HMS NELSON CLASS  PLANS

1  Sheet RC Combat Plans.  

1/144 SCALE 

RC-059

PRICE:  $ 20.00

Named after Vice Admiral Lord Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar, HMS Nelson was built to designs that evolved out of the negotiations at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921. Nelson and Rodney were the most heavily armed British capital ships, mounting 16-inch guns in three triple turrets forward of the bridge tower; 6-inch guns were mounted in double turrets aft. Flagship of the fleet from 1927 to 1941, shortly after the start of World War II, she was damaged by a mine at Loch Ewe on December 4, 1939; she did not rejoin the Home Fleet for nine months. On September 27, 1941, Nelson was hit by an aerial torpedo while sailing in support of the Malta Convoy in Operation Halberd and was out of action for another eleven months. In August 1942, she became flagship of Admiral Syfret's Force H—which comprised also Rodney, three aircraft carriers, seven cruisers, and thirty-two destroyers—at Gibraltar. As such, she sailed in support of the Malta convoys, the North African landings during Operation Torch in November 1942, and the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, in July 1943. On September 29, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed the Italian armistice aboard Nelson at Malta.

The following July, she was damaged by a mine in the English Channel and underwent six months of repairs at Philadelphia. On her return to service, she joined the East Indies Fleet for operations against Japanese forces in Malaya, which formally surrendered aboard Nelson. Returning to England at the end of 1945, Nelson remained as flagship of the Home Fleet in 1946. She was scrapped at Inverkeithing in 1948.

Reference: Careless, Battleship Nelson. Raven, Battleships Rodney and Nelson.