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HMS ''Duke of York'' was a ''King George V''-class battleship of the Royal Navy. Laid down in May 1937, the ship was constructed by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 4 November 1941, subsequently seeing service during the Second World War. In mid-December 1941, ''Duke of York'' transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Between March and September 1942 ''Duke of York'' was involved with convoy escort duties, but in October she was dispatched to Gibraltar where she became the flagship of Force H. In October 1942, ''Duke of York'' was involved in the Allied invasion of North Africa, but saw little action as her role only required her to protect the accompanying aircraft carriers. HMS ''Duke of York'' stopped the ''Gil Eannes'' on 1 November 1942 and a commando arrested Gastão de Freitas Ferraz. The British had picked up radio traffic indicating naval espionage, possibly compromising the secrecy of "Operation Torch". After Torch, ''Duke of York'' was involved in Operations Camera and Governor, which were diversionary operations designed to draw the Germans' attention away from Operation Husky. On 4 October, ''Duke of York'' operated with her sister-ship ''Anson'' in covering a force of Allied cruisers and destroyers and the American carrier , which raided German shipping off Norway. The attack sank four merchant ships and badly damaged a further seven. On 26 December 1943 ''Duke of York'' was part of a task force which encountered the German battleship ''Scharnhorst''. During the engagement that followed, ''Scharnhorst'' hit ''Duke of York'' twice with little effect, but was herself hit by several of ''Duke of York''s 14-inch shells, silencing one of her turrets and hitting a boiler room. After temporarily escaping from ''Duke of York''s heavy fire, ''Scharnhorst'' was struck several times by torpedoes, allowing ''Duke of York'' to again open fire, contributing to the eventual sinking of ''Scharnhorst'' after a running action lasting ten-and-a-half hours. In 1945 ''Duke of York'' was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet as its flagship, but suffered mechanical problems in Malta which prevented her arriving in time to see any action before Japan surrendered. After the war, ''Duke of York'' remained active until she was laid up in November 1951. She was eventually scrapped in 1957. == Construction == 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 tonnage of all capital ships at 35,000 tons.〔Raven and Roberts, p. 107〕 These restrictions were extended in 1930 through the Treaty of London, however, by the mid-1930s Japan and Italy had withdrawn from both of these treaties and the British became concerned about a lack of modern battleships within their navy. As a result, the Admiralty ordered the construction of a new battleship class: the ''King George V'' class. Due to the provisions of both the Washington Naval Treaty and the Treaty of London, both of which were still in effect when the ''King George V''s were being designed, the main armament of the class was limited to the guns prescribed under these instruments. 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.〔Konstam, p. 20〕 ''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, Scotland, on 5 May 1937. Ironically, 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 was completed on 4 November 1941. After this, the ship joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.〔Chesneau (Conways), p. 15〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Duke of York (17)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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