Receiving word that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had attacked north-bound German warships in the North Sea on 7 April, Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, Commander-in-chief, Home Fleet, ordered most of his ships to put to sea that evening. "Rodney" was hit by a bomb on 9 April off the south-western coast of Norway. The bomb broke up after hitting the corner of a armoured 4.7-inch ready ammunition box on the upper deck aft of the funnel; its fragments penetrated through several decks before bouncing off the four-inch armoured deck and started a small fire in the galley. Three men were wounded by the bomb and another fifteen suffered electrical burns when water being used to fight the fire poured onto a junction box. The crew made temporary repairs, and the ship remained at sea until she dropped anchor at Scapa Flow on the 17th. Upon receiving notice that German ships had been spotted in the Norwegian Sea on 9 June, Forbes ordered the Home Fleet, including "Rodney", to sea to protect troop convoys evacuating Allied forces from Norway.