King George V Class Battleships

Launched in February 1939 and commissioned on 1 October 1940, "King George V" was the first of five ships of her class, the last great and justly most famous battleships to see active service in the Royal Navy. Planned and built within the restrictions imposed by the inter-war Treaties of Limitations, these ships were to be Britain's ultimate defence in the Second World War. Britain depended absolutely on command of the seas; only these five ships were powerful enough to maintain that command.