In mid-December 1941, "Duke of York" transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Of the journey through seas rough even for the North Atlantic, Churchill wrote to his wife “Being in a ship in such weather as this is like being in a prison, with the extra chance of being drowned.” 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.