Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 30:07-36:25

The politics behind King George V-class names

The abdication crisis, royal service, and the rivalry between Jellicoe and Beatty shaped the class's final names.

BattleshipsBritish MonarchyKing George V Class Battleships (1939)Royal NavyShip Naming
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Question

Can we trust claims that the King George V class originally had a different set of royal and admiral names?

Short answer

The final list emerged from the abdication crisis and naming politics; Anson and Howe replaced a potentially divisive Jellicoe-and-Beatty pairing.

Notes

King George VI preferred to honor his father, while Prince of Wales and Duke of York accommodated the new royal situation. The abdication crisis made a King Edward VIII especially implausible and turned naming into a way of acknowledging the new monarch without celebrating the former one. Anson and Howe avoided choosing between Jellicoe and Beatty, whose names could be reserved for a later paired use. Chronology, royal service, and institutional rivalries shaped a class list that can look arbitrary when detached from 1936 politics.