HMS Rodney: Celebration of the Battleship

by William Davis

I have always been fascinated by 20th century Battleships. Constantly enraptured by the majesty of a ship a ¼ of a km long weighing three times more than the Eiffel Tower. Amazed by something equipped with 16 inch cannons able to lob shells packed with almost a tonne of high explosive 35km. To me, there are few other things that can invoke such wonder. However, despite my reverence for these masterful amalgamation of steel, oil and engineering, when I think of them there is always a tinge of sadness. All of Britain's greatest World War battleships are tragically lost to time. Not one of these intrepid, battle-scarred, veterans were saved for the future, unlike the myriad of 20th century battleships still afloat in the USA. 

Admittedly, I may bemoan their scrapping as a tragic offence to the British maritime tradition, but I know they were scrapped for good reason. The battleship had become obsolete in the face of advancing aerial warfare and a semi-bankrupt, post-war British economy condemned the titans of the Royal Navy to the scrapyard. However, whilst physically they may be gone I refuse to allow their memory to follow. In this article I wish to inspire in you, the same wonder as the story of one of Britain's Greatest Battleships did for me. The tale of the HMS Rodney.

The Nelson class, HMS Rodney was never going to be a conventional ship. Quite oddly for a Battleship it was designed with, instead of the conventional front and aft turrets, an armament of three turrets on the front of the ship. This design choice was heavily affected by Prime Minister Balfour’s signing of the 1923 Washington Naval Treaty. The treaty's limits on tonnage forced the architects of the Rodney to cut weight by shortening the length of the ship, causing the rearranging of the batteries into their unorthodox positions. Despite treaty regulation, the Rodney was still a fearsome ship, armed with the biggest guns available to the Royal Navy. Three, 16 inch triple turrets would be her greatest assets, complimented by an unusual inclusion of front facing torpedo tubes. However, despite the tinkering of Rodney’s design, both her and its sister ship HMS Nelson, were considered the most powerful battleships afloat for over a decade after their launch. 

Her operational career began in 1925 launched from Birkenhead to undergo sea trials within the ranks of the Royal Navy, captained by the future fleet admiral, Andrew Cunningham. Rodney's first test would come at the outbreak of World War Two combating the German High Seas Fleet. In 1939, Rodney was charged with protecting the Atlantic Convoys and the hunt for the fearsome Kriegsmarine vessels Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. These ships were formidable, modern, Scharnhorst-class battleships built from 1935 to 1939, a decade on from the Rodney. Before adequate measures had been taken, the two battleships had been a great thorn in the side of allied shipping and navy. Responsible for the sinking of 45,000 tonnes worth of merchant vessels and the slaughtering of the Royal Navy carrier HMS Glorious and its accompanying destroyers Acasta and Ardent. Something had to be done, so despite being faced with ships a decade more advanced the Rodney set out to face them. Whilst she initially failed to catch the battleships, when contact was made in March 1941 the German ships fled into the Norwegian port of Stavanger. Such was the German high commands fear of the superior firepower of the Rodney, a display of its fearsome reputation. 

However, the greatest accolade of the Rodney was on the 27th of May 1941, marking her fatal attack on the flagship of the German navy, the KMS Bismarck. The previous day the Bismarck’s rudder had been crippled by an air attack by the Ark Royal, forcing it into confrontation with the Royal Navy. The Rodney, joined by the King George V, Dorsetshire and Norfolk, would be lead the ships charged with laying low the flagship of the Kreigsmarine. As the taskforce came into range of the Bismarck the King George V fired, but failed to inflict serious damage with its 14 inch armament. The real damage would come from the Rodney as it commenced a series of lethal, 16 inch broadsides. Closing in on the limping Bismarck, over 340 16 inch shells pounded the German warship. During the assault Rodney detonated the Bismarck’s 2nd turret “Bruno”, blowing out the back and shredding the bridge with shrapnel, killing most of the crew. This included its infamous captain Franz Von Lütyens. If this wasn’t enough, whilst continuing 9 gun broadsides at only 2.7 kilometres distance, 8, 24 inch torpedoes were launched at the Bismarck striking its port side for decent damage. This would be the only instance of a battleship on battleship torpedo strike in history. The hemorrhagic damage inflicted by Rodney would prove critical, silencing the Bismarck’s guns leaving it open to torpedo strikes by the Dorsetshire. To prevent capture the Bismarck’s crew promptly scuttled their ship, revealing the extent of the Rodney's damage as the flagships entire stern broke away from the previous assault. Thanks to the Rodney, the pride of the German Navy had been destroyed.

However, this wouldn't be the last great action of this 20 year old veteran. Although from 1941 onwards Rodney her career in a more supportive role. After a refit in Boston armed it with 8 “Pom Pom” anti-air guns, an essential tool against the Luftwaffe, the Rodney returned to service. The roar of her 16 inch guns were present in many of the war's most pivotal operations. Rodney supported the 1942 invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), in addition to the mid-1943 invasions of Sicily (Operation Husky) and greater Italy (Operation Avalanche). Often she would be seen participating in coastal bombardments or threatenly sailing around the Mediterranean as a part of Force H to eliminate any remaining Italian Warships.The Rodney was even present during the Normandy landings in June 1944, participating in several coastal bombardments of Sword beach. She also helped the advancement of Allied troops into France via the shelling of Caen and even the suppression of a Panzer Corp 35km inland. 

It was from this that HMS Rodney’s career would come to a close. After a 1944 modernisation effort was rejected she became the symbolic flagship of the UK’s home fleet based in Scapa Flow. Rodney's future excursions out of port were decidedly rare, the Kreigmarine, with Rodney’s assistance, had been sunk and the Atlantic won, leaving little for the Rodney to do. However in 1944, the Rodney would periodically assist arctic convoys to Murmansk in the USSR until the end of the war. Held back from the Pacific, the Rodney would remain reserve at Scapa flow until the admiralty decreed her scrapping in 1948. That would be how the life of the majestic HMS Rodney would end, alongside 4 other battleships she would contribute 80,000 tonnes of scrap to repair a bloodied and bruised, post-war Britain. At the time a necessity, now a tragedy. 

In conclusion, I want to reaffirm my belief that the Rodney should go down as one of the greatest warships in modern British history. A true paragon of British spirit and ingenuity, despite the restrictions of the Washington naval treaty, the Rodney still led an illustrious career at the forefront of the war effort. This decades old veteran would turn away the most modern of German battleships in the Atlantic. Be the one to avenge the Hood, rending the Bismarck in half through the fury of its cannons. Achieve the only battleship on battleship torpedoing and become the flagship of the Royal Navy during its most trying period. I believe this ship does not deserve to disappear into the mist of history like so many of its comrades. Highlighted for its ingenuitive design, fearsome reputation and great victories and achievements it should be revered , alongside ships like the HMS Victory, for its significance to maritime heritage. So I implore you, we may live in a post-battleship world but, we should remember and celebrate the heritage of the battleship. Let not the HMS Rodney’s service to King and Country succumb to oblivion, but allow the thunderous roar of its guns to echo through the halls of history.