During the Second World War, the five ships of the King George V class were the most modern battleships in commission with the Royal Navy, and all gave invaluable service for the war effort. Built to the Washington Treaty of 1922 which, arguably, was a pointless decision, given that other signatory nations were not adhering to it (Japan, Germany and Italy), the King George V class had a standard displacement of 35,000 tons, a waterline length of some seven-hundred feet, and a maximum speed of 28.5 knots. They carried ten fourteen-inch guns, mounted in two quadruple and one double turret - a unique arrangement of guns for any battleship, and the class's most distinguishing feature - as their main armament. These turrets were a cause for much vexation, however, as frequently during use the complex safety interlock mechanisms would cause the guns to jam.

The five ships of the class, His Majesty's Ships King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Anson, and Howe all saw active service during the war, Anson being the only ship not to fire her guns in anger at the enemy. HMS King George V and HMS Prince of Wales were famously involved in the Battle of Denmark Strait in 1941. Prince of Wales was in company with HMS Hood, when they sighted Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen early on the morning of 24th May. The ensuing battle saw HMS Hood explode, and Prince of Wales damaged. Although many hold that the two German ships won the encounter, mainly due to the destruction of Hood, it is in fact the case that Prince of Wales won the engagement, scoring the same number of hits on Bismarck as the two ships scored on her. However, one of PoW's shots ruptured two of Bismarck's forward oil tanks, cut their links to the boilers, and caused the ship to take aboard some 2,000 tons of seawater, compelling Admiral Lütjens to head to France for repairs. A second encounter later that day saw PoW fire several salvos at Bismarck, to no effect. The ship would see no further involvement in this incident, and would famously be sunk by Japanese aircraft, along with the battlecruiser Repulse in the South China Sea later that year.

HMS King George V, along with the battleship HMS Rodney, engaged Bismarck on 27th May. Rodney, with her sixteen-inch guns, opened fire first, at 0847, with KGV joining the battle less than a minute later. By 1015, Bismarck had been reduced to a blazing wreck, and less than half an hour later, she had disappeared beneath the waves. Rodney had gained the distinction of being the only battleship to ever torpedo another. KGV was also present at Sagami Bay, with the rest of the British Pacific Fleet, for the Japanese surrender ceremony.

The decision was taken to break up the four surviving ships in 1957.

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