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| HMS Nelson (28) | |
|---|---|
| Ship name | HMS Nelson (28) |
| Caption | HMS Nelson at anchor |
| Namesake | Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson |
| Builder | Cammell Laird |
| Laid down | 1922 |
| Launched | 1925 |
| Commissioned | 1927 |
| Fate | Decommissioned 1949; scrapped 1949–1952 |
| Displacement | 33,000 long tons (standard) |
| Length | 709 ft (overall) |
| Beam | 106 ft |
| Draught | 30 ft |
| Propulsion | Parsons geared steam turbines; Yarrow boilers |
| Speed | 23 knots |
| Complement | ~1,361 officers and ratings |
| Armament | See armament section |
| Armour | See protection section |
| Aircraft | Fairey Swordfish (operationally carried) |
HMS Nelson (28) was a Royal Navy battleship built in the interwar period and named after Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. As the lead ship of her class, she represented a radical departure from previous battleship layout and was constrained by the Washington Naval Treaty and subsequent naval limitations, entering service in 1927 and serving through the Second World War before decommissioning in the late 1940s.
Nelson was ordered under the 1922 estimates and laid down at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead during a period shaped by the Washington Naval Conference and the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. Designers at Admiralty staff and private yards sought to maximize armament within treaty displacement limits, producing an unconventional layout with all three main gun turrets forward and heavy armour concentrated around the citadel. The design team, influenced by earlier capital ships such as HMS Rodney (29) concepts and lessons from Battle of Jutland analyses, employed a compact hull, large beam, and low freeboard to control weight and metacentric characteristics. Launched in 1925 and completed in 1927, Nelson incorporated pioneering internal subdivision and machinery arrangements developed after consultations with Sir Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt and naval architects at Vickers and John Brown & Company.
Nelson mounted nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns in three triple turrets all forward of the superstructure, a configuration influenced by treaty displacement constraints and tactical theories advocated by Admiralty planners and debated in journals like The Naval Review. Secondary armament included numerous 6-inch (152 mm) guns in enclosed twin turrets and anti-aircraft batteries of 4-inch (102 mm) and smaller quick-firing weapons, later augmented by 20 mm Oerlikon and 40 mm Bofors mounts after engagements with Luftwaffe aircraft. The main belt armor was concentrated amidships with thick horizontal protection including an armored deck to resist plunging fire and shell splinters from engagements such as those studied in Battle of Jutland reports; turret and conning tower armor were similarly reinforced following contemporary practices from HMS Hood analyses. Fire-control systems comprised rangefinders and directors supplied by firms like Barr and Stroud and Admiralty Fire Control Table installations, later upgraded with radar suites from Type 273 and Type 284 families.
Nelson entered service with the Atlantic Fleet and operated in interwar cruises and exercises with other capital ships, showing alongside units from HMS Rodney (29), HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913), and constituencies of the Home Fleet. In the late 1930s she underwent Mediterranean deployments tied to events including the Spanish Civil War monitoring and fleet concentrations during tensions with Italy. During the Second World War, Nelson escorted convoys, participated in the hunt for Bismarck-period operations, and played a role in the Norwegian Campaign and Mediterranean actions such as the Operation Menace and escorting convoys to Malta. She suffered damage from Axis air attack and a significant internal explosion during wartime operations, prompting repairs at Rosyth and Chatham Dockyard. Later in the war Nelson supported amphibious training and provided naval gunfire in exercises for Operation Overlord preparations, though she did not take part in the Normandy landings in a primary shore bombardment role. Postwar she served on peacetime deployments before reserve entry.
Throughout her career Nelson underwent multiple modernizations driven by evolving threats from aircraft carrier aviation and submarine torpedoes. Early 1930s alterations adjusted fire-control and light anti-aircraft fits. Wartime refits added radar sets including Type 279 and Type 285, additional 20 mm and 40 mm AA batteries, improved ASDIC (sonar) gear from ASDIC development programs, and strengthened deck armor in response to lessons from Battle of Taranto and carrier strikes observed in the Mediterranean Theatre. Machinery overhauls at Cammell Laird and Devonport Dockyard replaced boilers and renewed turbine components, while internal reconfiguration improved crew accommodations and magazine protection following Admiralty damage-control directives influenced by inquiries after losses like HMS Hood and Prince of Wales (53).
Nelson was commanded by a succession of captains and flag officers from the Royal Navy officer corps, serving as flagship for admirals of the Home Fleet and Mediterranean Fleet at various periods. Her complement of approximately 1,300–1,400 officers and ratings reflected the need to man heavy main and secondary batteries, fire-control positions, engineering rooms, and aviation handling for embarked Fairey Swordfish aircraft operated by Fleet Air Arm squadrons. Crew training emphasized gunnery, anti-aircraft drills, damage control, and navigation for convoy escort duties, drawing on doctrines published by the Admiralty and instruction from establishments such as HMS Excellent.
Nelson was not lost in action but, after wartime service and postwar reductions under UK defence cuts and fleet rationalization, she was paid off and placed in reserve. Decommissioned in 1949, the ship was sold for scrap in the early 1950s and broken up, with dismantling carried out by firms engaged in shipbreaking at Clydebank and other yards. Her legacy endures in naval architecture studies and museums, influencing postwar capital ship and battleship preservation debates; surviving artifacts and plans are held in collections at institutions including the National Maritime Museum and archives at National Museum of the Royal Navy, while model reconstructions and scholarly works assess her unique forward-gun layout as a notable interwar innovation. Category:Battleships of the Royal Navy