Beyond the 16" gun fit were 12 x 6" Mk XXII guns in six double-gunned turrets, 6 x QF 4.7" Mk VIII Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns in single-gunned emplacements and 8 x 2-pounder AA guns in single-gunned emplacements. A product of its time, the battleship was completed with 2 x 24.5" (622mm) Mk I torpedo tubes. Along with her armoring, HMS Rodney was a very powerful warship.
Well armed and armored, the Nelson-class were noted as slow but this was the price to pay for treaty limitations in a post-war world. Additionally, the complex armor scheme made them very expensive to maintain and difficult to repair.
Prior to the opening shots of World War 2 in September of 1939, HMS Rodney served with the British Atlantic and Home fleets and, in October of 1938, she was given 79Y radar - the first RN warship to be given this vital component. In 1940, the system was already upgraded to Type 279 radar. Despite this, the class was in dire need of an overhaul that would have to wait.
Between hunting enemy warships and escorting Allied convoys, Rodney took part in the hunt for KMS Bismarck. She, along with other elements of the RN, engaged the damaged warship in a battle that closed range quickly. Over 300 shells were fired by Rodney alone as well as a dozen torpedoes. At least one of the fish hit the doomed enemy battleship - the first, and only, time a battleship successfully damaged another by way of torpedo in naval warfare. A refit was finally had for the ship in American waters (Boston) following the action.
Rodney took part in the Allied invasion of North Africa through Operation Torch and supported the Invasion of Sicily and, in 1944, the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day). Also in 1944, she gave up her flagship status of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow to an overhauled HMS Nelson. Following the war (1945), the warship was laid up with her sister at the Firth of Forth in 1948 where they served as aerial bombing targets. From there the pair was unceremoniously scrapped.
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