Battleship Duke of York: An Anatomy from Building to Breaking

By Ian Buxton and Ian Johnston

Naval history over the centuries is replete with strategic and operational analyses. In recent decades the impressive output of David Brown and Norman Friedman (among others) has documented the parallel and symbiotic evolution of both naval architecture as a science, and the design development of various warship classes as driven by operational imperatives. Rarely, however, has the actual building and breaking of a particular warship been as completely and as uniquely illustrated as in this volume.  

 That this was possible stems from two happy circumstances: first, the 'remarkable foresight of John Brown Shipyard's management in very early establishing an in-house photographic department to record the progress of construction; and second, the preservation of this exceptional and unique consolidated record of Clydebank shipbuilding during the later decimation of the British shipbuilding industry. Of this treasure trove, over 600 photographs were of the present vessel. This record was augmented by pictures of the scrapping at Faslane between February 1958 and March 1960, photographs taken by the first author while serving a naval architect apprenticeship at the Dumbarton shipyard of William Denny & Co., and by warship enthusiast Tom Ferrers-Walker, who travelled regularly from Birmingham to record the progress. The result is a book which provides a remarkable visual (almost visceral) sense of the complexity of the shipbuilding and ship-breaking process of the era.    

The book does not dwell on the operational history of the ship. Duke of York was the third vessel of the five-ship King George V class and had a lifespan of only sixteen years, being caught in the post-war modernization funding crunch. Brief chapters on the shipyard's history, its labor/employment practices, costs, and procurement/contracts/ specifications set the scene for the meat of the book, the chapters on armament, armor, construction, plans, and breaking. The chapters on labor/trades, costs, procurement, and specifications/ contract provide fascinating insight into the business of ship procurement and production.    

The chapter on armament is lavishly illustrated with excerpts from the colored plan and section drawings in the armament handbooks. Each quadruple 14-inch mounting cost £700,000, weighed 1200 tons (excluding the guns), and employed a crew of 107. Each gun was 54 feet long and fired a 1,590-pound shell. The heaviest single component of the mounting was the 200-ton rotating turntable, requiring the ship to be repositioned in the fitting-out berth under the single crane capable of lifting such a weight. The complexity of the mounts was such that they took longer to build than the ship and so armament orders for the last three ships of the class were placed in January 1937, even though Duke of York was not laid down until May 5, 1937. It was launched and named on February 28, 1940. The mountings were not shipped until June 1941 (a one-year delay), and the ship was reported complete ready for trials October 31, 1941.    

The main chapter of photographs covers the construction and is accompanied by excerpts from daily progress reports. Together these paint a fascinating picture of incremental progress, but also of varying perspectives on issues, in-progress design changes, and impact of local and global wartime events.    

Of particular interest to this reviewer was to note the numerous design changes during the build progress: extra berthing for an additional 90 officers and men; switching of degaussing cable runs from external to internal; additional splinter protection around magazines (installed after launch); rudder modifications and support strengthening installed during a docking immediately after sea trials); and breakwater alterations based on weather damage to King George V.    

There is also a chapter of plans, featuring double-page-spread general arrangements in full color, a four-page fold-out inboard profile, as-fitted drawings, plate expansions of fore and aft sections, and a large-scale body plan/docking drawing showing side blocking locations and placement of breast shores to prevent hull distortion due to the exceptional loads of gun mountings and armor.    

The final chapter covers the scrapping process at Faslane, illustrating how it was progressively dismantled while afloat and gradually edged into the shallows where the final cutting-up was completed at low tide.    

Overall, this book contains a wealth of visual and factual detail which will fascinate anyone interested in the technical details of large warship construction in the World War II era. The more one dwells on the magnitude and complexity of the process, the more one is moved to retrospective admiration and wonder, not only at the engineering and fabrication feat, but also at the sheer managerial and logistical challenge of orchestrating such an endeavor in the pre-computer era. This volume will be a unique and most valuable addition to any library concerned with the history of warship construction.  

• Barnsley, Seaforth Publishing, 2021
• Anapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2021
• 10” x 11-3/4”, hardcover, 284 pages
• Photographs, drawings, tables, appendices, sources, index. $80.00
• ISBN: 9781526777294

Reviewed by: David Halloran, St. Louis, Missouri