Rodney was tasked to eliminate the problem and bombarded Batterie Blücher on 12 August, taking up a position on the other side of the Cap de la Hague to avoid return fire. The Home Fleet was already at sea when the submarine Spearfish, on patrol in the Heligoland Bight, was badly damaged by German depth charges on 24 September. The turbines were rated at 45,000 shaft horsepower (34,000 kW) and intended to give the ship a maximum speed of 23 knots. The Director of Naval Construction, Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, informed the ship's designer, Edward Attwood, "In order to keep the displacement to 35,000 tons, everything is to be cut down to a minimum. [Note 1] Many more Oerlikons were installed during this brief refit, specifically 36 more single mounts and 5 twin mounts, which gave Rodney a total of 67 weapons in 57 single and 5 twin mounts. Ordered to steam at full speed, the ship arrived at Pembroke Dock the following morning to load rescue and salvage equipment. Italian spies in Algeciras, Francoist Spain, spotted the convoy as it passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 August and Italian reconnaissance aircraft located it the following morning. [36], Receiving word that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had attacked north-bound German warships in the North Sea on 7 April, Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, Commander-in-chief, Home Fleet, ordered most of his ships to put to sea that evening. She mostly spent January and February at anchor with occasional missions to provide cover from commerce raiders for convoys. The battleship was scheduled to continue onwards to Boston for repairs and a refit. I believe the Germans had problems copying the T34's diesel engine even at the end of the war a lot of diesel engines were based on Czech design. By no means; the Japanese have famously highly tuned aesthetic sensibilities, none of them could have faced Nelson or Rodney without quailing. The ship carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at a cruising speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). At 09:31, the ship blew off the left barrel of the Bismarck's lower aft gun turret and started a fire inside the turret that forced its evacuation. In her turn, Bismarck scored no hits, although she managed to damage Rodney with shell splinters before her forward guns were knocked out. Great Britain's Last Super Battleship Was a True Monster Warship. [42] Later that morning Admiral Sir John Tovey in the battleship King George V ordered all ship to head north west due to a misinterpreted signal from the Admiralty, but Dalrymple-Hamilton knew that his ship was too slow to catch up to Bismarck if she was headed in that direction and disregarded Tovey's order. Her crew numbered 1,361 officers and ratings when serving as a flagship and 1,314 as a private ship. Radar. So A duel of the WW1 ships as they sailed in 1940 Both started as battlecruisers and the Kongo was later refitted into a "fast battleship" Say they start at 35,000 meters from each other in fair weather with good visibility Who would win? On the night of 23/24 June, the ship was ineffectually attacked twice by Junkers Ju 88 bombers; her gunners claiming to have shot down one aircraft. This might be true, to the best of my knowledge the Yamato only fired her guns at another ship. The ship participated in King George V's Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead on 16 July and then again served as the Royal Guardship during Cowes Week. HMS Rodney and HMS Nelson were the only British battleships to have trimmed towers, the only ones to carry 406 mm (16 inch) guns, and the liquid-loaded bulkheads under the waterline. However I stand to be corrected on this. Rodney's radar provided timely warning and the aircraft inflicted no damage on the British ships. Captain Wilfred Custance relieved Tovey on 31 August. The highlight of Rodney's initial stay in Iceland was a visit by the movie star, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who was also stationed there aboard an American battleship. 137–138; Ballantyne 2010, pp. One pair were mounted on each side of the main director on the bridge roof and the others were abreast the aft main director. In May 1943 gun shields were added to the 4.7-inch guns and the catapult on the roof of 'X' turret was removed. The following month Rodney was detailed to rendezvous with Convoy HX 93 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and escort it home. 98–100; Haarr 2013, p. 243; Rohwer, p. 16, Admiralty Historical Section, pp. 381–382, Ballantyne 2008, pp. Bob Nelson Rodney Dangerfield's 1984. [54], With her repairs completed on 16 September, Rodney arrived back at Scapa on the 23rd, but almost immediately set sail for Loch Cairnbawn where the British had created a replica of the defences surround Tirpitz. Nelson's refit ended in February 1938 and the sisters made a port visit to Lisbon, Portugal that same month. Repairs at Rosyth began on the 18th that included structural reinforcement of the hull plating and general reinforcement of the forward hull structure. Around dusk, Ark Royal launched a second airstrike of 15 Swordfish; their torpedoes had been fitted with contact detonators. How about a NelRod verse FusYamo thread that would be the battle of the uglies!!!!! Little effort was made to repair the persistent steering and boiler problems as efforts focused on making her seaworthy again. Since the repairs took several months to complete, Rodney's crew was furloughed to local Civilian Conservation Corps camps for a fortnight. HMS King George V deployed to the southward at 0859/27 when the Bismarck was 16000 yards distant. [35], With Nelson damaged by a mine on 4 December, Rodney served as the temporary fleet flagship until her sister's return in August. 147–148, Ballantyne 2008, pp. Force H provided support for the landings at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on the 9th, with the battleship only using her anti-aircraft guns. [52] Twenty minutes later, Rodney opened fire with her main guns on a wave of approaching Italian torpedo bombers, hoping to knock some of them down with shell splashes, which "frightened us, our escort and [the] Italians". There is really little prospect of one ship from WWII being able to beat any two opponents from the same generation. There are some shots of Nelson taken from off her starboard bow from a smallc raft. I made a very high detailed model of the battleship based on the original drawings. In some ways HMS Rodney’s sailor wasn’t wrong. Rodney rendezvoused with the returning convoy RA 60 on the 28th. 144–145; Brown & Brown, p. 25, Ballantyne 2008, pp. The ship arrived back in the UK on 5 November where she rejoined the Home Fleet. The secondary armament was controlled by four directors equipped with 12-foot (3.7 m) rangefinders. The ships were fitted with two submerged 24.5-inch (622 mm) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside, angled 10° off the centreline. I picked Yamato v Nel&Rod because Yamato wieghed twice as much. 95, 124; Rohwer, p. 9, Ballantyne 2008, pp. She was initially able to keep up with the convoy, but had to turn back on 28 September, followed shortly afterwards by Rodney and Prince of Wales. That evening Tovey detached Mashona and Somali to refuel and had Rodney fall in behind King George V for the battle against Bismarck. The Nelsons are certainly nearer the WWII ships than the WWI designs in armour layout and in the heavy deck armour. Bismarck was built with 15 inch guns in mind, Iowa and Yamato have 16 and 18 inch guns respectively. The German submarine U-73 opened what would be repeated attacks on the convoy and its escorts by sinking the carrier Eagle that afternoon. 3 dry dock from 8 December until 1 March 1948; during this time, Rodney's condition was surveyed and her leaks were patched. Any deveation would affect production and they produced them in there thousands. "The stone age did not end because people ran out of stones." The battleship developed serious problems with her rudder on 29 November and was forced to return to Liverpool, steering only with her engines, for repairs that lasted until 31 December. She displaced 33,730 long tons (34,270 t) at standard load and 37,430 long tons (38,030 t) at deep load. Yamato vs Nelson& Rodney. Despite the heavy anti-aircraft fire, the Swordfish hit Bismarck with three torpedoes. 0:18 [PDF Download] HMS Rodney: Slayer of the Bismarck and D-Day Saviour (Warships of the Royal ... Yamato vs Nelson& Rodney. She was the first battleship to be so equipped. You will probably always have a case were the Sherman held its own. [6], The ships' waterline belt consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 14 inches (356 mm) thick between the main gun barbettes and thinned to 13 inches (330 mm) over the engine and boiler rooms as well as the six-inch magazines, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. Two of them struck forward of the aft gun turrets and caused no significant damage; the last struck the stern, disabled the battleship's steering and caused her to significantly reduce speed. Well the Tirpitz did actually fire her guns in anger. I can't think of a better target for diving shell than NelRod. Delayed for a day by weather too bad for diving, she arrived at the site the following evening, but it was too late for any survivors of H47 and Rodney set sail for HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. After reaching her assigned position, the ship engaged targets north of Caen, possibly belonging to the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend which was attacking British and Canadian troops near there. The following month the ship was part of the covering force for an iron ore convoy from Narvik, Norway. [62], The ship was kept in reserve until 18 June when her sister struck a mine and had to withdraw. A comparison between the MEXICO flag and the pirate flag.Described in detail the flags of Royal Navy battleship HMS RODNEY of the Battle of Warships. However, it is true that the M26 took up alot of space in shipping. [8], Underwater protection for the Nelsons was provided by a double bottom 5 feet (1.5 m) deep and a torpedo protection system. Sorta like the Tirpitz. [43], Bismarck was spotted by a RAF Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat at 10:35 on 26 May and the two battleships were able to join up as Tovey had realised his mistake and doubled back. This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, All the World's Battlecruisers, Battleships and All Other Warships, The Warship Discussion Forum: Battlecruisers, Battleships, Pre-Dreadnoughts, and other warships. Despite the heavy weather, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal launched her first airstrike of 14 Swordfish torpedo bombers against the German ship that afternoon. The ship steamed south in mid-November, bound for Portsmouth where Moore would transfer his flag to her sister. IMHO I dont think that the NelRod battle would last to long.Also note that the Bismarck wasn't sunk by shellfire. [37] Rodney was hit by a 500-kilogram (1,102 lb) bomb on 9 April off the south western coast of Norway. [40], On 22 May 1941 Rodney and four destroyers were part of the escort for the ocean liner MV Britannic as she set sail for Halifax. [3] The ship was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, each driving one shaft, using steam from eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers. If that did not happen, Rodney was tasked to support the Centre Naval Task Force at Oran on 8 November. [25] The ship cost £7,617,799. As the Home Fleet was assembling in Scapa Flow as tensions with Germany rose in August, Rodney developed steering problems and had to proceed to Rosyth for repairs and a bottom cleaning. I agree that, somehow, there is not much that is more sad than a ship that never really fired it's guns in anger and/or scored a hit. [63] These included a sporadic, 30-hour operation firing an occasional shell 22 miles (35 km) inland, to prevent a Panzer division from crossing a bridge. Aft of the citadel was an armoured deck 4.25 inches (108 mm) thick at the level of the lower edge of the belt armour that extended almost to the end of the stern to cover the steering gear. HMS Rodney opened fire with her secondary armament at 0858 hours. Rodney visited Oslo, Norway, in July. Build times, cost and resources come into play. If you’re asking why Nelson in particular wasn’t sent, then the answer is simple - she was in the South Atlantic, far too far away for an intercept. [20] Given the yard number 904,[21] she was laid down on 28 December 1922 as part of the 1922 Naval Programme at Cammell Laird's shipyard in Birkenhead[22] and was launched on 17 December 1925 by Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles, after three attempts at cracking the bottle of Imperial Burgundy. And that was against Taffy3? The Yamato-class battleships carried nine 18-inch guns in three triple turrets.The could throw 6,000-lb. "[10] Unlike Nelson which exceeded the design specification for machinery weight, the lighter machinery of Rodney resulted in chronic problems. 138–140, 148–149, Ballantyne 2008, pp. They just weren't much different! Six days later, the ship was visited by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their morale-boosting tour of Scottish shipyards. Rodney played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in mid-1941. In addition a full suite of radars were added. 114, 116; Raven & Roberts, pp. The battleship was to serve as a target for frogmen training to use Chariot manned torpedoes to deliver and attach limpet mines to her hull in preparation for Operation Title. The pilots mistook the light cruiser Sheffield for the Bismarck and attacked, although the cruiser was able to evade the six of eleven torpedoes dropped that did not detonate when they impacted the sea due to faulty magnetic detonators. The ship was fitted with an aircraft catapult on the roof of 'X' turret and a collapsible crane abreast the bridge was also added in 1937 to hoist the aircraft in and out of the water. Later that evening, the battleship was attacked by two bombers that near missed with two bombs and a torpedo. I think people confuse the value of the Shermans with the size of the economies producing them. Her shelling thus far had not had much effect on the fort as its guns began bombarding approaching American troops. They continued as far south as the coast of Portuguese Angola before turning back on 26 June. "Why, Mike? New turret, 76mm gun, HVSS etc etc. oh - if i were Yamato i would definately concentrate on one NelRod... hopefully i could hurt it enough/destroy it before turning to the other without taking too much in return... at worst i could prabably quite badly hammer one and then withdraw (if my speed is unaffercted). 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