The Battle Cruiser HMS Renown 1916-48 £12.99
Author: Peter C Smith
First published in 2008, the story of the Renown more than justifies a reprint. Described as a lucky ship, this is fortunate given her design and initial build. With Fisher’s desire for fast, heavy gunned ships, Renown’s design with 6x15” guns and 42 boilers giving her 31 knots met this aim. However, her armour was a different story. Described as fragile ships with puny armour – only 1 or 2 inches in places, her survival was definitely lucky. Although her armour was increased, she never had the opportunity to prove her value in the latter days of WWI.
With peace, Renown undertook 3 trips as a Royal Yacht. By the 1930s, it was appreciated that the days of the lightly armoured battle cruiser were over and in 1936 Renown entered a major rebuild which took twice as long as her original build, but she emerged a stronger and more capable ship, with new machinery and better armament. At the start of WWII, Renown initially was involved in the hunt for the Graf Spee but returned to the Home Fleet and took part in the Norwegian campaign where she encountered the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in appalling weather but acquitted herself well hitting both ships. Renown then joined Force H in Gibraltar as Adm Somerville’s flagship. With high morale, she played a major role in actions from escorting Malta convoys to bombardment of Genoa. Although not actively involved in hunt for the Bismarck, again her crew were relishing the prospect. Back at Scapa Flow, a chapter headed Churchill’s Racehorse traces Renown’s trips carrying Churchill to high level meetings. In 1944, she headed out to the Far East taking part in the attacks on Japanese targets. By the end of the war her displacement had increased by some 2,300 tons. Her final service was to act as the meeting place for Churchill and Truman. Placed in reserve, she was broken up in 1948.
There is no doubt that she was both a happy ship and she also had a charmed wartime life. Her sleek lines helped her ship’s company to call her the “largest destroyer in the Fleet”. This is a highly enjoyable read. The mix of technical descriptions with eyewitness accounts from all levels of her company is brilliant. With a service life of “strenuous and unfailing service”, she always lived up to her motto of “Hit Fast and Hit Hard”. This is a cracking read – highly recommended.