HMS Renown (1916)

HMS Renown (1916) was a Renown-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She was one of the fastest capital ships of her era, designed in response to reports of new German battlecruisers like SMS Hindenburg. Her career spanned both world wars, seeing extensive service as a fast flagship and in fleet escort roles, undergoing significant reconstruction between the conflicts.

Design and description

The design for HMS Renown and her sister ship HMS Repulse (1916) originated from an Admiralty requirement for a new, fast capital ship, heavily influenced by First Sea Lord Lord Fisher. They were essentially enlarged versions of the Courageous-class battlecruiser, armed with the powerful BL 15-inch Mk I naval gun but with minimal armour to achieve high speed. Her propulsion plant, consisting of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines and 42 Yarrow boilers, could produce 112,000 shaft horsepower, propelling her at over 31 knots. The main belt armor was only 6 inches thick at its maximum, a compromise that earned the class criticism for being under-protected against shells from contemporary battleships like the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship.

Construction and career

Renown was ordered on 30 December 1914 as part of the Emergency War Programme and her keel was laid down at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company yard in Govan on 25 January 1915. She was launched on 4 March 1916, a remarkably short construction time, and was commissioned into the Grand Fleet on 20 September 1916 under the command of Captain William Boyle. Her initial cost was approximately £3,117,204. Following her rushed completion, she immediately began working up with the fleet at Scapa Flow.

First World War service

Upon joining the Grand Fleet, Renown was assigned to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty. She missed the major fleet engagement at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 due to being unfinished. Her wartime service was largely uneventful, consisting of fleet patrols and sweeps in the North Sea. In late 1917, she was part of the force that sailed to intercept the German raid on the Scandinavian convoy but saw no combat. She also briefly carried the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII, on a tour to Canada and the United States in 1919.

Interwar modifications

During the interwar period, Renown underwent two major reconstructions to address her deficient protection and modernize her systems. The first, from 1923 to 1926, added significant deck armor and upgraded her anti-aircraft armament. A more extensive reconstruction occurred from 1936 to 1939 at Portsmouth Dockyard, which completely replaced her machinery with new Admiralty 3-drum boilers and Parsons turbines, installed a new superstructure and bridge, and fitted a modern High-Angle Control System for her new 4.5-inch dual-purpose secondary batteries. Her appearance was radically altered, resembling the new King George V-class battleship (1939) more than her original design.

Second World War service

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Renown was part of the Home Fleet. In April 1940, she engaged the German battleships ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' during the Norwegian Campaign, scoring hits on Gneisenau. She later served with Force H based at Gibraltar, participating in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November 1940 and the hunt for the ''Bismarck'' in May 1941. She escorted vital Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union and, transferred to the Eastern Fleet in 1944, provided naval gunfire support during operations against Japanese targets in the Dutch East Indies.

Fate

After the surrender of Japan, Renown returned to Portsmouth and was placed in reserve. With the post-war drawdown of the Royal Navy and the ascendancy of the aircraft carrier, the aged battlecruiser was deemed obsolete. She was sold for ship breaking on 19 March 1948 and subsequently towed to Faslane to be dismantled. No major relics of the ship are known to survive, though one and her sister ship breaking|Ship breakers, (1939) and 1948.