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HMS Ramillies was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after the battle of Ramillies.
The Ramillies was launched too late to see service at Jutland in World War One. She had no extensive modernization between the wars and so was semi-obsolete when the Second World War broke out. At times she could make little more than 18 knots. Nonetheless, Ramillies gave sterling service, doing everything from convoy escort to shore bombardment.The presence of this old battlewagon was sufficient to deter German battlecruisers from a convoy on one occasion.
Ramillies was on convoy duty when the new German battleshipBismarck broke out into the North Atlantic after sinking HMS Hood, Britain's largest warship. Ramillies was southwest of Bismarck, and if she had elected to continue with her raid, Ramillies was all that the Royal Navy had to stop her from ravaging the sealanes off North America. It was God's blessing that she was not put to the test.
See HMS Ramillies for other ships of this name.
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