1925 HMS RODNEY Rodney was built with the experience of World War I, but subject to the Washington Treaty and other international agreements limiting the size and numbers of capital ships.
BEATING THE TREATY
When the victorious naval powers met in Washington in 1921, after the end of World War I, to frame a disarmament treaty the British delegation was acutely aware of powerful American and Japanese designs which would outclass most existing Royal Navy battleships. The Americans and Japanese fought to retain as much of their protected programmes as they could. The British argued for the right to build two new ships armed with 16in (406mm) guns and protected against the same calibre. Much work had already been done on assessing wartime damage from shells, mines and torpedoes. Trials on surrendered German capital ships had also taken place. A new design for a class of 48,000t battlecruisers had been completed, and this was used as the basis for a new design within the proposed limit of 35,000t. The new ships, battleships rather than battlecruisers, would have the same armament, but only half the power could be squeezed in. As a result speed was 23 knots rather than the 31 knots of the battlecruiser design. The new battleships were unorthodox in appearance, with three triple turrets forward to permit armour to be concentrated over the vital areas. Secondary armament was grouped aft.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
HMS Rodney and her sister HMS Nelson were completed in 1927, and when war broke out in 1939 they were still the most modern capital ships in the Royal Navy. The Rodney served with the Home Fleet, and saw action in the Norwegian campaign in the spring of 1940. With the flagship HMS King George V, she brought the Bismarck to action on 27 May 1941, helping to pound her into a wreck before she was torpedoed by a heavy cruiser. She served with Force H in 1943, but her last major operation was to provide gunfire support for the Normandy landings in June 1944. Although intended to undergo a major refit in 1941 she was kept so busy that by 1945 she was worn out. She was used for bombing trials in 1948 and then scrapped.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Battleship
Machinery: 2-shaft geared turbines, 45,000shp
Dimensions: Length, 216.4m (719ft); beam. 32.3m (106ft)
Displacement: 33,730t (standard)
Draught: 8.6m (28.1ft)
