This is a brief rundown of what the other R class battleships got up to during the war.

(click on the map area for a closer look at the locations of major actions.)

31st Aug/ 7th Sept 1939

Home fleet consisting Ramillies, Royal Oak, & Royal Sovereign are sent out to search between Scotland, Iceland & Norway for returning German merchant ships.

14th Aug 1939

German U-boat U47 slips into Scapa Flow and sinks the Royal Oak, killing 833 men including the 2nd battle squadron commander Rear Admiral Blagrove. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

6th Jan/ 12th Feb 1940

Ramillies escorts 13,500 New Zealand troops from Wellington to Suez.

15th April/ 17th May 1940

Ramillies escorts Australian troops from Melbourne to Suez.

27th - 30th June 1940

Ramillies & Royal Sovereign escort convoy from Alexandria to Malta.

7th-8th July 1940

Royal Sovereign & Mediterranean force C, leave Alexandria to cover a convoy to Malta, the submarine H.M.S. Phoenix reports seeing Italian Battleships covering a convoy to Tripolitania, 200 miles east of Malta. The main force leave the convoy and heads for the Italians. Aircraft from both fleets shadow and British are attacked by Italian bombers H.M.S. Gloucester is hit and badly damaged. On the 8th both fleets meet off Cape Spartivento, Italy. The battle lasts 110 minutes, Italian admiral Campioni's flag ship, the battleship Giulio Cesare, is hit by a salvo fired thirteen miles away by H.M.S. Warspite, the other ships take various hits and lay smoke screens and sail away, both forces lose sight of each other. MAP 1

16th - 18th August 1940

Ramillies take part in shelling of Bardia & fort Capuzzo North Africa, On returning to Alexandria is attacked by Italian bombers but no hits are registered. MAP 1

15th August 1940

Royal Sovereign is attacked by the Italian Submarine Ferraris south of Bab el-Mandeb (in Arabic means gate of tears), while sailing from Suez to Aden all torpedoes miss.

8th-14thOctober 1940

Ramillies escorts supply convoy from Alexandria to Malta, on returning to Alexandria ships are attacked by 8 Italian torpedo boats, three are sunk and four are damaged with no British losses. MAP 1

11th October 1940

Revenge involved in operation "medium" an attack on Cherbourg, she fires a total of 120, 15 inch shells into the port. MAP 3

25th-28th October 1940

Ramillies Covers Convoy between Alexandria & Crete.

10th-13th Nov 1940

As Ramillies enters Malta she is fired at by Italian submarine Capponi but a torpedoes miss, she then sails on to Crete with a convoy arriving on the 13th. MAP 1

26th-27th Nov 1940

Ramillies involved in operation "Collar" battle off of Sardinia, Mediterranean force D Inc Ramillies leave Alexandria on convoy for Malta they are spotted by an Italian Civilian plane just south of Malta, the Italian fleet leave Naples to intercept.

On the night of the 26th Italian torpedo boats locate the fleet and attack but miss all ships, the next day the two fleets meet and open fire on each other, the battle last just over an hour and one British and one Italian Destroyer are hit, the Italian admiral breaks off after mistakenly believing he is outnumbered. MAP 1

12th Jan 1941

Ramillies escorts Convoy of 40,000 troops from Britain to North Africa.

8th Feb 1941

Ramillies escorts the convoy Hx106, east of New foundland the convoy is spotted by the German battlecruisers Sharnhorst & Gneisenau, they break off any attack when they identify Ramillies as one of the escorts.

24th-25th May 1941

Ramillies escorting convoy Hx127 is detached and sent west to help spot the Bismark & Prinz Eugen, Revenge is sent From Halifax, Nova Scotia to do the same, Bismark spotted on 25th but Revenge was too far away so she was sent back to escort the liner Britannic to Halifax.

26th March-11th April 1942

Royal Sovereign, Ramillies, Revenge & Resolution all in the 3rd Battle squadron in the Maldives along with Warspite, and the four carriers Illustrious, Formidable, Indomitable, and Hermes, and the cruisers Cornwall & Dorsetshire.

Admiral Sommerville C-in-C of Eastern fleet receives news on the 29th March that a Japanese fleet including five aircraft carriers are planing to attack Colombo, Sommerville knew that the fleet was no match for the Japanese fleet in a daylight battle due to the fleets light anti aircraft cover, so plans were drawn up for them to intercept at night, after night exercises the fleet set out to find the Japanese, the fleet ran low on fuel and returned to the Maldives on the 2nd of April. On the 5th of April Japanese carrier based aircraft locate and sink the cruiser's Cornwall & Dorsetshire. MAP 2

From the 5th to the 11th of April the British and a now larger Japanese fleet play cat and mouse around Ceylon, Sommerville always keeping the aged battleships out of Japanese aircraft range, on the 11th the Japanese fleet withdraw as they are low on fuel. MAP 2

25th Arpril-8th May 1942

Operation "Ironclad" Ramillies & Resolution escorts Convoys, and take part in the Allied landing at Diego Suarez, (North Madagascar) firing at the Vichy French ships and an airfield, the French Submarine Beveziers which hit Resolution in 1940 is sunk but later raised. MAIN MAP

30th-31st May 1942

Japanese mini subs from I-16 & I-20 torpedo and badly damage Ramillies in Diego Suarez, but manages to steam to Durban south Africa for repairs.MAIN MAP

4th-12th Feb 1943

Convoy "pamphlet" Revenge and Resolution escort 30,000 of the Australian 9th Division from Suez back to Australia.

11th Jan 1944

After repairs Ramillies is sent back to reinforce the eastern fleet.

May 1944

Royal Sovereign given to Russian Navy to use and renamed Arkhangelsk, she joins the Northern fleet.

6th-7th June 1944

"D-day" Ramillies part of D force is sent to cover the landings on Sword beach firing at coastal defences at Benerville. That night a German torpedo flotilla attack ships of D force, torpedoes are seen running between Ramillies and Warspite, but none hit. MAP 3

15th Aug 1944

Ramillies supports the Allied landings near Toulon in the south of France. MAP 1

15th Aug-6th Sept 1944

Akhangelsk (Royal Sovereign) now part of Soviet Northern fleet escorts large Russian convoy , she is attacked by German submarine U711 who fires pattern running torpedoes at her but they detonate early.

14th-24th Sept 1944

U314 twice attempts to enter the Kola inlet to attack Arkhangelsk but fails due to the net barrages.

5th-8th Jan 1945

U-boats U295, 717 & 739 launch six biber midget subs to enter the Kola inlet and attack Arkhangelsk, but have to abandon after power failures.

March 1948

Ramillies & Revenge sold for scrap.

Feb 1949

Royal Sovereign returned by Russia and sold for scrap.