HMS Renown (1916)
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| Image:HMS Renown (1916).jpg Renown operating with HMS Valiant (right distance), French battleship Richelieu (left distance) in the Indian Ocean, 12 May 1944 | ||
| Career | Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordered: | 30 December 1914 | |
| Laid down: | 25 January 1915 | |
| Launched: | 4 March 1916 | |
| Commissioned: | 20 September 1916 | |
| Decommissioned: | ||
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping 1948 | |
| Struck: | 1948 | |
| General characteristics | ||
| Displacement: | 32,000 tons | |
| Length: | 794 ft (242 m) | |
| Beam: | 90 ft (27.4 m) | |
| Draught: | 31.75 ft (9.7 m) | |
| Propulsion: | Geared turbines, 4 shafts, 120,000 shp (89 MW) | |
| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h) | |
| Range: | 3,650 miles (5870 km) | |
| Complement: | 1,181 officers and enlisted | |
| Armament: | 6 x 15 in /42 (381 mm) (3x2) 20 x 4.5 in (114 mm) (10x2) 24 x 2-pdr (40 mm) pom-pom (3x8) 20 mm AA (number varied) | |
| Aircraft: | 4, 1 double-ended catapult | |
| Motto: | ||
HMS Renown was the lead ship of the three 26,500-ton Renown class battlecruisers of the Royal Navy, the other two were HMS Repulse and the cancelled HMS Resistance.
She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. at Govan,Glasgow, Scotland. Completed in September 1916, she was too late to serve in the Battle of Jutland but served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the remaining two years of World War I.
In 1920-21, following a refit, she carried the Prince of Wales on a voyage to Australia and America. During 1923-26, she was extensively refitted to increase her protection against gunfire and torpedoes.
After a decade of further service, Renown was again reconstructed, greatly changing her appearance and giving her a modern anti-aircraft gun battery, much enhanced aircraft-handling facilities, and up-to-date gunfire controls. This work was completed in September 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War.
Renown's high speed made her a valuable asset during World War II. In late 1939, she was sent to the South Atlantic to search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. She covered minelaying operations along the Norwegian coast in early April 1940 and, on the 9th of that month, engaged the German battlecruisers (or light battleships) Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, damaging the latter. Later in 1940 and into 1941, she operated with Force "H", based at Gibraltar, to provide strategic presence in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean. While with Force "H", she participated in a bombardment of Genoa, Italy, in February 1941. In May, she took part in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck. After Home Fleet service in 1942-43, Renown was sent to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. Operating from Ceylon in 1944-45, she helped contain the Japanese in the East Indies.
Renown had brief post-war service in British waters and was sold for scrapping in March 1948.
See HMS Renown for other ships of the same name.
Originally from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-r/renown.htm, a public domain publication of the Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy.
External link
| Renown-class battlecruiser |
| Renown | Repulse |
| List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy |