guam
Mariana Islands
Manus
Admiralty Island
Leyte
Philippines
With the
ultimate ending of the war in the
Pacific, KGV was the last British
Ship to fire her guns in anger. In
fact, she was the last Royal Naval
ship to fire her guns in World War
II. Four days before the
signing of the "instrument of
surrender" on board the USS
MISSOURI, the KGV ship's company
formed part of the forces who
occupied the Yokosuka Naval Base
Tokyo Bay. The ship remained at
anchor in Tokyo Bay until the end of
August 1945 and during that period
provided guards of both seamen and
Royal Marines at the Consulate
General, Yokohama and the British
Embassy in Tokyo.
After such
an interesting period in her life and
where she had made many friends in
Australia, she set sail from her base
in Sydney on 7th January 1946 for
home.
The
first port of call on the journey was
Hobart, Tasmania on 9th where we
dropped off the Duke and Duchess of
Gloucester and their children for a
six week holiday. We left Hobart on
15th January for Fremantle arriving
on the 21st and then departing for
Capetown, South Africa, on the 23rd.
Arriving in Capetown on the 7th
February and a few days later we were
off again.
We arrived
at Portsmouth on 2nd March 1946 to a
tumultuous welcome from family and
friends and, on Monday 4th March,
blue watch of the ship's company were
given 23 days leave and the old girl
was to be given a dockyard facelift
and be ready for anchoring off
Spithead by the lst May
