HMS Rodney was commissioned in November 1927 and named after the 18th and 19th century British Admiral Rodney. During the Norwegian campaign in April 1940 Rodney was hit by a 500kg bomb dropped by a German bomber, but was repaired and continued in service. On May 27th, 1941 it took part in the action that resulted in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck, firing almost 380 rounds of 16-inch shells. From late 1941 through 1942 Rodney was deployed to the Mediterranean as a convoy escort with sister ship Nelson. Following the invasion of Sicily in 1943, Rodney was the first British battleship to enter Malta since 1940, and was active in the Salerno landing of September 1943.Rodney was held in reserve on the first day of the Normandy landings, but from June 7th until July 9th 1944 it pounded the beachhead with more than 500 16-inch rounds and many hundreds of 6-inch and 4.7-inch shells. After the war ended in 1945, Rodney was transferred to Reserve and sold for scrap in 1948.
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