RN:
End of the line. Scrapping of HMS Duke Of York.
Duke of York was paid off into reserve in November 1951, and laid up at Gare Loch, just 12 miles from she was built. The decision was made to scrap the four surviving battleships of the
King George V class on 8 May 1957.
At the time, few British ships were "sold" for scrap. Instead the Admiralty handed them over to BISCO - the British Iron and Steel Corporation - which allocated each ship to the most appropriate shipbreaker, on the basis of their capability, capacity and proximity to the ship's current location. Both
Anson and
Duke of York were allocated to Shipbreaking Industries yard at Faslane, nearby.
Duke of York was towed over to the breaking yard on 18 February 1958.
Work on
Anson was already ongoing, so serious work on
Duke of York did not begin until September 1958. Demolition was done from the upperworks downwards, opening the ship deck by deck, until the hull was sufficiently lightened to be beached. The 14-inch guns were among the first parts to be removed. She was sufficiently light by November 1959, and towed to the beaching ground for final demolition. The last section of the double bottom was fully out of the water in March 1960.
It took about 353,000 man-hours to demolish the ship - only about 2% of that required to build her in the first place.
