1:700 British King George Battleship
(31604)
Item# 77525

DESCRIPTION
The ship was launched on Feb 21, 1939 and completed for service
on Oct 1,1940 by which time World War 2 had already been fought
for a year. After a trip to USA, she covered the Lofoten raid
(March 1941) and Atlantic convoys before becoming flagship of the
British Home Fleet in April 1941. In May 1941 she led the chase
of the German Bismarck and saw action for the first time. Through
1941-42 King George V took part in numerous search and escort
operations in the Atlantic and in May 1943 she went to the
Mediterranean taking part in all the big naval operations
covering the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy. After refitting
in England she went East as flagship of the second in command of
the British Pacific Fleet. In Task Force 57 (later 37) she was
part of the big Anglo-American naval force in the Okinawa
operations and operations against Japan. In 1946 she became
flagship of the British Home Fleet once more, the war now over,
and in 1947-49 she served as a training ship before paying off
into the Reserve Fleet in 1950. She was scrapped in 1957 along
with her sister ships Howe, Anson, and Duke of York. A further
sister ship Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese forces in 1941.

During her service life King George V underwent minor changes of
armament. In 1940 she had four unrating rocket projectors for use
against aircraft, but these were soon removed. She later had pom
pom armament doubled and many 20 mm Oerlikon guns replaced the
0.5 inch machine guns.