DOUBLY SIGNIFICANT OCCASION

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 128, 23 February 1939, Page 9

DOUBLY SIGNIFICANT OCCASION

Launch Of New Battleship i British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 21. Special interest attached _ to the launching yesterday by the King of the new battleship King George V, for it. is 33 years since one of His Majesty’s ships has been launched by the reigning Monarch. Added importance was given to the occasion because the King George V is tlie first new battleship for the Royal Navy to be put afloat for 14 years. She is the first of the new ships now building and projected in substantial numbers which, says “The Times,” will restore the strength of the British Navy to the standard demanded by the conditions of the modern world. Tlie second battleship of the same class, Prince of Wales, will be launched by tlie Princess Royal from the yard of Cammell Laird at Birkenhead tomorrow.

Tlie King George V is the second battleship of her name to be built for the Royal Navy. The first King George V was one of a class of eight battleships, built in 1911-13. She had a displacement of 23,000 tons, was armed with 10 13.5-inch and 16 4-inch guns, and had a maximum speed of 22 knots. Her total cost was £1.965,400.

The King George V led the British battle line when the Grand Fleet deployed during tlie Battle of Jutland. She was then flagship of the late Admiral Sir Martyn Jerrnm. commanding the Second Battle Squadron. His il:ig-"'ip;niii was Captain Field, afterna:,,! \di’iir:il of tlie Fleet Sir Frederick Field, who commanded the Special Service Squadron which visited New Zealand a few years after the wa r