Nelson class HMS Nelson
Throughout the pre-war years, Nelson served as the flagship of the Home Fleet (known as the Atlantic Fleet before 1932). When the war began she was involved in the pursuit of German raiders, but in December 19 39 the ship struck a mine off Loch Ewe in western Scotland, which damaged the forecastle and caused heavy flooding. After being repaired in Portsmouth Nelson rejoined the Home Fleet in August 1940, where she resumed the task of countering German sorties into the Atlantic. In April 1941 the battleship escorted a convoy around Africa to Egypt, and was then transferred to Force H, based in Gibraltar.
On 8 August Nelson was hit by an Italian aerial torpedo off Sardinia, which detonated in the same place as the magnetic mine had almost two years earlier. The ship was repaired in Malta and Rosyth, and in May 1942 she returned to
HMS Nelson, pictured in late 1946 while serving as the training ship for the Home Fleet. She continued to function as a training vessel until the following October, when she was placed in reserve, before being turned into a bombing target. (MoD)
Gibraltar, taking part in Operation Pedestal, where she escorted a vital resupply convoy to Malta. The battleship remained with Force H until October 1943, and her guns were used to support the landings in Sicily and Calabria. By June 1944 the vessel was off Normandy, and spent a week firing at German positions in support of the Allied invasion. Then on 18 June Nelson struck another mine; this time she was towed to Philadelphia for repairs.
The ship returned to service in January 1945, and after a retraining period with the Home Fleet was sent to the Far East, joining the Eastern Fleet in July. After receiving the surrender of Japanese forces in Singapore Nelson returned home, where she was placed on the reserve list. After a brief spell as a training ship the vessel was earmarked for disposal, and in 1948 suffered the final
indignity of being used as a bombing target for the Fleet Air Arm. Nelson was
finally taken to the breaker's yard in early 1949.
HMS Rodney
Like her sister ship, Rodney spent her pre-war years in home waters. In
September 1939 she unsuccessfully hunted Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, then
underwent minor repairs until December. In April 1940 she took part in the Norwegian Campaign, where she was hit by a German bomb which failed to cause any serious damage. For the next year the battleship operated in support of Atlantic convoys, but in May 1941 was called from her duties to pursue Bismarck. On 27 May Rodney and King George V caught up with the German battleship and pounded her into a floating wreck, at which point the Bismarck was finished off with torpedoes. During the action Rodney scored more than 40 hits with her 16in guns.
Damage from the British battleship's own guns had caused damage to her superstructure, so Rodney sailed for repairs in Boston. She returned to service later that summer, and by September was operating in support of the Malta convoys. She rejoined the Home Fleet in November 1941, and operated in support of convoys or in countering German sorties until August 1942, when she returned to the Mediterranean. After taking part in Operation Pedestal she supported the landings in North Africa that November, then went to Scapa Flow
for training before returning to Gibraltar in June 1942. Rodney fired her guns
in support of the landings in Sicily and Calabria that summer, and in September performed the same naval gunfire support role off the Salerno beachhead.
HMS RODNEY ENGAGING THE BISMARCK, 27 MAY 1941
In May 1941 HMS Rodney was servin g with the Ho me Fleet, base d in Sca pa Flow. Whe n the
German battleship Bismarck be ga n her sortie into the Atlant ic, Rodney was escort ing the troop ship RM S Britannic, whi ch had just sailed from the Cly de bou nd for Can ad a. After the loss of HMS Hood on 24 May, Admir al Frederick Dalrym ple-H amilt on - comm and ing Rodney - was ordered to take command of three escorting destroyers and sail to interceptBismarck. Rodney was in poo r repair and could only make 22 knots, while the decks were packed with crates for use during a planned refit in Boston. Fortunately Bismarck was dam age d during an attack by Swordfish torpedo-bombers, and Rodney was able to ove rhau l her op pon en t on 27 May. By that stage Rodney had been join ed by other warships of the Home Fleet, includi ng HMS King George V, com ma nd ed by Admiral Sir Jo hn Tovey.
At 8.47am Rodney ope ned fire at a range of 25,000yd , and Bismarck returned fire, straddling Rodney on the third salvo. Dalrymple-Hamilton manoeuvred to avoid being hit, swinging to starboard to allow all three 16in turrets to bear. At 9.02am Rodney scored her first hit, disabl ing Bismarck's forward turrets. What followed was remorseless pounding, and within an hour the German battleship was a blazing wreck. She was finally finished off with torpedoes. This view of the engagement shows the situation at 9am - the moment when the fourth German salvo straddled Rodney.
A sad end: HMS Nelson with her guns removed, photographed in January 1949 while waiting to be broken up. Having spent the previous summer as a bombing target, the ship was completely derelict by the time she was towed to the breaker's yard in March 1949.
The vessel returned to home waters in October 1943, and remained there until the end of the war. In June she fired her guns in support of the D-Day landings, and in August engaged German batteries on Alderney. By November the ship was practically worn out, with her engines in poor repair. She became a static flagship in Scapa Flow, and in November 1948 was placed on the reserve list. The vessel was finally sold for scrap in March 19 48 .
A sad end: HMS Nelson with her guns removed, photographed in January 1949 while waiting to be broken up. Having spent the previous summer as a bombing target, the ship was completely derelict by the time she was towed to the breaker's yard in March 1949.
The vessel returned to home waters in October 1943, and remained there until the end of the war. In June she fired her guns in support of the D-Day landings, and in August engaged German batteries on Alderney. By November the ship was practically worn out, with her engines in poor repair. She became a static flagship in Scapa Flow, and in November 1948 was placed on the reserve list. The vessel was finally sold for scrap in March 19 48 .
King George V class HMS King George V
The battleship entered service with the Home Fleet in December 1940, and remained in home waters for the next 2Vi years. During this period she was
involved in the pursuit and destruction of the Bismarck in May 19 41 , in the
hunt for other German raiders, and in operations in support of the Arctic convoys. In May 1942 she accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer HMS Punjabi in thick fog. Repairs to the battleship lasted for most of that summer.
In May 1943 King George V was sent to join Force H, and took part in the invasion of Sicily, bombarding shore targets by way of a diversion. In September she escorted the surrendered Italian fleet to Malta, then rejoined the Home Fleet a few weeks later. She underwent a refit from February to July 1944, and in October sailed to Ceylon to join the newly-created British Pacific Fleet (formerly the Eastern Fleet). She assumed the role of flagship, and in February 1945 joined in the bombardment of Okinawa. In August she even bombarded the Japanese mainland near Tokyo, in the process becoming the last British battleship to fire her guns in anger. The vessel was present at the Japanese surrender on 2 September, but only returned to Britain the following year after undergoing a refit in Sydney. In May 1948 she became a training ship, and she was finally placed in reserve the following year. The battleship remained in reserve in the Gairloch until 1957, when she was sent to the breaker's yard.
HMS Prince of Wales
This battleship was damaged as she was being fitted out, and she only joined the Home Fleet in May 1941. Even then two of her turrets were still not fully operational, and so she sailed in pursuit of Bismarck with civilian contractors still aboard. On 24 May she and the Hood engaged Bismarck in the Denmark Straits, during which time Prince of Wales was hit three times, damaging
" A" and " Y " turrets. Prince of Wales broke off the engagement after the sinking of Hood, as a combination of damage and defects meant she was in no condition to continue the fight. She was repaired at Rosyth and rejoined the Home Fleet in July. After carrying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to meet US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was sent to the Far East in company with the battlecruiser Repulse. The ships arrived in Singapore five days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. On 8 December they were formed into Force Z and sent to intercept a Japanese amphibious force of Malaya. Two days later they were attacked by Japanese aircraft, and Prince of Wales was hit by five torpedoes. After 90 minutes she rolled over and sank. Repulse also succumbed to Japanese torpedoes. Both wrecks are now designated war graves.
A battered HMS Anson, photographed after returning to Scapa Flow from a convoy escort operation in June 1942. Later that year she provided distant cover for convoy PQ 18 and attempted to intercept and destroy the German pocket battleship Lutzow. She spent almost all her wartime career in northern waters.
HM S Duke of York
Duke of York entered service with the Home Fleet in November 1 941, just two weeks before the loss of Prince of Wales. For the next year she provided cover for the Arctic convoys, including the ill-fated convoy PQ17. In October the vessel was sent to Gibraltar as the new flagship of Force H, and supported in the North African landings the following month. She rejoined the Home Fleet in December, after a brief refit at Rosyth, and became the fleet flagship in May 1943, flying the flag of Admiral Fraser. She returned to support duties with the Arctic convoys and on 26 December 1943 cornered and destroyed the German
battlecruiser Scharnhorst, in the night-time engagement known as the Battle of
North Cape. During the battle she fired 446 rounds from her main guns and scored more than 40 hits.
Duke of York remained in home waters until undergoing a refit in September 1944, which was only completed the following March. She was sent to join the British Pacific fleet, but although she saw no further action, she was present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. The ship returned to Britain the following year and in April 1949 was placed in reserve. She served as flagship of the reserve fleet until 1951, when she was laid up awaiting disposal. She was finally scrapped in 1958.
HMS Anson
Like the rest of her class, Anson first saw service in the Home Fleet, which she joined in the summer of 1942. She provided cover for the Arctic convoys but
saw no action. In between convoy duties she covered carrier operations in the Norwegian Sea, during the summer of 1943 and again in early 1944. Most of the airstrikes were directed against the German battleship Tirpitz, anchored in the Altenfjord in northern Norway. In June 1945 she underwent a refit in Devonport, which lasted until March 1945. The following month she sailed to join the British Pacific Fleet, but arrived too late to see any action. Like King
George V and Duke of York she was present at the Japanese surrender in September 1945. She returned home in the summer of 1946, when she became a training ship. She was briefly placed in reserve in 1949, before being laid up the following year. She was broken up in 1957, having never fired her main guns in anger during her entire career.
HMS Howe
In August 1942 Howe joined the Home Fleet, and during early 194 3 provided cover for Arctic and Atlantic convoys. In May she joined Force H in Gibraltar, and in company with King George V participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily, bombarding shore targets by way of a diversion. Following the surrender of the
Italian fleet, Howe escorted this to Malta, then remained in the Mediterranean until October 1943, when she sailed for home. After a four-month refit she sailed for the Far East, joining the British Eastern Fleet in August 1944. She covered carrier operations in the East Indies, and in December became flagship of the newly-formed British Pacific Fleet. She operated in support of American carrier operations until May, when she was sent to Durban for a refit. She returned home in January 1946 and joined the Training Squadron. Between 1948 and 1949 she underwent a refit, and was then placed in reserve. The ship was finally disposed of in 1957.
HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard was only commissioned in August 1946 , so she became the only British battleship since 1906 never to have participated in a war. For most of her career she served with the Home Fleet. In 1957 she took the Royal family on a cruise to South Africa, and in 1949 she took part in exercises in the Mediterranean. In 1951-54 she served as flagship of the Home Fleet, and participated in joint NATO exercises. In 1954 she was placed in reserve, and despite plans to convert her into a guided-missile ship, she remained in mothballs in Devonport until 1960, when she was scrapped.
HMS DUKE OF YORK ENGAGING SCHARNHORST, DECEMBER 1943
In December 1943 HMS Duke of York flew the flag of Admiral Bruce Fraser, commander of the Home Fleet. Fraser used an Arctic convoy to tempt the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst into making a sortie, then on 26 December he trapped his prey between the battleship and a force of German cruisers. In the engagement - known as the Battle of North Cape - the Duke of York
fought a running battle with Scharnhorst until a lucky hit at extre me range dam ag ed the German vessel's engines. As destroyers moved in for the kill the British battleship closed to within Vh miles (3,000yd), firing as she approached.
Within an hour of scoring that lucky hit the Duke of York's 14in gun s of had reduc ed the Ger man battlecruiser to scrap. However, due to the trajectory they were unable to sink Scharnhorst, so the job of finishing off the German vessel was left to the destroyers. This scene shows the action duri ng its final stage s, arou nd 7.15p m. During the 2V2-hour engage ment the Duke of York fired more than 80 salvoe s, and scored nu mero us hits. Howeve r, as in previous acti ons invol ving battleships of the King George V class, mechanical problems meant that at times the volume of fire was signifi cantly redu ced , as barrels or occas ional ly wh ole turrets suffered from te mporary breakdowns and defects.
HMS Howe, passing through the Suez Canal in July 1944, on her way from Britain to
the Far East, with sailors and
off-duty soldiers enjoying the
spectacle. The camoufla ge scheme had already been adapted t o conform to the pattern favoured by the Eastern Fleet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This brief bibliography is designed to be read in conjunction with the one included in Osprey New Vanguard NVG 154: British Battleships, 1939-45 (1). Together these titles form a fairly extensive reading list. All the titles mentioned are still available, either from bookshops or in good libraries. Many also explore aspects of the subject in more detail than has been possible in this small book, and are therefore recommended as a source for further study.
Ballantyne, Ian. HMS Rodney: Warships of the Royal Navy (Barnsley, Pen & Sword, 2008)
Benstead, C. R. HMS Rodney (Lon don, Sellicks, 1931)
B r o w n , D. K. A Century of Naval Construction (London, Conway Maritime Press, 1983)
Burt, R. A.British Battleships, 1919-39 (Lon don, Weidenfeld, 1993)
Chesneau, Roger. King George V class Battleships (London, Chatham Publishing, 2004)
Coward, B. R. Battleships at War (London, Ian Allan, 1987)
Friedman, Norman. Battleship Design and Development, 1905-1945
(London, Conway Maritime Press, 1978)
Konstam, Angus. Hunt the Bismarck (Annapolis M D , Nav al Institute Press, 2003 ) Konstam, Angus. The Battle of North Cape: The Death Ride of the Scharnhorst, 1943
(Barnsley, Pen & Sword, 2008)
McCart, Neil. Nelson & Rodney, 1927-1949 (London, Mariti me Books, 2005) Mid dl ebr ook , M. & Ma ho ney , P. Battl eship: The loss of the Prince of Wales a nd
Repulse (London, Allen Lane, 1977)
Pears, Randolph . British Battleships, 1892-1957 (London, Putna m, 957) Roskill, Capt. S. W. The Navy at War, 1939-45 (reprinted Londo n,
Wordsworth, 1998)
Tarrant, V. E. King George V class Battleships (Lon don, Arms & Arm our Press, 1991)
HMS Vanguard entering Portsmouth harbour in
Septemb er 1950, after her summer cruise, which involved both naval exercises and
"showing the flag." Atthe t ime she was flagship of the Home Fleet, and was regarded more as a command vessel than a
fighting warship.
HMS Vanguard, pictured in the early summer of 1953, while once again serving as flagship of the Home Fleet. The previous year she had taken part in
Operation Mainbrace, the first naval exercise conducted under the aegis of NATO. The exercise highlighted British reluctance to place Royal Navy units under the operational control of an American admiral, and American reluctance to give the British control of their own carrier fleet.
INDEX
Figures in b o l d refer to illustrations. Plate caption locators in brackets.
Anson, HMS 2 0- 22 , 37, 43, 43 -4 4 armament 27-34
H MS Vanguard 26, 27, 27, 32 King George V class 18, 18, 19 ,
2 2 , 3 0 , 3 0 - 3 2 , 3 4 , 3 5 , B (20, 21) Lion class 24 Nelson class 10 , 10, 12, 16, 30 , 3 1 , 31-32, 32, 34, 39, A (12, 13), E (32, 33) armour H MS Vanguard 26 , 27 King George V class 19, 2 2 Nelson class 11 , 16, E (32 , 33)
Benbow, HMS 16
Bismarck 7, 8, 8, 16, 17, 31 , 40 ,
4 2 - 4 3 , B (20 , 21 ), F (40, 41) Britannic, RM S F (40 , 41) British Eastern Fleet 44 , 46 British Pacific Fleet 42 , 43 , 44
Calabira landings (19 43) 40 Cammell Laird shipyard 24 camouflage
King George V class 46 Nelson class 10, 11
Churchill, Prime Minister Winston 43 convoys 39, 40, 42 , 43 , 43, 4 4
Courageous, HMS 26
D-Day landings (19 44) 40 , 42 , E (32, 33) Dalrymple-Hamilton, Admiral Frederick
F ( 4 0 , 41) Deutschland class 17 Duke of York, HMS 19, 20, 20, 22-2 3, 3 0 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 7 , 3 9 , 4 3 , G ( 4 4, 4 5) Dunkerque class 17 Eastern Fleet 44, 46 Emperor of India, HMS 16
Fairey Swordfish floatpla nes 39 Fairfield shipyard 23
F or ce H 3 9 , 4 0 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 4 4 Force Z 43
France
cost of war 5
shipbuilding progr amme 17 strength of the Navy 5, 7, 9
Fraser, Admiral Sir Bruce 4 3, G (4 4, 45 ) Furious, HMS 27
Germany
shipbuilding programme 8 , 1 7 strength of the Navy 9
G i b r a l t a r 3 9 , 4 0 , 4 3 , 4 4 Glorious, HMS 26, 27 Gneisenau 4 0
Goodall , Sir Stanley 23 , 24 , 26 Great Britain
British Eastern Fleet 4 4, 4 6 British Pacific Fleet 42 , 43 , 44 cost of war 5 F or ce H 3 9 , 4 0 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 4 4 Force Z 43 Home Fleet 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 47, F (40, 41), G (44, 45) shipbuilding programme 17 -1 8 strength of the Navy 7, 8, 9
High-Angle Control System (HACS) 19, 34 Home Fleet 39, 40, 42, 43, 44 , 47,
F (40, 41), G (44, 45)
Hood, HMS 10, 11, 42 , 43 , B (20, 21) , Howe, HMS 20 -2 2, 23, 37, 44, 46
Iron Duke class 16-17 Italy
cost of war 5
shipbuilding progr amme 17 strength of the Navy 5, 7, 8, 9
Ja pa n
cost of war 5
strength of the Navy 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 surrender of 42 , 43 , 44
Jo hn Br ow n shi pyar d 2 6 Jo hn s, Sir Ar th ur 17 , 18
King George V, HM S 7, 17, 20,
2 2 , 22, 23, 36, 42, B (20, 21) King George V class 9, 16 -2 3, 18
armament 18, 18, 19, 22, 30 , 3 0 - 3 2 , 34, 35, B (20, 21) armour 19, 22 camouflage 46 propulsion system 19 -2 0, 22 service history 4 2- 4 4 service modifications 34 , 36 -3 7 turrets 18, 31, D (28, 29) Lion, HMS 24, C (24, 25) Lion class 23-25 Littorio 8
London Naval Treaty (19 30) 8, 9, 16 London Naval Treaty (19 36) 17, 20
M a l t a 4 0 , 4 2 , 4 4 Marlborough, HM S 16 NATO exercises 44, 47 Nelson, HM S 6, 8, 9, 30 , 34 , 3 6 , 3 9 , 39 -4 0, 42 , A (12, 13) Nelson class 4, 7- 8, 10, 10 -1 6, 35 armament 10, 10, 12, 16, 30, 31 , 3 1 - 3 2 , 32, 34, 39, A (12, 13), E (32, 33) armour 11 , 16, E (32, 33) camouflage 10, 11 propulsion system 15 , 16 service history 39 -4 2 service modifications 34 , 36 , 39 turrets 11 , 3 1, 35
North Africa, landings in (1942)
4 0 , 43
North Cape, Battle of (1943)
4 3 , G (44, 45)
Norwegian Campaign (19 39) 40
Okin awa, bombardmen t of 42 Operation Husky (1943) 39 Operation Mainbrace (1952) 47 Operation Pedestal (1942) 40
Pacific Fleet 42 , 43 , 44 Pearl Harbo ur, atta ck on 43