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| Royal Navy Nelson-class battleship 33,950 Tons 41,250 Tons 710' x 106' x 33' 9 x 16" guns 12 x 6" guns (6x2) 6 x 4.7" AA 48 x 2 pdr AA (6 oct mounts) 16 x 40mm 61 x 20mm 2 x 24.5" torpedo tubes 1 aircraft  Hales August 29, 1945 |
Ship History Built by Armstrong-Whitworth in at Newcastle, United Kingdom at a cost of £7,504,000. The vessel was constructed with materials prepared for the canceled Admiral-class battlecruisers HMS Anson and HMS Howe. Laid down December 28, 1922 as Nelson-class battleship. Launched September 3, 1925 as HMS Nelson (28) in honor of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Commissioned August 15, 1927 in the Royal Navy (RN). Nelson became the flagship of the Home Fleet. In 1931 the crews of both Nelson and Rodney took part in the Invergordon Mutiny. On January 12, 1934 while departing on an exercise with the Home Fleet to the West Indies, she ran aground on Hamilton's Shoal off Portsmouth. Wartime History At the start of World War II in Europe, Nelson performed escort duty during the salvage and rescue operations for submarine HMS Spearfish during September 25-26, 1941. Afterwards, deployed in the North Sea in October 1941 against a German formation of cruisers and destroyers. On October 30, 1941 unsuccessfully attacked by U-56 near the Orkney Islands and was hit by three torpedoes, none of which exploded. In December 1939 she struck a magnetic mine laid by U-31 at the entrance to Loch Ewe off Scotland and was repaired at Portsmouth until August 1940. Afterwards to Rosyth and was deployed in the English Channel. During April to June 1941 she was assigned to convoy escort duty in the Atlantic Ocean. In late May she was in Freetown and was ordered to Gibraltar to stand by to chase German battleship Bismarck. During June 1941 Nelson, then in Gibraltar, was assigned to Force H operating in the Mediterranean as an escort. On September 27, 1941 she was extensively damaged by a Regia Aeronautica torpedo strike and was under repair in Britain until May 1942. She returned to Force H as the flagship in August 1942, performing escort duties for supply convoys running to Malta. She supported Operation Torch around Algeria in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Salerno operation conducting coastal bombardment in September 1943. The Italian armistice was signed between General Dwight Eisenhower and Marshal Pietro Badoglio aboard Nelson on September 29, 1941. During November 1943, Nelson returned to England for a refit, including adding anti-aircraft defenses. On June 6, 1944 Nelson supported the landings at Normandy. On June 18, 1944 hit two sea mines and afterwards was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for repairs. During January 1945, returned to the United Kingdom then deployed to the Indian Ocean arriving in Colombo during July 1945. Nelson operated around the Malayan Peninsula for three months and participated in Operation Livery. On August 28, 1945 Neson, flagship of the British East Indies Fleet with Vice Admiral H. T. C. Walker aboard anchors at George Town on Penang. On August 29, 1945 a Japanese delegation including Captain Hidaka discussed the surrender of Japanese forces. On September 2, 1945 at 9:15pm Rear Admiral Uzuni and the Japanese Governor of Penang formally surrendered to Vice Admiral H. T. C. Walker. Postwar During February 1948 decommissioned and used as a target ship for aerial bombing exercises for several months. Sold to Thomas W. Ward Ltd for scrap. On March 15, 1949 arrived at Inverkeithing and broken up. Contribute
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