A model of the King George V Class Battlecruiser HMS Howe at the Glasgow Transport Museum, 2 March 2007.
<p>Designed by Sir Stanley Goodall, five KGV Class battleships were launched in 1939-40 and completed 1940-42 and formed the core of the Navy’s battlefleet in WWII. They had 110,000 shp geared turbines, 4 screws and a maximum speed of 28.5 kts; the machinery was designed to have an overload of 125,000 shp although during the war various members of the class achieved overloads of 125,000 – 132,000 shp without difficulty.
</p><p>The ships measured 745 ft x 103 ft x 34 ft and had a displacement of 36,727 tons. As designed their armament was 10x14” (2x4, 1x2), 16x5.25” DP (8x2), 32x2 pdr AA pom poms (4x8) but as each ship was completed, the AA armament was strengthened. Enhancements continued during the war, with each ship varying. By 1944 HMS Howe was armed with 48x2pdr AA (6x8), 8x40mm AA (2x4) and 42x20mm AA (4x2, 34x1) and finished the war with 72x2 pdr AA (6x8, 6x4) and 26x40mm (2x4, 18x1) and no 20mm guns.
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HMS Howe was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding, Govan being launched in 1940 and completed in 1942, the last of the KGV Class. She operated with the Home Fleet 1942-43 (escorting Russian Convoys), Force H 1943 (invasions of Sicily and Salerno and escorted the surrendering Italian Fleet to Malta), Home Fleet 1943-44, Eastern Fleet 1944 (escorting the carrier strike on Sumatra) and Pacific Fleet 1944-45 (Okinawa and land bombardments). She was broken up in 1948.
Hugh Llewelyn
CC BY-SA 2.0
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