HMS Rodney

HMS Rodney was a British battleship in service with the Royal Navy before and during World War II. She had a unique design in which all nine 16-in (406-mm) guns were mounted on the fore portion of vessel in front of the bridge and mast. With the pennant number 29, she belonged to the Nelson class of two battleships, which were powered by two Brown-Curtis geared turbines, with two shafts, generating 45,000 HP.

HMS Rodney (29) was laid down on December 28, 1922, and built by Cammell Laird Co. in the shipyards of Sheffield. Launched in 1925, she was finally commissioned on December 7, 1927, after two years of sea trials and corrections. After a long life of useful service, she would be decommissioned in 1946 and stricken in 1948. She had been built according to the 1922 Washington Naval Conference agreements, by which the United Kingdom was not allowed to produce capital ships above 35,000-ton displacement.

Below, aerial view of Rodney during WW2. You can see her three triple turrets, with its 16-in guns in front of bridge.

Along with her sister ship Nelson, HMS Rodney had a very active operational life in the Atlantic, where she took part in the final destruction of the German battleship SMS Bismarck on May 27, 1941. After that naval engagement, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Theater, where she participated in Operation Pedestal as a merchant ship escort, in 1942; this naval operation consisted in carrying supplies to Malta. In 1944, as part of the Home Fleet, HMS Rodney took part in the Normandy landings on June 6, providing fire support to the invasion forces.

Specifications

Type: battleship

Length: 216.4 m (710 feet)

Beam: 32.3 (106 feet)

Displacement: 33,313 tons (empty)

Draft: 10.2 m (33.5 feet)

Propulsion: two Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, with two shafts, supplied by eight 3-drum boilers.

Maximum Speed: 23 knots

Range: 7,500 nautical miles

Armament: nine 406mm (16-in) guns set up in three triple turrets; twelve 152mm (6-in) guns; six 120mm (4.7-in) AA.

Compliment: 1,314 sailors and officers.

Below, HMS Rodney (29) in the early 1930s.

The battleship at the beginning of WW2.