HMS Howe (32)

Howe in the Suez Canal on her way to the Pacific, July 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Howe
Ordered	28 April 1937
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow
Laid down	1 June 1937
Launched	9 April 1940
Completed	31 March 1941
Commissioned	29 August 1942
Decommissioned	1950
Identification	Pennant number: 32
Fate	Scrapped at Inverkeithing in 1958
General characteristics
Class and type	King George V-class battleship
Displacement	39,150 long tons (39,780 t) standard 44,510 long tons (45,220 t) full
Length	744 feet 11.5 inches (227.1 m) 740 ft 1 in (225.6 m) (waterline)
Beam	103 feet (31.4 m)
Draught	29 feet 6 inches (9.0 m)
Installed power	110,000 shp (82,000 kW)
Propulsion	8 Admiralty 3-drum small-tube boilers 4 sets Parsons geared turbines
Speed	28.3 knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph)
Range	15,600 nmi (28,900 km; 18,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	1,521 (1941)
Sensors and processing systems	Type 274 radar Type 282 radar Type 283 radar Type 273 radar Type 281 radar
Armament	10 × BL 14-inch (356 mm) Mark VII 16 × QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) Mk. I 48 × QF 2 pdr 1.575-inch (40.0 mm) Mk.VIII 18 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns [1][2]
Armour	Main belt: 14.7 inches (370 mm) Lower belt: 5.4 inches (140 mm) Deck: 5–6 inches (127–152 mm) Main turrets: 12.75 inches (324 mm) Barbettes: 12.75 inches (324 mm) Bulkheads: 10–12 inches (254–305 mm) Conning tower: 3–4 inches (76–102 mm).[3]
Aircraft carried	4 Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, 1 double-ended catapult

HMS Howe (pennant number 32) was the last of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, she was laid down on 1 June 1937 and launched 9 April 1940. She was originally to have been named Beatty but this was changed to Howe, after Admiral Richard Howe.

Howe was completed on 29 August 1942 after her building time was extended, as supplies were diverted to work of a higher priority such as the construction and repair of merchant ships and escort ships. Like her sister-ship HMS Anson, Howe spent most of her career in the Arctic providing cover for Russian convoys.

In 1943, Howe took part in Operation Husky and bombarded Trapani naval base and Favignana in support of the Allied landings. Along with King George V, Howe escorted two surrendered Italian battleships to Alexandria. Howe was also sent to the Pacific and attached to the British Pacific Fleet (Task Force 113), where she provided naval bombardments for the Allied landings at Okinawa on 1 April 1945.

After the war, Howe spent four years as flagship of the Training Squadron at Portland, before she was placed in reserve in 1950. The battleship was marked for disposal in 1957, sold for scrap in 1958 and broken up by 1961.