Gales in December 1940 opened leaks and caused flooding before a roughly twenty-five-day repair period reinforced Rodney's forward hull. An earlier German 500-kilogram bomb had broken up against a 4.7-inch ready-use ammunition locker rather than detonating fully. Fragments wounded three sailors, while firefighting water entered an electrical junction box and caused burns to fifteen more. Dockyard visits paired the necessary repairs with bottom cleaning and other prepared strengthening work. The incidents are not presented as deliberate. The narrower claim is that constructors were ready to use damage periods to improve a battleship routinely pushed near her limits.
Notable Point · 1:12:47-1:17:25
Storm, bomb, and dockyard work strengthened Rodney
Heavy-weather leaks and a German bomb strike produced real casualties and damage while giving dockyards opportunities to reinforce and clean a hard-driven battleship.