The story of HMS Rodney: the ship which wrecked the Bismarck and avenged the Hood.

HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney were the only Roya Navy battleships to mount 16-inch guns. They were nicknamed the "Cherry tree" class - e.g. cut down by Washington - after their size and configuration was dramatically altered as a result of the Washington naval treaty.

HMS Rodney was on her way to America when HMS Hood went down in the Denmark straight and the admiralty sent out the order to all ships, "Sink the Bismarck."

It is possible - though it was never confirmed - that Rodney hit Bismarck with a torpedo. She had them, she fired them, Rodney's officers thought they got a hit. If so this was the only instance in the whole existence of dreadnaught battleships that one battleship hit another with a torpedo.

What is not in doubt, however, is that Rodney's nine sixteen-inch guns quickly turned the Bismarck, one of the most formidable battleships in the world, into a blazing wreck.

Here is her story.