Laid down in May 1937, the ship was constructed by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 4 November 1941, subsequently seeing combat service during the Second World War.

In mid-December 1941, Duke of York transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Between March and September 1942 Duke of York was involved with convoy escort duties, including as flagship of the Heavy Covering Force of Convoy PQ-17, but in October she was dispatched to Gibraltar where she became the flagship of Force H. In October 1942, Duke of York was involved in the Allied invasion of North Africa, but saw little action as her role only required her to protect the accompanying aircraft carriers.

On 26 December 1943 Duke of York was part of a task force which encountered the German battleship Scharnhorst off the North Cape of Norway.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the Washington Naval Treaty was drawn up in 1922 in an effort to stop an arms race developing between Britain, Japan, France, Italy and the United States.

[17] Along with her main and secondary batteries, Duke of York carried 48 QF 2 pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) Mk.VIII "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns in six octuple, power-driven, mountings.

[19] In mid-December 1941, Duke of York embarked Prime Minister Winston Churchill for a trip to the United States to confer with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

On 6 March, the German battleship put to sea and was sighted by a British submarine around 19:40; no contact was made, however, except for an unsuccessful aerial torpedo attack by aircraft from Victorious.

[22] In early April, Duke of York, King George V, and the carrier Victorious formed the core of a support force that patrolled between Iceland and Norway to cover several convoys to the Soviet Union.

[23] In late April, when King George V accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer Punjabi in dense fog, sustaining significant bow damage, Duke of York was sent to relieve her.

[28] With her refit completed, Duke of York resumed her status as flagship from 14 May 1943 pending the departure of King George V and Howe for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.

[28] On 4 October, Duke of York and Anson covered a force of Allied cruisers and destroyers and the American carrier USS Ranger under Operation Leader, which raided German shipping off Norway.

This failed, so Duke of York fired a starshell from one of her 5.25-inch (133 mm) guns, taking Scharnhorst by surprise with her main battery trained fore and aft.

[32] At 16:55 a 14-inch (356 mm) shell silenced turrets Anton and Bruno, but Scharnhorst maintained speed so that by 18:24 the range had opened to 21,400 yards (19,600 m), when Duke of York ceased fire after expending fifty-two broadsides.

[33] One shell from the final salvos hit and exploded in Scharnhorst's number one boiler room, slowing the ship and allowing the pursuing destroyers to overtake her.

[32] In the final stages of the battle the destroyers fired a total of 19 torpedoes at her, causing Scharnhorst to list badly to port, and at 19:45 she sank after a running action lasting ten-and-a-half hours from the first, taking with her over 1,700 men.

On 29 March 1944, Duke of York and the bulk of the Home Fleet left Scapa Flow to provide a support force for Convoy JW 58.

[36] The ship operated in the Arctic and as cover for carriers conducting the Goodwood series of air strikes on Tirpitz in mid to late August.

A problem with the ship's electrical circuitry delayed her while she was at Malta and, as a result, she did not reach Sydney until 29 July, by which time it too late for her to take any meaningful part in hostilities against the Japanese.

[38] After the conclusion of hostilities, Duke of York, alongside her sister-ship, King George V, participated in the surrender ceremonies that took place in Tokyo Bay.