 Buckingham Palace announced in November that King George VI was planning to take a short cruise for his health aboard Vanguard , which meant that her Admiral 's suite again had to be modified to accommodate him and his staff . Captain John Litchfield assumed command on 21 December while the ship was still refitting , but the King died on 6 February 1952 before he could make his cruise . A detachment from the ship participated in his funeral procession before she departed for her post @-@ refit shakedown cruise on 22 February . After exercising with Implacable , Indomitable and the fast minelayer Apollo , Vanguard returned home on 29 March . She became flagship of Home Fleet again on 13 May when Admiral Sir George Creasy hoisted his flag . Due to manning and weight problems , Vanguard operated with many of her turrets unmanned and with ammunition carried for only two of the 15 @-@ inch turrets and only starshell ammunition for the 5 @.@ 25 @-@ inch guns . She participated in exercises with the Dutch and American navies , before returning to Portsmouth for the holidays . Litchfield was relieved by Captain R. A. Ewing on 19 January 1953 ; the ship departed the next day for a brief refit at Gibraltar . After its completion on 2 March , the ship trained with several of the Royal Navy 's carriers before arriving back at Portsmouth on 25 March . Vanguard participated in Queen Elizabeth 's Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 15 June 1953 . The following September , she participated in NATO 's Exercise Mariner in the Denmark Strait . 
