In 1921, when the N3 battleship program, based on the M3 program, was completed, the five naval powers had already convened an international conference on the international order and naval armaments in the Pacific in Washington, D.C., in the united states capital. The Navy's shipbuilding director, Nidginson Dancott, keenly predicted that the displacement of capital ships would be limited to less than 35,000 tons, so he asked the Shipbuilding Bureau to develop new battleships with a ceiling of 35,000 tons.
Due to the focus on battlecruisers, the Shipbuilding Bureau went all out to design the new type of battlecruiser, but a turning point provided an opportunity for the birth of the new type of battleship. In the negotiations at the Washington conference, Japan strongly demanded the retention of its nearly completed Battleship "Mutsu", and eventually britain, the United States, and Japan made concessions to each other, Japan could retain and continue to build the "Nagato" class battleships, the United States could complete 2 "Colorado" class battleships under construction, and the United Kingdom obtained the target of building 2 new battleships.
On February 6, 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty was formally signed, and the naval power of the naval powers was severely limited. It was on the day of the treaty that the British Parliament approved the proposal to build two battleships by 1931, which would make up the difference between the Royal Navy and the United States and Japan in battleships. By September 11 of that year, the O3b (O3b scheme was that the two main turrets "A" and "B" were designed on a piggyback, and the "X" behind them was on the same plane as the "A" turret, and the three turrets were arranged in a triangular shape. Despite the strange layout, the O3b design shortened the length of the armor belt of the ammunition depot, which helped to reduce the overall weight, and it was eventually selected) Based on the new battleship design was officially adopted, and the peculiar "Nelson" class battleship was born. The Nelson class battleships had two bows, nelson and Rodney.
(Above) The main guns on the Nelson class were firing a salvo
After the outbreak of World War II, the Nelson class was mainly used to prevent large German warships from entering the Atlantic For combat operations. During this time, rodney participated in the Norwegian campaign and was wounded in the battle. After entering 1941, the Nelson class began to serve as an escort, and the Rodney participated in the siege of the Bismarck and became the main force in sinking the battleship, which can be described as a world war success.
On 24 May 1941, in the Danish Strait, the Royal Navy's battlecruiser HMS Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales intercepted the German fleet. In this battle between giants, Hood was sunk by Bismarck and the Prince of Wales was wounded. While anchored at Scarpa Bay, the Rodney often leaned against the Hood, and many of the people on board the two warships were friends who did not expect the Pride of the Royal Navy to sink just a few weeks later. At 13:00 p.m., rodney received orders from the Admiralty to lead three destroyers to immediately turn around and join the main force of the Home Fleet to intercept Bismarck.
Despite not being able to go to the United States for repairs, the Rodney maintained a high speed of more than 20 knots, which was a great challenge to the engine pack of the battleship. Due to long periods of overloading, one of rodney's boilers failed badly, and the boiler cabin in which it was located rose to 50 degrees due to poor ventilation. After more than four hours of hard work, the ship's maintenance crews eliminated the fault, and the huge battleship continued to rush to the battlefield at high speed, while the three destroyers behind it fell farther and farther due to the harsh sea conditions. Despite the loss of the protection of the destroyer, the Rodney was not worried about being attacked by German submarines, and the captain, Colonel Hamilton, did not consider such weather suitable for submarine warfare. During the voyage, the Rodney kept the radio silent so that it would not reveal its whereabouts and avoid hitting the grass and snakes.
(Above) Two views of the battleship RODNEY in 1945
On 25 May 1941, rodney, which had been advancing at high speed, slowed down and waited for the destroyers behind, while sending a very brief telegram to Admiral Tovey, who was on board the King George V. At 11 o'clock, Tovey asked all the warships to search north for Bismarck. Hamilton, who was aboard the Rodney, thought after research that bismarck was supposed to sail toward the French port of Brest, informed Tovey of his thoughts and attracted attention, and the fleet began to search northeast. Despite losing the specific location of the target, rodney still headed northeast at a speed of 21 knots.
At 10:35 a.m. on May 26, 1941, a Katarina seaplane spotted Bismarck, and on the afternoon of the same day, rodney was also spotted by a German aircraft. In the evening, swordfish torpedo aircraft from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal launched a torpedo attack on Bismarck. Bismarck was eventually hit by 3 torpedoes, one of which hit the rudder of the battleship, causing the rudder angle to get stuck at 15 degrees, so the battleship began to circle on the surface of the sea.
At 8 a.m. on May 27, rodney and King George V spotted masts at sea level, which was later confirmed to be the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk. Soon norfolk spotted Bismarck floating on the surface of the sea, and immediately sent the location of the target to the ships. Upon receiving the news, the Rodney and King George V immediately turned, and they quickly spotted the target. At 8:43, the King George V first opened fire on the Bismarck, 25,000 meters away. At 08:47, rodney fired at the target with six 406 mm guns in the two turrets of "A" and "B". Due to the accurate calculation of the distance to the target, the first salvo of the Rodney landed on the surface of the sea about 160 meters away from the Bismarck, and the second salvo flew over the target, and the third salvo caused a straddle of the target.
At 8:49 a.m. as rodney opened fire, Bismarck began to return fire. Recognizing rodney, Bismarck concentrated its fire on the target that posed the greatest threat to itself, and its second salvo fired across the target. The fourth salvo of rodney marked a reversal of Bismarck's fate, with one of the shells hitting it. At 09:02, a 406 mm shell hit the "B" turret of the Bismarck, and the shell penetrated the top armor of the turret and exploded inside, losing the entire turret. At the same time, another 406 mm shell landed between the turrets of the Bismarck "A" and "B", which temporarily failed. A salvo of rodney destroyed half of bismarck's main gun fire, which fully proved the power of its shells.
After hitting Bismarck, the British warships hit more and more accurately, and shells of different calibers kept falling on Bismarck, which soon destroyed the upper deck and most of the artillery. When the distance from the target was shortened to within 10,000 meters, the 152 mm secondary gun on the Rodney also joined the battle. When the distance was shortened to 2700 meters, rodney fired 2 torpedoes with the torpedo tube on the right, one of which hit Bismarck, which became the only time in the history of world naval warfare that a battleship hit a battleship with a torpedo.
Schematic of the layout of the 406 mm main turret of the Nelson class (above).
After 10 a.m., the British warships had fewer and fewer guns, leaving behind the Bismarck, which was constantly burning on the surface of the sea. Given that the fuel was running low, rodney and King George V returned, and the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire eventually sunk Bismarck with torpedoes. In the battle to annihilate Bismarck, Rodney fired a total of 378 406 mm shells, of which 40 were hit, and their rate of fire remained at 1.6 per minute. Only one 150 mm shell hit rodney during the battle, but not as much damage as the great recoil during the main gun fire.
To be able to participate in the battle to sink the Bismarck was a supreme honor for the Rodney.
This article is excerpted from the Complete History of British Battleships (Volume 1, 2)