HMS Nelson began Royal Navy service as the flagship of the British Home Fleet when she was launched and stayed under the Home Fleet title when war came to Europe in September of 1939 following the German invasion of neighboring Poland. When HMS Spearfish was damaged off Horns Reef, Nelson (joining others including the carrier HMS Ark Royal) provided critical escort duty while also searching for the displaced and injured. Further actions in the North Sea showcased the vessels general slowness against German warships in the theater. On October 30th, 1939, the German U-boat U-56 struck Nelson with three torpedoes though all three amazingly proved duds and Nelson escaped possible damage. In December, Nelson's luck had run out some as a magnetic mine struck her hull when she entered Loch Ewe near the Scottish coast. This forced repairs to be conducted as the vessel lay at Portsmouth into August of 1940.
During April of 1941, Nelson was charged with convoy protection in the Atlantic and, by May, she made up a portion of the British contingent attempting to coral the mythical KMS Bismarck battleship of the German Navy. During June, Nelson formed part of "Force H" and added much-needed firepower to critical convoys heading to Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. With a high level of Italian naval activity in these waters, Nelson took forward torpedo damage on September 27th, 1941 which warranted further repairs as she made her way back to home waters by way of Gibraltar. She was not made ready until May of 1942.
Back in action for November 1942, Nelson brought her guns to bear in support of the Allied invasions of North Africa during Operation Torch and then took part in the Sicily landings of July 1943. From there, it was to the Italian coastline to provide cover for more amphibious landings by Allied personnel. With the noose finally tightened on the Italian peninsula, the Italians accepted the formal surrender on the decks of the Nelson herself in September of 1943.
The following month, Nelson followed suit with many other Allied warships when she took on increased anti-aircraft armament to improve her point-defense network. She then joined the flotilla taking part in the Allied invasion of northern France during D-Day on June 6th, 1944. On June 18th, however, Nelson was the unlucky recipient of two naval mines which caused enough damage to force repairs yet again. This time, the vessel wade her way across the Atlantic to America where laborers conducted repairs at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
In January of 1945, Nelson joined Allied naval strength in the Indian Ocean to help attain naval supremacy in the Pacific Theater while Europe lay more or less in check. The Japanese remained the last major Axis power in the war following Germany's surrender in May of 1945. The Japanese surrender then followed in September, formally ending all official fighting in World War 2.
With the war over, Nelson was handed flagship status of the Home Fleet once more (at Scapa Flow) and found her way back to British waters in November 1945. She was then given a new charge as a training vessel for Training Squadron (Portland) from July 1946 onwards. She served in this role until formally decommissioned (along with her sister HMS Rodney) in February of 1948. Both were then anchored at Firth of Forth and unceremoniously used in aerial bombing training to which Nelson's hulk was then sold off for scrap in 1949 - an unfitting end for such a storied British warship. Regardless, her naval career was now over in full.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.