Rodney in May 1942 |
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| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Rodney |
| Namesake: | Admiral Sir George Rodney |
| Ordered: | 1922 |
| Builder: | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead |
| Cost: | £7,617,799 |
| Laid down: | 28 December 1922 |
| Launched: | 17 December 1925 |
| Sponsored by: | Princess Mary |
| Completed: | August 1927 |
| Commissioned: | 10 November 1927 |
| Decommissioned: | 1946 |
| Struck: | 1947 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: 29 |
| Motto: | Non Generant Aquilae Columbas (Latin) "Eagles do not breed doves" |
| Nickname: | Rodnol |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 26 March 1948 |
| General characteristics (as completed) | |
| Class and type: | Nelson-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 33,730 long tons (34,270 t) standard 37,430 long tons (38,030 t) standard (full load) |
| Length: | 710 ft 2 in (216.5 m) overall |
| Beam: | 106 ft (32.3 m) |
| Draught: | 31 ft (9.44880000 m) |
| Installed power: | 45,000 shp (34,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts 2 Brown-Curtis geared turbine sets 8 Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers |
| Speed: | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
| Range: | 14,500 nmi (26,900 km; 16,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,314 (1,361 as flagship) |
| Armament: | 3 × 3 - 16-inch Mk I guns 6 × 2 - 6-inch Mk XXII guns 6 × 1 - QF 4.7-inch Mk VIII anti-aircraft guns 8 × 1 - 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns 2 × 1 - 24.5-inch (620 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | Belt: 13–14 in (330–356 mm) Deck: 4.375–6.375 in (111–162 mm) Barbettes: 12–15 in (305–381 mm) Gun turrets: 9–16 in (229–406 mm) Conning tower: 10–14 in (254–356 mm) Bulkheads: 4–12 in (102–305 mm) |
HMS Rodney (pennant number 29) was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was named for Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of 16 inch (406 mm) guns, and the only ones to carry all the main armament forward of the superstructure (as her superstructure was located aft of midships like RN fleet oilers, whose names carried the '-ol' suffix, she was unofficially referred to as 'Rodnol'). Commissioned in 1927, Rodney served extensively in the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans during World War II. She played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. In poor condition from heavy usage and lack of refits, she was scrapped in 1948.
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Known as 'Queen Anne's Mansions' on account of the bridge structure bearing some resemblance to the well-known London block of flats, or 'Cherry Tree Class' because they were designed as larger ships but 'cut down' by Washington Treaty of 1922, the design was limited to 35,000 tons and showed certain compromises. To accommodate 16-inch main guns in three turrets, all of the turrets were placed forward and the vessel's speed was reduced and maximum armour was limited to vital areas. Even with the design limitations forced on the designers by the treaty, the Rodney and Nelson were regarded as the most powerful battleships afloat until the new generation of all big gun ships was launched in 1936.
Rodney was laid down on 28 December 1922, the same date as her sister ship Nelson. She was built at Birkenhead by Cammell-Laird shipyard. Launched in December 1925, she was commissioned in November 1927, three months behind her sister. Her construction cost £7.617 million. Her captain in 1929 was Lieutenant Commander George Campell Ross (later Admiral), son of Sir Archibald Ross (marine engineer and pioneer in shipbuilding)
From commissioning until World War II broke out in September 1939, Rodney spent her entire time with the British Atlantic Fleet or Home Fleet. In 1931, her crew joined the crews of other ships in taking part in the Invergordon Mutiny. In late December 1939, she was under refit and repair because she was having steering gear problems.
She was damaged by German aircraft at Karmøy, near Stavanger on 9 April 1940 when hit by a 500 kg (1,103 lb) bomb that pierced the armoured deck, but did not explode. On 13 September 1940, she was transferred from Scapa Flow to Rosyth with orders to operate in the English Channel when the German invasion of Britain was expected. In November and December, she did convoy escort duties between Britain and Halifax, Nova Scotia. In January 1941, she participated in the chase of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with no success. On 16 March, however, while escorting a convoy in the North Atlantic, she made contact with the German battleships, but no battle followed, as the German ships turned away when they realized that they were facing superior firepower.
In May 1941, while commanded by Admiral Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Rodney and two destroyers were escorting the troop ship RMS Britannic to Canada; the Britannic was taking civilians over to Canada, and would be bringing Canadian troops back to Britain. It was during this run on 24 May that she was called to join in the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck. On 26 May, she joined up with King George V; Admiral Sir John Tovey sent the destroyers home because they were low on fuel, and had Rodney fall in behind King George V for the battle against the Bismarck the next day. On the early morning of 27 May 1941, along with the battleship King George V and the cruisers Norfolk, and Dorsetshire, she engaged the Bismarck, which had had its rudder machinery damaged by a Swordfish-launched torpedo the day before. Unable to manoeuver and listing to port, Bismarck scored no hits before her guns were knocked out, after which Rodney closed with Bismarck until she was firing essentially a flat trajectory, and spotters could actually follow the shells to the target. One 16 in (406mm) shell was tracked from the gun to where it hit the face of Bismarck's #2 gunhouse (turret Bruno) and exploded, blowing out the back of the gunhouse. She later broke off action and was ordered home being short of fuel.
After this, she went to the South Boston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, for engine repairs. This is significant because the United States would not formally enter the war for several months and the stateside docking of the Rodney illustrated the U.S. government's true sympathies in the growing global conflict. Since the repairs would take several weeks to complete, the Rodney's crew was furloughed to local Civilian Conservation Corps camps. In the interim, some members of the crew struck up lasting relationships with American civilians. [1]
In September 1941 Rodney was stationed with Force H in Gibraltar, escorting convoys to Malta. In November, she returned home, and was stationed in Iceland for a month. Then she underwent refit and repair until May 1942. After the refit, she returned to Force H, where she again escorted Malta convoys and took part in Operation Torch, the invasion of Northwest Africa. Later, she was involved with landings in Sicily and Salerno. From October 1943, she was in the Home Fleet, and took part in the Normandy invasion in June 1944, destroying targets at Caen and Alderney. On June 7, 1944 a collision between the Rodney and LCT 427 resulted in the loss of 13 Royal navy seamen [2]. In September 1944, she performed escort duties with a Murmansk convoy.
During the entire war Rodney steamed over 156,000 nautical miles (289,000 km) with no engine overhaul after 1942. Because of her frequent machinery problems and the fact that she had not been upgraded to the extent that her sister Nelson had, starting in December 1944, she became the flagship of Home Fleet in Scapa Flow and rarely left her mooring. She was finally scrapped starting 26 March 1948 at Inverkeithing.[3]
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