A ranar 13 ga Satumba, an canja shi daga Scapa Flow zuwa Rosyth tare da umarnin yin aiki a cikin tashar Ingila lokacin da ake tsammanin mamayewar Jamus ta Biritaniya. A watan Nuwamba da Disamba, an ba Rodney aikin jagorantar jigilar jiragen ruwa tsakanin Biritaniya da Halifax, Nova Scotia. A watan Janairun 1941, Rodney ya shiga farautar jiragen ruwa na Jamus Scharnhorst da Gneisena, ba tare da nasara ba. A ranar 16 ga Maris, duk da haka, yayin da yake jagorantar wani jirgi a Arewacin Atlantic, ba a tuntuɓi yaƙe-yaƙe na Jamus ba, amma Rodney ya bi baya, yayin da suka fahimci cewa sun fuskanci manyan jiragen ruwa a 1941 Tambaya:
Scharnhorst da Gneisenau