In 1943, Howe took part in Operation Husky and bombarded Trapani naval base and Favignana in support of the Allied landings.

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 from developing among Britain, Japan, France, Italy and the United States.

She carried improved anti-aircraft armament and radar equipment as a result of lessons already learned in World War II.

[17] Upon commissioning, along with her main and secondary batteries, Howe carried 48 QF 2 pdr 1.575-inch (40.0 mm) Mk.VIII "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns and 18 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns [1] Howe joined the Home Fleet on 30 August 1942, her building time extended, owing to more urgent demands of the industry.

Like her sister ship Anson, she spent the early years of her combat career in Arctic waters, covering convoys bound for Russia.

[19] On 31 December 1942, Howe and her sister ship King George V provided distant cover for convoy RA 51, which safely arrived in Loch Ewe on 9 January 1943.

[20] Howe and King George V also provided distant cover for convoy RA 53 on 1 March 1943 and helped to recover merchantmen whose ships had been sunk.

[21] In 1943 Howe was transferred to Gibraltar with King George V to take part in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily; the US battleships Alabama and South Dakota substituted for their absence from the Home Fleet.

On 14 September Howe and King George V escorted the surrendered Italian battleships Vittorio Veneto and Italia to Alexandria.

Modifications were accomplished in the officers and crew quarters for operations in tropical climates; these included changes in insulation, and the extensive use of air-conditioning equipment.

Howe was put into action quickly, providing cover for carrier based air operations against targets in Sumatra.

In February 1945, Howe and King George V sailed from Sydney to begin operations in earnest in the Pacific theatre; together with four carriers, five cruisers and fifteen destroyers, they made up Task Force 113.

[25] The two ships' principal roles were air defence and land bombardment, the latter being carried out very accurately, particularly by Howe against anti-aircraft installations on the island of Miyako, half way between Okinawa and Formosa.

[25] She was ordered scrapped in 1957, as she and other battleships were increasingly deemed to have been made obsolete by aircraft and no longer needed as a defence against Soviet cruisers.