High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! HMS Rodney (pennant number 29) was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was named for Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of 16 inch (406 mm) guns, and the only ones to carry all the main armament forward of the superstructure (as her superstructure was located aft of midships like RN fleet oilers, whose names carried the `-ol` suffix, she was unofficially referred to as `Rodnol`). Commissioned in 1927, Rodney served extensively in the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans during World War II. She played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. In poor condition from heavy usage and lack of refits, she was scrapped in 1948.