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Looking back at to September 1940 the major Ships of the Royal Navy were pretty thinly spread. In total there were 11 Battleships and 3 Battlecruisers of which 2 were being repaired or refitted, 3 were stationed off the West African coast as part of Force M, 4 were in the Med and 5 stationed in home waters on anti-invasion duties.
However two of the battleships in home waters had very lucky escapes the Nelson and the Rodney.
In October '39 the Nelson had been struck by 3 torpedoes none of which fortunately detonated. However just two months later the Nelson struck a mine requiring it to undergo repairs lasting for 7 1/2 months.
In April '40 the Rodney and accompanying ships were attacked by 80+ bombers and the Rodney was struck by a 500kg AP bomb dropped by a Ju 88 which crashed straight through the upper deck and several decks below before fizzing to a halt without exploding.
If one or both of these ships had been lost or required extensive repairs stretching to the end of 1940 how would the RN have distributed its Battleships?