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HMS Malaya

HMS Malaya was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1910s. Shortly after commissioning in early 1916, she participated in the Battle of Jutland of the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. In the Second World War, Malaya served mostly in escort duties in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. She was withdrawn from service at the end of 1944, and sold for scrap in 1948.

Design and description
The Queen Elizabeth-class ships were designed to form a fast squadron for the fleet that was intended to operate against the leading ships of the opposing battleline. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship.

Malaya had a length overall of 639 ft, a beam of 90 ft and a deep draught of 33 ft. She had a normal displacement of 32590 LT and displaced 33260 LT at deep load. She was powered by two sets of Parsons steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at 75000 shp and intended to reach a maximum speed of 25 kn. The ship had a range of 5000 nmi at a cruising speed of 12 kn. Her crew numbered 1,217 officers and ratings in 1919.

The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) 15 in Mk I guns in four twin-gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. Twelve of the fourteen BL 6 in Mk XII guns were mounted in casemates along the broadside of the vessel amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the forecastle deck near the aft funnel and were protected by gun shields. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 3 in 20 cwt Mk I guns. The ships were fitted with four submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside.

Malaya was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15 ft rangefinders. One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the spotting top above the tripod foremast. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in April 1917.

The waterline belt of the Queen Elizabeth class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 in thick over the ships' vitals. The gun turrets were protected by 11 to 13 in of KC armour and were supported by barbettes 7 - 10 in thick. The ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 3 in in thickness. The main conning tower was protected by 13 inches of armour. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines.

The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. Exactly when the platforms were removed is unknown, but no later than Malaya's 1934–1936 reconstruction.

First World War
Malaya was built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction.

Malaya served in Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. She took part in the Battle of Jutland, on 31 May 1916. She first engaged the German battlecruisers and targeted the battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz, scoring numerous hits with her 15-inch (381 mm) main guns. As the German battleline intercepted the 5th Battle Squadron, Malaya was hit by seven 12-inch (305 mm) shells from multiple German battleships. As 5th Battle Squadron retreated to join the rest of the Grand Fleet, she was hit by an additional battleship sized projectile for a total of eight hits, taking major damage and heavy crew casualties. A total of 65 men died, either in the battle or later due to their injuries. However, her armour held up, surviving nowhere near critical condition. Among the wounded was Able Seaman Willie Vicarage, notable as one of the first men to receive facial reconstruction using plastic surgery and the first to receive radical reconstruction via the "tubed pedicule" technique pioneered by Sir Harold Gillies. Uniquely among the ships at the battle, HMS Malaya flew the red-white-black-yellow ensign of the Federated Malay States.

Other than Jutland, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during the First World War mostly consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

Between the wars
On 17 November 1922 Malaya carried the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, from Istanbul into exile on Malta. In August–September 1938 she served in the port of Haifa during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine.

Malaya received a major refit in 1927-29 with funnels trunked and bulges fitted. Second major refit/reconstruction at Devonport from Oct. 1934 to Dec. 1936. Middle Deck armor increased to 5" over magazines and 3.5" over engine rooms. AA armament increase to 8x4" Mk XVI (4x2) and 16-2pdr pompoms (2x8) Torpedo tubes removed and cross-catapult and hangers added amidships.

Second World War
Malaya served in the Mediterranean in 1940, escorting convoys and operating against the Italian fleet.

Malaya's second big action of her career, and her first of World War II, was the Battle of Calabria, on 9 June 1940. British forces engaged an Italian fleet, including the battleships ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Conte di Cavour and ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Giulio Cesare. Malaya fired several main battery rounds against the Italians while under fire from Conte di Cavour. Through her actions, Malaya helped to chase off all of the Italian warships with no damage received or hits scored, though most of the heavy lifting was carried out by her sister ship Warspite.

She shelled Genoa in February 1941 as part of Operation Grog but due to a crew error, fired a 15-inch armour-piercing shell into the south-east corner of the nave of Genoa Cathedral. The shell failed to detonate.

On 7 March 1941, while escorting convoy SL 67, Malaya encountered the German capital ships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau that were conducting the Operation Berlin raid which targeted Allied convoys. By her presence she forced them to withdraw, although a U-boat attack aiming to sink Malaya inflicted some damage on the convoy.

Later that month Malaya was escorting convoy SL 68. On the evening of 20 March 1941, about 250 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands, Malaya was hit by a torpedo from GS U-106 (1940). Damaged on the port side, and with a 7 degree list due to flooding, Malaya was forced to leave the convoy and make for port, escorted by the corvette HMS Crocus (K49). She reached Trinidad safely on 29 March. After temporary repairs were made, she continued to the New York Navy Yard, where she was docked for four months. During that time, personnel from the ship ferried ten Banff-class sloops to Britain.

On 9 July, under the command of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger, Malaya left New York on trials and steamed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to provide protection for an urgent fast convoy. No ships were lost, and Malaya arrived in Rosyth on 28 July. Thereafter she escorted convoys from the United Kingdom to Malta and Cape Town until summer 1943.

Malaya was placed in reserve at the end of 1943. At this time her entire secondary 6-inch armament was removed and her anti-aircraft armament was enhanced. Between 15 and 17 May 1944, Malaya was used in Loch Striven as a target ship for inert Highball bouncing bomb prototypes, one of which punched a hole in the ship's side. She was reactivated just before the Normandy landings to act as a reserve bombardment battleship.

Fate
Malaya was finally withdrawn from all service at the end of 1944 and became an accommodation ship for a torpedo school. Sold on 20 February 1948 to Metal Industries, Limited she arrived at Faslane on 12 April 1948 for scrapping. The first watch bell was refitted and presented to the Perak Council in Malaya, and was hung in the Council Chamber. The furthermost bell is located in the East India Club, and the second watch bell was handed to the Victoria Institution on 12 September 1947, before being handed over to the Royal Malaysian Navy in 2007.

title: HMS Malaya


text: Template:Renown class battlecruiser

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Template:Renown class battlecruiser


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Renown-class battlecruiser

The Renown class consisted of two battlecruisers built during the First World War for the Royal Navy. They were originally laid down as improved versions of the Revenge-class battleships, but their construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds they would not be ready in a timely manner. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to restart their construction as battlecruisers that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ships in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but they were delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. They were the world's fastest capital ships upon their commissioning.

HMS Repulse (1916) was the only ship of her class to see combat in the First World War when she participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917. Both ships were reconstructed twice between the wars; the 1920s reconstruction increased their armour protection and made lesser improvements, while the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough, especially for HMS Renown (1916). Repulse accompanied the battlecruiser HMS Hood (51) during the Special Service Squadron's round-the-world cruise in 1923–1924 and protected British interests during the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. Renown frequently conveyed royalty on their foreign tours and served as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was refitting.

Both ships served during the Second World War; they searched for the GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee in 1939, participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 and searched for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck in 1941. Repulse was sunk on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off Kuantan, Pahang by Japanese aircraft. Renown spent much of 1940 and 1941 assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, escorting convoys and she fought in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. She was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet and provided cover to several Arctic convoys in early 1942. The ship was transferred back to Force H for Operation Torch and spent much of 1943 refitting or transporting Winston Churchill and his staff to and from various conferences with various Allied leaders. In early 1944 Renown was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean where she supported numerous attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia and various island groups in the Indian Ocean. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in early 1945 and was refitted before being placed in reserve after the end of the war. Renown was sold for scrap in 1948.

Improved Revenge-class battleships
The battleships of the 1914 Naval Programme consisted of three improved Revenge-class ships, named Renown, Repulse and Resistance, and one further member of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, called Agincourt. Resistance and Agincourt were to be built in royal dockyards while Renown was awarded to Fairfield and Repulse to Palmers. The design was approved on 13 May 1914 and the improvements over the Revenge class consisted of:
 * A consistent thickness of 1.5 in for the protective wing bulkheads.
 * An enlarged torpedo control tower.
 * An enlarged conning tower with the armour rearranged for better access.
 * A protected spotting position in the bow.
 * The width of the keel was increased to provide a more rigid structure amidships to resist stress while docking.
 * Shell stowage for the main guns was increased from 80 rounds per gun to 100.

These changes would have done little to change the size of the ships in comparison to their predecessors other than a decrease in draught to 28 ft, 1 ft less than the older ships. They would, however, have been 2 kn slower than the Revenge-class ships as they were to be provided with only 31000 shp rather than the 40000 shp of their predecessors.

Work on all four ships was suspended at the beginning of the First World War and the two ships to be built in the royal dockyards were cancelled on 26 August 1914, as it was believed that they could not be completed before the end of the war. Admiral Lord Fisher, once he returned to office as First Sea Lord in October, began pressuring Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to allow him to convert the suspended contracts for Renown and Repulse into a new class of battlecruisers capable of the very high speed of 32 kn. Churchill argued that their construction would interfere with other construction programmes, absorb too many resources, and still could not be finished in time. Fisher countered by arguing he could keep the building time to a minimum, as he had done with HMS Dreadnought (1906), by using as much material ordered for the battleships as possible, including their 15 in gun turrets. Churchill was unmoved, however, until the experiences of Battle of Heligoland Bight in August and the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December, seemed to demonstrate that high speed and heavy gun power was a potent combination and vindicated Fisher's long-held belief on the viability of the battlecruiser. These actions, plus pressure from Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, and Vice Admiral Beatty, commander of the Battlecruiser Force, caused Churchill to gain approval from the Cabinet to build two ships on 28 December.

Battlecruisers
Admiral Lord Fisher first presented his requirements for the new ships to the DNC on 18 December, before they had even been approved. He wanted a long, high, flared bow, like that on the pre-dreadnought HMS Renown (1895), but higher, four 15-inch guns in two twin turrets, an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty 4 in guns mounted high up and protected by gun shields only, speed of 32 knots using oil fuel, and armour on the scale of the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable (1909). Within a few days, however, Fisher increased the number of guns to six and added two torpedo tubes. Minor revisions in the initial estimate were made until 26 December, and a preliminary design was completed on 30 December.

During the following week the DNC's department examined the material delivered for the two battleships and decided what could be used in the new design and the contract for Repulse was transferred from Palmers to John Brown & Company because the former lacked a slipway long enough to use for the new ship. The usable material was transferred to John Brown and both builders had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March

General characteristics
The Renown-class ships had an overall length of 794 ft, a beam of 90 ft, and a draught of 30 ft at deep load. They displaced 27320 LT at standard load and 32220 LT at deep load. While 90 ft longer than their predecessor, HMS Tiger (1913), they displaced 2780 LT less than the older ship at deep load.

The ships proved to be good sea boats, but had to be reinforced while under construction with additional stiffening and pillars under the forecastle deck to cure some minor structural problems forward. They had a metacentric height of 6.2 ft at deep load as built as well as a complete double bottom.

Propulsion
The original plan for these ships was to use lightweight machinery producing a total of 110000 shp, but that would have required a considerable amount of time to complete its design. Rather than risk delaying the completion of the ships the machinery from HMS Tiger was duplicated with the addition of three extra boilers to provide the required power needed for the additional speed. Each ship had two paired sets of Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines, housed in separate engine-rooms. Each set comprised high-pressure ahead and astern turbines driving an outboard shaft and low-pressure ahead and astern turbines, housed in the same casing, driving an inner shaft. Their three-bladed propellers were 13 ft in diameter. The turbines were powered by 42 Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers in six boiler rooms at a working pressure of 235 psi. They were designed to produce a total of 112000 shp, but achieved more than 126000 shp during Renown's trials, when she reached a speed of 32.58 knots. They were the fastest capital ships in existence until the arrival of HMS Hood (51) in 1920.

They were designed to normally carry 1000 LT of fuel oil, but had a maximum capacity of 4289 LT. At full capacity, the Renown-class ships could steam at a speed of 18 knots for 4000 nmi. The ships had two reciprocating steam-driven 200 kW dynamos, one oil-driven 150 kW dynamo, and one turbine-driven 200 kW dynamo that supplied the common ring main at 220 volts.

Armament
[[File:HMS Repulse aerial starboard view 1918 labelled guns.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view of Repulse in 1918.1. twin 15-inch turrets

2. triple 4-inch mountings

3. starboard single 4-inch mounting

4. starboard single 3-inch AA mounting]] The Renown-class ships mounted six 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in three twin hydraulically powered gun turrets, designated "A", "B", and "Y" from front to rear. The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to 20°; they could be loaded at any angle up to 20°, although loading at high angles tended to slow the gun's return to battery (firing position). The ships carried 120 shells per gun. They fired 1910 lb projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2575 ft/s; this provided a maximum range of 23734 yd with armour-piercing shells.

The ships were designed with seventeen 45-calibre BL 4-inch Mark IX guns, fitted in five triple and two single mounts. These were manually powered and quite cumbersome in use as they required a crew of thirty-two men to load and train the triple gun mounts. The gun's rate of fire was only 10 to 12 rounds per minute as the loaders kept getting in each other's way. They had a maximum depression of −10° and a maximum elevation of 30°. They fired a 31 lb high-explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2625 ft/s. At maximum elevation the guns had a maximum range of 13500 yd. The ships carried 200 rounds for each gun.

Each ship mounted a pair of QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns on single high-angle mountings. These were mounted on the shelter deck abreast the rear funnel. The gun had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. It fired a 12.5 lb shell at a muzzle velocity of 2500 ft/s at a rate of fire of 12–14 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23500 ft. Both ships carried ten torpedoes and mounted two 21 in submerged torpedo tubes fitted just forward of "A" barbette.

Fire control
The main guns of the Renown-class ships could be controlled from either of the two fire-control directors. The primary director was mounted above the conning tower in an armoured hood and the other was in the fore-top on the foremast. Data from a rangefinder in the armoured hood was input into a Mk IV* Dreyer Fire Control Table located in the Transmitting Station (TS) where it was converted into range and deflection data for use by the guns. The target's data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target. The secondary armament was controlled by directors mounted on platforms on each mast. Each turret was provided with a 15 ft rangefinder in an armoured housing on the turret roof.

During the war the number and size of rangefinders increased. By 1918 Renown carried two 30 ft rangefinders, one on "Y" turret and the other in the armoured hood above the conning tower. Fifteen-foot rangefinders were mounted on "A" and "B" turrets, the torpedo control tower abaft the mainmast, and the armoured hood. The fore-top was equipped with a 12 ft rangefinder and the anti-aircraft guns were controlled by a simple 6 ft rangefinder mounted on the aft superstructure. Two 9 ft rangefinders were mounted on the bridge.

Armour
The armour protection of the Renown-class ships was similar to that of Indefatigable; her waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured 6 in thick amidships. It ran from the midpoint of "A" barbette to the midpoint of "Y" barbette, a length of 462 ft, and was 9 ft high. Strakes of three-inch armour aft and four-inch armour forward continued the belt towards the ends of the ship, although neither reached the bow or the stern. The strakes were enclosed by transverse bulkheads of the same thickness. For much of the length of the main belt there was an upper belt of high-tensile steel, 1.5 in thick, intended as splinter protection.

The gun turrets were 9 in thick on the face and front sides, 7 in thick on the rear side plates while their roofs were 4.25 in thick. The barbettes were protected by 7 in of armour above the upper deck, but it thinned to 4 - 5 in below the deck. The conning tower sides were 10 in thick and it had a three-inch roof. The walls of the communication tube were three inches thick. The torpedo control tower had 3-inch walls and a 1.5-inch cast steel roof.

As designed the high-tensile-steel decks ranged from 0.75 to 1.5 in in thickness. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ships were still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines. Despite these additions, the ships were still felt to be too vulnerable to plunging fire and each ship was refitted in Rosyth in 1916–1917 with additional horizontal armour, weighing approximately 504 LT, added to the decks over the magazines and over the steering mechanism.

The Renown-class ships were fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship. However, later testing proved that it was not deep enough to accomplish its task as it lacked the layers of empty and full compartments that were necessary to absorb the force of the explosion.

First World War
Both ships spent much of the remainder of 1916 and early 1917 in the hands of dockyards having their armour upgraded and conducting routine patrols of the North Sea. They were assigned to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS) for the duration of the war. Repulse relieved HMS Lion (1910) as flagship of the 1st BCS.

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight
Over the course of 1917 the Admiralty became more concerned about German efforts in the North Sea to sweep paths through the British-laid minefields intended to restrict the actions of the High Seas Fleet and German submarines. A preliminary raid on German minesweeping forces on 31 October by light forces destroyed ten small ships and the Admiralty decided on a larger operation to destroy the minesweepers and their escorting light cruisers. Based on intelligence reports the Admiralty decided on 17 November 1917 to allocate two light cruiser squadrons, the 1st Cruiser Squadron covered by the reinforced 1st BCS (less Renown) and, more distantly, the battleships of the 1st Battle Squadron to the operation.

The German ships, four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight sperrbrechers (cork-filled trawlers, used to detonate mines without sinking) and two trawlers to mark the swept route, were spotted at 7:30 a.m., silhouetted by the rising sun. The light battlecruiser HMS Courageous (50) and the light cruiser HMS Cardiff (D58) opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying an effective smoke screen. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted. Repulse was detached not long after and raced forward at full speed to engage the enemy ships. She opened fire at about 9:00, scoring a single hit on the light cruiser SMS Königsberg (1915) during the battle. When the German battleships SMS Kaiser and SMS Kaiserin were spotted about 9:50 the British broke off their pursuit and Repulse covered their retreat, aided by a heavy fog that came down around 10:40.

In September 1917 Repulse became the first capital ship to be fitted with aircraft flying-off platforms on her turrets. A Sopwith Pup successfully took off from the platform mounted on "B" turret on 1 October and repeated his achievement on 9 October from "Y" turret. Renown received her platforms in early 1918.

On 12 December 1917 Renown put to sea with other elements of the fleet in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the German 3rd Half-Flotilla of destroyers that had destroyed the Scandinavian convoy and most of its escorts. For the rest of the war the two ships patrolled the North Sea uneventfully. Both ships were present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21 November 1918.

Inter-war service
Repulse began a major refit at Portsmouth on 17 December 1918 intended to drastically improve her armour protection. Her existing 6-inch armour belt was replaced by 9 in armour plates made surplus by the conversion of the battleship CHILEAN BATTLESHIP Almirante Cochrane (originally ordered by Chile and purchased after the war began) to the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (1918). The old armour was fitted between the main and upper decks, above the new armour belt. Additional high-tensile plating was added to the decks over the magazines. The ship's anti-torpedo bulge was deepened and reworked along the lines of that installed on the battleship HMS Ramillies (07). The bulge covered her hull from the submerged torpedo room to "Y" magazine and the inner compartments of which were filled with crushing tubes. The bulges added 12 ft to her beam and 1 ft to her draught. The refit added about 4500 LT to her displacement and raised her metacentric height to 6.4 ft at deep load. Three 30-foot rangefinders were also added as well as eight torpedo tubes in twin mounts on the upper deck. Both flying-off platforms were removed.

When the Grand Fleet was disbanded in April 1919 Renown was assigned to the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. In June she was refitted in preparation for a tour of Canada, Newfoundland and the United States by Edward, the Prince of Wales, and both flying-off platforms were removed. From January to March 1920 Renown was refitted more extensively as a "royal yacht". Her aft 4-inch mounting and both 3-inch AA guns were removed so that extra accommodation and a promenade deck could be built. A large deckhouse was built on the shelter deck between the funnels. The port side housed a squash court while the starboard side was a cinema. The ship sailed in March for Australia and New Zealand with the Prince of Wales and his entourage aboard and made many stops en route. She returned to Portsmouth in October and was placed in reserve in November.

Renown was recommissioned in September 1921 for a tour of India and Japan by the Prince of Wales and sailed from Portsmouth in October. The ship arrived back in Portsmouth in June 1922 and she was placed in reserve the following month. The ship began a reconstruction that same month along the lines of her sister, although changes were made based on the experiences with Repulse. Renown's main armour belt was removed and a new 9-inch belt was installed, using up the remaining plates left over from Almirante Cochrane as well as new armour, but installed about 3 ft higher than on Repulse to offset any increase in draught. A strake of tapered armour was fitted underneath the main belt to deflect any shell that dived beneath the water's surface; it was 9-inches thick at top and thinned to 2 in at the bottom. The ship's deck armour was heavily reinforced adjacent to its machinery spaces and magazines. Two longitudinal bulkheads were added between the upper and main decks that ran from the base of the conning tower to the end of the boiler rooms. The bulges were reworked and based on those used in the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, although crushing tubes were only used abreast the magazines. The rear triple 4-inch gun mount was replaced. The flying-off platform on "B" turret was reinstated and a high-angle control position (HACP) was added to the fore-top. The pair of 3-inch AA guns and her two single four-inch gun mounts were removed and replaced with four QF four-inch Mark V anti-aircraft guns. They had a maximum depression of -5° and a maximum elevation of 80°. They fired a 31 lb high explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2387 ft/s at a rate of ten to fifteen rounds per minute. The guns had a maximum ceiling of 31000 ft, but an effective range of much less. The reconstruction only added 3500 LT to the ship's displacement and three inches to her draught.

Repulse was recommissioned on 1 January 1921 and joined the Battlecruiser Squadron. In November 1923, Hood, accompanied by Repulse and a number of Danae-class cruisers of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, set out on a world cruise from west to east via the Panama Canal. They returned home ten months later in September 1924. Shortly after her return the ship's pair of 3-inch AA guns and her two single four-inch gun mounts were removed and replaced with four QF four-inch Mark V AA guns. The Battlecruiser Squadron visited Lisbon in February 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on the Mediterranean for exercises. A squash court was added on the starboard side between the funnels for the Prince of Wales' tour of Africa and South America that lasted from March to October. Upon her return she was refitted from November 1925 to July 1926 and had a HACP added to her fore-top.

Renown finished her reconstruction in September 1926 and she was assigned to the Battlecruiser Squadron until the ship was detached to convey Prince Albert of York to Australia between January and July 1927. Upon her return she rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. Renown became the flagship of the BCS when Hood was refitting between 1929 and 1931. Hood reassumed the role as flagship after she was recommissioned and Renown was paid off for a refit of her own. A High-Angle Control System Mark I was fitted with a director on the roof of the fore-top that replaced the high-angle rangefinder and the conning tower platform was enlarged to accommodate a pair of Mk V octuple mountings for the QF 2-pounder Mk VIII gun The Mk V mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of 80°. The Mark VIII 2-pounder gun fired a 40 mm .91 lb shell at a muzzle velocity of 1920 ft/s to a distance of 3800 yd. The gun's rate of fire was approximately 96–98 rounds per minute. Only one mount was initially available, however, and it, along with its director, was fitted on the starboard side. Renown had her midships triple 4-inch mount removed to make room for an aircraft catapult that was not fitted until 1933. The port Mark V 2-pounder mount was finally fitted, albeit without its director, that same year. The ship now carried a Fairey III floatplane for reconnaissance purposes. The flying-off platform was also removed.

1930s reconstructions
After Repulse completed her 1926 refit she remained in commission, aside from a brief refit in July–September 1927, with the BCS of the Atlantic Fleet until she was paid off in June 1932 prior to beginning her reconstruction in April 1933. Most of the existing layers of high-tensile steel that constituted the ship's horizontal armour were replaced by non-cemented armour plates 2.5 - 3.5 in in thickness and the torpedo control tower was removed from the aft superstructure. A fixed catapult replaced the midships 4-inch triple mount and a hangar was built on each side of the rear funnel to house two of the ship's Fairey III aircraft. One additional aircraft could be carried on the deck and another on the catapult itself. Electric cranes were mounted above each hangar to handle the aircraft. The four 4-inch AA guns were moved, one pair abreast the rear funnel at the level of the hangar roof and the other pair abreast the fore funnel on the forecastle deck. Four prototype QF 4-inch Mark XV dual-purpose guns were added in twin-gun Mark XVIII mounts abreast the mainmast. Two octuple Mark VI 2-pounder mounts were fitted on extensions of the conning-tower platform abreast the fore funnel. Above these a pair of quadruple Mark II* mountings for the 0.5-inch Vickers Mark III machine gun were added. These mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of 70°. The machine guns fired a 1.326 oz bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2520 ft/s. This gave the gun a maximum range of about 5000 yd, although its effective range was only 800 yd Repulse received two HACS directors, one Mark II on the fore-top and a Mark I* mounted on a pedestal above the rear superstructure. The two submerged torpedo tubes were removed and the vacant spaces sub-divided and turned into store-rooms.

Renown began her own even more thorough reconstruction in September 1936, based on that of the battleship HMS Warspite (03). Her superstructure and funnels were razed to the level of the upper deck, her masts taken out and the ship's main and secondary armament was removed. A large splinter-proof tower superstructure was built, topped with a director-control tower for the main armament and two HACS Mark IV directors. The armoured hood formerly mounted above the conning tower was reinstalled on the rear superstructure. The ship's engines and boilers were replaced by Parsons geared turbine sets and eight Admiralty three-drum boilers. This saved some 2800 LT of weight and allowed the two forward boiler rooms to be converted to 4.5 in magazines and other uses. Renown's deck protection was somewhat upgraded by adding non-cemented armour where it had not been added earlier and protecting the new 4.5-inch magazines. As in Repulse hangars were built abreast her rear funnel and a catapult was fitted between the rear funnel and the aft superstructure.

The ship's 15-inch gun turrets were modified to the Mark I (N) standard with their elevation increased to 30°. Twenty dual-purpose QF 4.5-inch Mark III guns in twin BD Mark II mountings replaced all of the 4-inch guns. Six of the gun turrets, three on each side, were abreast the forward funnel while the remaining four were mounted on abreast the main mast. The BD Mark II mounts had elevation limits of −5° to +80°. The Mark III gun fired a 55 lb high explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of about 2350 ft/s. Its rate of fire was 12 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 41000 ft. The guns were controlled by four dual-purpose Mark IV directors, two mounted on the rear of the bridge structure and the remaining two on the aft superstructure. They fed tracking data to a HACS Mark IV analog computer for high-angle targets and an Admiralty Fire Control Clock Mark VII for low-angle targets. Each gun was provided with 400 round of ammunition. Three octuple Mark VI 2-pounder mounts were fitted, two on a platform between the funnels and the third at the rear of the aft superstructure. Each was provided with a Mark III* director. Four quadruple Vickers .50-calibre Mark III mounts were also added, two each on the forward and rear superstructures. The submerged torpedo tubes were removed and eight above-water torpedo tubes added.

Repulse was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet when she recommissioned in April 1936. She transported 500 refugees from Palma, Majorca, to Marseilles, France, in late 1936 after the start of the Spanish Civil War. The ship was present at the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 20 May 1937 for George VI. Repulse was sent to Haifa in July 1938 to maintain order during the Arab Revolt. She was selected to convey the King and Queen during their May 1939 Canadian Tour and she was refitted between October 1938 and March 1939 for this role. The twin 4-inch AA guns were replaced by two more Mark V guns and two additional quadruple .50-calibre mounts were added. The King and Queen ultimately traveled aboard the liner RMS Empress of Australia while Repulse escorted them on the first half of the journey.

Second World War
The beginning of the Second World War found Repulse assigned to the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. She patrolled off the Norwegian coast and in the North Sea in search of German ships and to enforce the blockade. Early in the war Repulse had her aft triple 4-inch mount replaced by an 8-barrel 2-pounder mount. In late October she was transferred to Halifax with the aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47) to protect convoys and search for German raiders. She escorted the convoy bringing most of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division to Britain in mid-December 1939 and was reassigned to the Home Fleet. The ship supported Allied operations during the Norwegian Campaign in April–June 1940. Accompanied by Renown and the 1st Cruiser Squadron, Repulse attempted to intercept the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau as it sailed from Trondheim to Germany in July. Until May 1941 the ship escorted convoys and unsuccessfully searched for German ships. On 22 May Repulse was diverted from escorting Convoy WS8B to assist in the search for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck, but she had to break off the search early on 25 May as she was running low on fuel. The ship was refitted from June to August and received eight Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon as well as a Type 284 surface gunnery radar. Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October and was transferred to East Indies Command.

To deter Japanese aggression in the Far East in late 1941, Winston Churchill was determined to send a small group of fast capital ships, along with one modern aircraft carrier, to Singapore. Repulse was already in the Indian Ocean and was ordered to Colombo in November to rendezvous with the battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53) where they would form Force Z. The carrier HMS Indomitable (92) was supposed to join them, but she was delayed when she ran aground while working up in the Caribbean. The two ships, and their escorting destroyers, arrived in Singapore on 2 December. Force Z departed on the evening of 8 December in an attempt to destroy Japanese troop convoys and protect the army's seaward flanks from any Japanese landings in their rear. They were spotted by a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft during the following afternoon and shadowed for the rest of the day. Admiral Sir Tom Phillips decided to cancel the operation as the Japanese were now alerted. Force Z turned back during the evening, but was spotted again early on the morning of 10 December. About four hours later Japanese bombers arrived and attacked Repulse from high altitude; she was slightly damaged by one bomb hit in her port hangar. The second wave consisted of torpedo bombers which missed Repulse, but scored at least one hit on Prince of Wales. The third wave again consisted of high-altitude level bombers that missed Repulse entirely. The fourth wave of torpedo bombers managed to hit Repulse once amidships on her port side. The final wave of torpedo bombers hit Repulse with three more torpedoes and the ship capsized with the loss of 508 officers and men. The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse contributed to the rapid fall of Singapore and Malaya to the Japanese, and demonstrated the dominance of air power over the capital ships that had been the backbone of naval power since the 1600s.

Renown was recommissioned on 28 August 1939 as part of the Home Fleet. Much like her sister, she spent September patrolling in the North Sea, but was transferred to Force K in the South Atlantic to help search for the "pocket battleship" GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee. The ship joined Force H at the Cape of Good Hope in November to prevent Admiral Graf Spee from breaking into the South Atlantic. She was unsuccessful in this, but sank the blockade runner SS Watussi on 2 December. She remained in the South Atlantic even after Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled on 13 December and did not return to the Home Fleet until March 1940. The ship became flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was paid off to refit that month. Renown also supported British forces during the Norwegian Campaign and briefly engaged the German battleships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on 9 April. Renown opened fire first, but she was hit first by two 28 cm shells that only slightly damaged her. A few minutes later she hit Gneisenau with one 15-inch and two 4.5-inch shells that knocked out the main fire-control director and damaged the rangefinder on "A" turret. The German ships were faster than Renown in the heavy weather and were able to successfully disengage. The ship was repaired from 20 April to 18 May and provided cover during the evacuation from Norway in early June. Renown was transferred to Force H at Gibraltar in August and relieved Hood as flagship.

In November 1940 Force H covered the small aircraft carrier HMS Argus (I49) as she flew off Hurricane fighters bound for Malta from a position south of Sardinia. Later that month Force H participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. Renown bombarded Genoa on 9 February 1941 with little effect. Renown and Force H escorted convoys both inside and outside the Mediterranean in March–May 1941 before being summoned into the Atlantic to search for the Bismarck. Force H escorted another convoy to Malta in July and Renown returned home for repairs the next month. The ship was transferred to the Home Fleet in November when her repairs were complete. She provided cover for the inbound and outbound convoys to the Soviet Union in early March 1942. She became flagship of Force W which was formed to escort carriers carrying fighters to be flown-off for Malta in April–May.

Renown rejoined Home Fleet once those missions were completed, but was transferred to Force H in October 1942 to participate in Operation Torch. She returned to Britain to refit from February to June 1943. The ship brought Winston Churchill and his staff back from the Quebec Conference in September and conveyed them to the Cairo Conference in November. She rejoined the Home Fleet in December, just in time to be transferred to the Eastern Fleet a few weeks later. Renown arrived in Colombo at the end of January 1944 where she was flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron. In April she participated in Operation Cockpit, an airstrike against port and oil facilities on Sabang, off the island of Sumatra. The ship bombarded Japanese-occupied facilities on Car Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands and Port Blair in the Andaman Islands on 30 April – 1 May. Renown supported the airstrike against Surabaya, Java (Operation Transom) on 17 May as well as follow-on attack against Port Blair on 21 June. After another airstrike on 25 July on Sabang the ship bombarded the city. She bombarded facilities in the Nicobar Islands from 17 to 19 October. On 22 November Renown was replaced as flagship by HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913) and the ship began a refit at Durban from December to February 1945. She was recalled to home waters in March, lest the remaining German heavy ships make a final sortie, and reached Rosyth on 15 April. She was given a brief refit when this concern proved illusory and was placed in reserve in May 1945. Renown was partially disarmed in July when six of her 4.5-inch turrets were removed, as well as all of her light guns. The ship hosted a meeting between King George VI and President Truman on 3 August when the latter was en route home aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31). The decision to dispose of the ship was announced on 21 January 1948 and she was towed to Faslane for scrapping on 3 August.

title: Renown-class battlecruiser


text:
HMS Renown (1916)

HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleships. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to restart her construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, quickly produced a new design to meet Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ships in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Renown, and her sister HMS Repulse (1916), were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

Renown did not see action during the war and was reconstructed twice between the wars; the 1920s reconstruction increased her armour protection and made other more minor improvements; the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough. The ship frequently conveyed royalty on their foreign tours and served as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was refitting.

During the Second World War, Renown was involved in the search for the GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee in 1939, participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 and the search for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck in 1941. She spent much of 1940 and 1941 assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, escorting convoys and she participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. Renown was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet and provided cover to several Arctic convoys in early 1942. The ship was transferred back to Force H for Operation Torch and spent much of 1943 refitting or transporting Winston Churchill and his staff to and from various conferences with various Allied leaders. In early 1944, Renown was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean where she supported numerous attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia and various island groups in the Indian Ocean. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in early 1945 and was refitted before being placed in reserve after the end of the war. Renown was sold for scrap in 1948.

Design and description
Admiral Lord Fisher first presented his requirements for the new ships to the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) on 18 December 1914, before the ships had even been approved. He wanted a long, high, flared bow, like that on the pre-dreadnought HMS Renown (1895), but higher, four 15-inch guns in two twin turrets, an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty 4 in guns mounted high up and protected by gun shields only, speed of 32 knots using oil fuel, and armour on the scale of the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable (1909). Within a few days, however, Fisher increased the number of guns to six and added two torpedo tubes. Minor revisions in the initial estimate were made until 26 December and a preliminary design was completed on 30 December.

During the following week the DNC's department examined the material delivered for the two battleships and decided what could be used in the new design. The usable material was transferred to the builders, who had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March.

Renown had an overall length of 794 ft, a beam of 90 ft, and a maximum draught of 30 ft. She displaced 27320 LT at normal load and 32220 LT at deep load. Her Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce 112000 shp, which would propel the ship at 32 kn. However, during trials in 1916, Renown's turbines provided 126000 shp, allowing her to reach a speed of 32.58 knots. The ship normally carried 1000 LT of fuel oil, but had a maximum capacity of 4289 LT. At full capacity, she could steam at a speed of 18 knots for 4000 nmi.

The ship mounted six 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in three twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated 'A', 'B', and 'Y' from front to rear. Her secondary armament consisted of 17 BL 4-inch Mark IX guns, fitted in five triple and two single mounts. Renown mounted a pair of QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns mounted on the shelter deck abreast the rear funnel. She mounted two submerged tubes for 21 in torpedoes, one on each side forward of 'A' barbette.

Renown's waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured 6 in thick amidships. Her gun turrets were 7 - 9 in thick with roofs 4.25 in thick. As designed the high-tensile-steel decks ranged from 0.75 to 1.5 in in thickness. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ship was still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines. Renown was fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship.

Despite these additions, the ship was still felt to be too vulnerable to plunging fire and Renown was refitted in Rosyth between 1 February and mid-April 1917 with additional horizontal armour, weighing approximately 504 LT, added to the decks over the magazines and over the steering gear. Flying-off platforms were fitted on 'B' and 'X' turrets in early 1918. One fighter and a reconnaissance aircraft were carried.

1916–1925
Renown was laid down by Fairfield at Govan, Glasgow, Scotland on 25 January 1915. The ship was launched on 4 March 1916 and completed on 20 September 1916, after the Battle of Jutland at the cost of £3,117,204. She served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the remaining two years of the First World War. Renown was assigned to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron for the duration of the war, but never fired a shot in anger during the war. On 12 December 1917 Renown put to sea with other elements of the fleet in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the German 3rd Half-Flotilla of destroyers that had destroyed a Scandinavian convoy and most of its escorts off the coast of Norway. For the rest of the war the ships patrolled the North Sea uneventfully. Both Renown and Repulse were present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21 November 1918.

When the Grand Fleet was disbanded in April 1919, Renown was assigned to the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. In June she was refitted in preparation for a tour of Canada, Newfoundland and the United States by Edward, Prince of Wales, and both flying-off platforms were removed. A 30 ft rangefinder replaced the 15 ft model in 'Y' turret and a 20 ft rangefinder was added to the armoured hood over the conning tower. From January to March 1920 Renown was refitted more extensively as a "royal yacht". Her aft 4-inch mounting and both 3-inch AA guns were removed so that extra accommodation and a promenade deck could be built. A large deck house was built on the shelter deck between the funnels. The port side housed a squash court while the starboard side was a cinema. The ship sailed in March for Australia and New Zealand with the Prince of Wales and his entourage aboard and made many stops en route. She returned to Portsmouth in October and was placed in reserve in November.

Renown was recommissioned in September 1921 for a tour of India, the Philippines and Japan by the Prince of Wales and sailed from Portsmouth in October. The ship arrived back in Portsmouth in June 1922 and she was placed in reserve the following month. The ship began a reconstruction that same month along the lines of her sister, although changes were made based on the experiences with Repulse. Renown's main armour belt was removed and a new 9-inch belt was installed, using up the remaining plates made surplus by the conversion of the battleship CHILEAN BATTLESHIP Almirante Cochrane (originally ordered by Chile and purchased after the war began) to the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (1918) as well as new armour, but installed about 3 ft higher than on Repulse to offset any increase in draught. A strake of tapered armour was fitted underneath the main belt to deflect any shell that dived beneath the water's surface; it was 9-inches thick at top and thinned to 2 in at the bottom. The ship's deck armour was heavily reinforced adjacent to its machinery spaces and magazines. Two longitudinal bulkheads were added between the upper and main decks that ran from the base of the conning tower to the end of the boiler rooms. The bulges were reworked and based on those used in the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships although crushing tubes were only used abreast the magazines. The rear triple 4-inch gun mount was replaced. The flying-off platform on 'B' turret was reinstated and a high-angle control position (HACP) was added to the fore-top. The pair of 3-inch AA guns and her two single four-inch gun mounts were replaced with four QF four-inch Mark V anti-aircraft guns. They had a maximum depression of -5° and a maximum elevation of 80°. They fired a 31 lb high explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2387 ft/s at a rate of ten to fifteen rounds per minute. The guns had a maximum ceiling of 31000 ft, but an effective range of much less. The reconstruction only added 3500 LT to the ship's displacement and three inches to her draught. This reconstruction cost £979,927.

1926–1939
Renown finished her reconstruction in September 1926 and she was assigned to the Battlecruiser Squadron until the ship was detached to convey The Duke and Duchess of York to Australia between January and July 1927. On the return journey, a boiler room caught fire on 26 May, burning four ratings before it was put out. Upon her return she rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. Renown became the flagship of the BCS when Hood was refitting between 1929 and 1931. Hood resumed the role as flagship after she was recommissioned and Renown was paid off for a refit of her own. A High-Angle Control System Mark I (HACS) was fitted with a director on the roof of the fore-top that replaced the high-angle rangefinder and the conning tower platform was enlarged to accommodate a pair of Mark V octuple mounts for the 40 mm QF 2-pounder Mark VIII gun The Mark V mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of 80°. The Mark VIII 2-pounder gun fired a 40 mm 2 lb shell at a muzzle velocity of 2040 ft/s to a distance of 3800 yd. The gun's rate of fire was approximately 96–98 rounds per minute. Only one mount was initially available, however, and it, along with its director, was fitted on the starboard side. Renown had her midships triple 4-inch mount removed to make room for an aircraft catapult that was not fitted until 1933. The port Mark V 2-pounder mount was finally fitted, albeit without its director, that same year. The ship now carried a Fairey III floatplane for reconnaissance purposes. The flying-off platform was also removed.

Renown collided with Hood on 23 January 1935 while on exercises off the coast of Spain. The damage to her bow was temporarily repaired at Gibraltar and the ship sailed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs between February and May. The captains of both ships were court-martialled, as was the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Sidney Bailey. Bailey and Hoods Captain Tower were acquitted, but Renowns Captain Sawbridge was relieved of command. The Admiralty dissented from the verdict, reinstated Sawbridge, and criticised Bailey for ambiguous signals during the manoeuvre.

The ship participated in King George V's Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead on 16 July. Together with Hood, Renown was sent to Gibraltar to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War of 1935–36 and transferred to Alexandria in January 1936 where she was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron. She returned home in May and rejoined Home Fleet.

Renown began a much more thorough reconstruction in September 1936, based on that of the battleship HMS Warspite (03). Her superstructure and funnels were razed to the level of the upper deck, her masts taken out and the ship's main and secondary armament was removed. A large splinter-proof tower superstructure was built, topped with a director-control tower for the main armament and two HACS Mark IV directors. The armoured hood formerly mounted above the conning tower was reinstalled on the rear superstructure. The ship's engines and boilers were replaced by Parsons geared turbines and eight Admiralty three-drum boilers operating at 400 psi. This saved some 2800 LT of weight and allowed the two forward boiler rooms to be converted to 4.5 in magazines and other uses. Renown's deck protection was somewhat upgraded by adding non-cemented armour where it had not been added earlier and protecting the new 4.5-inch magazines. As in Repulse hangars were built abreast her rear funnel and a catapult was fitted between the rear funnel and the aft superstructure.

The ship's 15-inch gun turrets were modified to the Mark I (N) standard with their elevation increased to 30°. Twenty dual-purpose QF 4.5-inch Mark III guns in twin BD Mark II mountings replaced all of the 4-inch guns. Six of the gun turrets, three on each side, were abreast the forward funnel while the remaining four were mounted abreast the main mast. The BD Mark II mounts had elevation limits of −5° to +80°. The Mark III gun fired a 55 lb high explosive shell at a new gun muzzle velocity of 2457 ft/s. Its rate of fire was 12 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 41000 ft. The guns were controlled by four dual-purpose Mark IV directors, two mounted on the rear of the bridge structure and the remaining two on the aft superstructure. They fed tracking data to a HACS Mark IV analog computer for high-angle targets and an Admiralty Fire Control Clock Mark VII for low-angle targets. Each gun was provided with 400 rounds of ammunition. Three octuple Mark VI 2-pounder mounts were fitted, two on a platform between the funnels and the third at the rear of the aft superstructure. Each was provided with a Mark III* director. Four quadruple Vickers .50-calibre Mark III mounts were also added, two each on the forward and rear superstructures. The submerged torpedo tubes were removed and eight above-water torpedo tubes added. This reconstruction, at £3,088,008, was more than three times as expensive as her earlier reconstruction.

Second World War
Renown was recommissioned on 28 August 1939 as part of the Home Fleet. Much like her sister, she spent September patrolling in the North Sea, but was transferred to Force K in the South Atlantic in October to help search for the heavy cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee. The ship joined Force H at the Cape of Good Hope in November to prevent Admiral Graf Spee from breaking into the South Atlantic. She was unsuccessful in this, but sank the blockade runner SS Watussi on 2 December. She remained in the South Atlantic even after Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled on 17 December and did not return to the Home Fleet until March 1940. The ship became flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was paid off to refit that month. Renown supported British forces during the Norwegian Campaign and engaged the German battleships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau on 9 April.

Renown spotted the Germans ships and fired first, but she was hit first by two 28 cm shells that only slightly damaged her. A few minutes later she hit Gneisenau with one 15-inch and two 4.5-inch shells that knocked out the ship's main fire-control director and damaged the rangefinder on 'A' turret. The German ships were faster than Renown in the heavy weather and were able to disengage after about 90 minutes. Renown expended 230 rounds from her main armament and 1,065 rounds from her secondary armament during the engagement. The ship was under repair from 20 April to 18 May and provided cover during the evacuation from Norway in early June. Renown was transferred to Force H at Gibraltar in August and relieved Hood as flagship.

In November 1940 Force H covered the small aircraft carrier HMS Argus (I49) as she flew off Hurricane fighters bound for Malta from a position south of Sardinia. Later that month Force H participated in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento. Renown bombarded Genoa on 9 February 1941 with little effect. Force H escorted convoys both inside and outside the Mediterranean in March–May 1941 before being summoned into the Atlantic to search for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck. The ship intercepted the German supply ship Gonzenheim, which had been intended to supply Bismarck, on 4 June. Renown and Force H escorted another convoy to Malta in July and the ship returned home for repairs to her starboard bulge the next month. While the exact dates are not known, the ship received a variety of radars in 1941, possibly during this refit. These included Type 284 radar for surface gunnery control, Type 285 anti-aircraft gunnery radar, Type 281 air warning radar and a Type 271 surface search radar. Two quadruple "pom-pom" mounts were also fitted on top of 'B' turret. Renown was transferred to the Home Fleet in November when her repairs were complete and became deputy fleet flagship when HMS Duke of York (17) was detached to take Winston Churchill to the Arcadia Conference in Washington, D.C., on 9 December. She provided cover for the inbound and outbound convoys to the Soviet Union in early March 1942. Renown was relieved as flagship by Duke of York on 3 April, but became flagship of Force W which was formed to escort carriers carrying fighters to be flown-off for Malta in April–May. Renown rejoined Home Fleet once those missions were completed, but was transferred to Force H in October 1942 to participate in Operation Torch. She covered the invasion and follow-up convoys against interference by the French or Italian Fleets.

Renown returned to Britain to refit from February to June 1943; her catapult and aircraft were removed while the hangar was converted to a laundry and a cinema. She also received a total of 72 Oerlikon 20 mm light AA guns in 23 twin mounts and 26 single mounts fitted between July 1942 and August 1943. In January 1944 a quadruple "pom-pom" mounting was placed on the roof of 'B' turret and the 20 mm guns there were moved. Additional light AA directors with Type 282 radars were also fitted during this time. The ship brought Winston Churchill and his staff back from the Quebec Conference in September and conveyed them to the Cairo Conference in November. She rejoined the Home Fleet in December, just in time to be transferred to the Eastern Fleet a few weeks later. Renown arrived in Colombo at the end of January 1944 where she became flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron. In April she participated in Operation Cockpit, an air strike against port and oil facilities on Sabang, off the island of Sumatra.

The ship bombarded Japanese-occupied facilities on Car Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands and Port Blair in the Andaman Islands on 30 April – 1 May. Renown supported the air strike against Surabaya, Java (Operation Transom) on 17 May as well as the follow-on attack against Port Blair on 21 June. After another air strike on 25 July on Sabang the ship bombarded the city. She bombarded facilities in the Nicobar Islands from 17 to 19 October. On 22 November Renown was replaced as flagship by HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913) and the ship began a refit at Durban from December to February 1945.

Renown was recalled in March lest the remaining German heavy ships make a final sortie and reached Rosyth on 15 April. She was given a brief refit when this concern proved illusory and was placed in reserve in May 1945. She was partially disarmed in July when six of her 4.5-inch turrets were removed preparatory to fitting these mountings with remote power control. The refit was subsequently cancelled. The ship hosted a meeting between King George VI and President Truman on 3 August when the latter was en route home aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31). The decision to dispose of the ship was announced on 21 January 1948 and she was towed to Faslane for scrapping on 3 August. She was the last British battlecruiser to be scrapped, outlasting HMS Furious (47) by a few days.

title: HMS Renown (1916)


text:
HMS Repulse (1916)

HMS Repulse was one of two Renown-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval for her to resume construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ship in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Repulse and her sister ship HMS Renown (1916) were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

Repulse participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, the only combat she saw during the war. She was reconstructed twice between the wars; a reconstruction in the 1920s increased her armour protection and made lesser improvements, while another in the 1930s was much more thorough. Repulse accompanied the battlecruiser HMS Hood (51) during the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron on a round-the-world cruise in 1923 to 1924 and protected international shipping during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 to 1939.

The ship spent the first months of the Second World War hunting for German raiders and blockade runners. She participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April to June 1940 and searched for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck in 1941. Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October 1941 and was transferred to the East Indies Command. She was assigned in November to Force Z, which was supposed to deter Japanese aggression against British possessions in the Far East. Repulse and her consort, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53), were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941 when they attempted to intercept landings in British Malaya.

In December 2023, a memorial was erected at Teluk Cempedak beach, commemorating both Repulse and Prince of Wales. The memorial was unveiled by the King Abdullah of Pahang.

Design and description
Admiral Lord Fisher first presented his requirements for the new ships to the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) on 18 December 1914, before the ships had even been approved. He wanted a long, flared bow, like that on the pre-dreadnought HMS Renown (1895) but higher, four 15-inch guns in two twin-gun turrets, an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty 4 in guns mounted high up and protected by gun shields only, a speed of 32 knots using oil fuel and armour on the scale of the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable (1909). Within a few days Fisher increased the number of guns to six and added two torpedo tubes. Minor revisions in the initial estimate were made until 26 December and a preliminary design was completed on 30 December.

During the following week the DNC's department examined the material delivered for the two battleships and decided what could be used in the new design. The usable material was transferred to the builders who had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March.

Repulse had an overall length of 794 ft, a beam of 89 ft and a maximum draught of 29 ft. She displaced 26854 LT at normal load and 31592 LT at deep load. The Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce 112000 shp, which would propel the ship at 32 kn. During trials in 1916, Repulse's turbines provided 118913 shp, allowing her to reach a speed of 31.73 kn. The ship normally carried 1000 LT of fuel oil but had a maximum capacity of 4289 LT. At full capacity, she could steam at a speed of 18 kn for 4000 nmi.

The ship mounted six 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in three twin hydraulically powered gun turrets, 'A', 'B' and 'Y' from front to rear. Her secondary armament consisted of 17 BL 4-inch Mark IX guns, fitted in five triple and two single mounts. Repulse mounted a pair of QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns mounted on the shelter deck abreast the rear funnel. She mounted two submerged tubes for 21 in torpedoes, one on each side forward of 'A' barbette.

Repulse's waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured 6 in thick amidships. Her gun turrets were 7 – thick with roofs 4.25 in thick. As designed the high-tensile-steel decks ranged from 0.75 to 1.5 in in thickness. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ship was still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines. Repulse was fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship.

Despite these additions, the ship was still felt to be too vulnerable to plunging fire and Repulse was refitted in Rosyth between 10 November 1916 and 29 January 1917 with additional horizontal armour, weighing approximately 504 LT, added to the decks over the magazines and over the steering gear. Repulse was the first capital ship fitted with a flying-off platform when an experimental one was fitted on 'B' turret in the autumn of 1917. Squadron Leader Frederick Rutland took off in a Sopwith Pup on 1 October. Another platform was built on 'Y' turret and Rutland took off from it on 8 October. One fighter and a reconnaissance aircraft were normally carried.

First World War
Repulse was laid down by John Brown, Clydebank, Scotland on 25 January 1915. The ship was launched on 8 January 1916 and completed on 18 August 1916, after the Battle of Jutland. Her construction cost £2,829,087 (£0 in 2024). She served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the remaining two years of the First World War. Repulse relieved HMS Lion (1910) as flagship of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron for the duration of the war.

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight
Over the course of 1917 the Admiralty became more concerned about German efforts in the North Sea to sweep paths through the British-laid minefields intended to restrict the actions of the High Seas Fleet and German submarines. A preliminary raid on German minesweeping forces on 31 October by light forces destroyed ten small ships and the Admiralty decided on a larger operation to destroy the minesweepers and their escorting light cruisers. Based on intelligence reports the Admiralty decided on 17 November 1917 to allocate two light cruiser squadrons, the 1st Cruiser Squadron covered by the reinforced 1st BCS (less Renown) and, more distantly, the battleships of the 1st Battle Squadron to the operation.

The German ships, four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight Sperrbrechers (cork-filled trawlers, used to detonate mines without sinking) and two trawlers to mark the swept route, were spotted at 7:30 a.m., silhouetted by the rising sun. The light battlecruiser HMS Courageous (50) and the light cruiser HMS Cardiff (D58) opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying an effective smoke screen. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted. Repulse was detached not long after and raced forward at full speed to engage the enemy ships. She opened fire at about 9:00, scoring a single hit on the light cruiser SMS Königsberg (1915) during the battle. When the German battleships SMS Kaiser and SMS Kaiserin were spotted about 9:50 the British broke off their pursuit and Repulse covered their retreat, aided by a heavy fog that came down around 10:40. The ship fired a total of 54 15-inch shells during the battle and scored one hit on the light cruiser Königsberg that temporarily reduced her speed.

On 12 December 1917, Repulse was damaged in a collision with the battlecruiser HMAS Australia (1911). The ship was present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21 November 1918.

Inter-war period
Repulse began a major refit at Portsmouth on 17 December 1918 intended to drastically improve her armour protection. Her existing six-inch armour belt was replaced by 9 in armour plates made surplus by the conversion of the battleship CHILEAN BATTLESHIP Almirante Cochrane (originally ordered by Chile and purchased after the war began) to the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (1918). The original armour was fitted between the main and upper decks, above the new armour. Additional high-tensile plating was added to the decks over the magazines. The ship's anti-torpedo bulge was deepened and reworked along the lines of that installed on the battleship HMS Ramillies (07). The bulge covered her hull from the submerged torpedo room to 'Y' magazine, the inner compartments of which were filled with crushing tubes. The bulges added 12 ft to her beam and 1 ft to her draught. The refit added about 4500 LT to her displacement and raised her metacentric height to 6.4 ft at deep load. Three 30 ft rangefinders were also added as well as eight torpedo tubes in twin mounts on the upper deck. Both flying-off platforms were removed. This refit cost £860,684.

Repulse was recommissioned on 1 January 1921 and joined the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. In November 1923, Hood, accompanied by Repulse and a number of Danae-class cruiser s of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, set out on a world cruise from west to east via the Panama Canal. They returned home ten months later in September 1924. Shortly after her return the ship's two three-inch AA guns and her two single four-inch gun mounts were removed and replaced with four QF four-inch Mark V AA guns. The Battlecruiser Squadron visited Lisbon in February 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. A squash court was added on the starboard side between the funnels, and a sauna and bubble bath on the quarterdeck for the Prince of Wales' tour of Africa and South America that lasted from March to October. Upon her return, she was refitted from November 1925 to July 1926 and had a high-angle control position (HACP) added to her fore-top.

1930s reconstructions
After Repulse completed her 1926 refit, she remained in commission, aside from a brief refit from July to September 1927, with the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet until she was paid off in June 1932 prior to beginning her reconstruction in April 1933. Most of the existing layers of high-tensile steel that constituted the ship's horizontal armour were replaced by non-cemented armour plates 2.5 - 3.5 in in thickness and the torpedo control tower was removed from the aft superstructure. A fixed catapult replaced the midships 4-inch triple mount and a hangar was built on each side of the rear funnel to house two of the ship's Fairey III aircraft. One additional aircraft could be carried on the deck and another on the catapult itself. Electric cranes were mounted above each hangar to handle the aircraft.

The four 4-inch AA guns were moved, one pair abreast the rear funnel at the level of the hangar roof and the other pair abreast the fore funnel on the forecastle deck. Four prototype QF 4-inch Mark XV dual-purpose guns were added in twin-gun Mark XVIII mounts abreast the mainmast. Two octuple Mark VI 2-pounder mounts were fitted on extensions of the conning-tower platform abreast the fore funnel. Above these a pair of quadruple Mark II* mountings for the 0.5-inch Vickers Mark III machine gun were added. These mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of 70°. The machine guns fired a 1.326 oz bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2520 ft/s. This gave the gun a maximum range of about 5000 yd, although its effective range was only 800 yd Repulse received two High-Angle Control System anti-aircraft directors, one Mark II on the fore-top and a Mark I* mounted on a pedestal above the rear superstructure. The two submerged torpedo tubes were removed and the vacant spaces sub-divided and turned into store-rooms.

Repulse was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet when she recommissioned in April 1936. She transported 500 refugees from Valencia and Palma de Mallorca to Marseilles, France in late 1936 after the start of the Spanish Civil War. The ship was present at the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 20 May 1937 for King George VI. Repulse was sent to Haifa in July 1938 to maintain order during the Arab Revolt. She was selected to convey the King and Queen during their May 1939 Canadian Tour and she was refitted between October 1938 and March 1939 for this role. The twin 4-inch AA guns were replaced by two more Mark V guns and two additional quadruple .50-calibre mounts were added. The King and Queen ultimately travelled aboard the liner RMS Empress of Australia (1919) while Repulse escorted them on the first half of the journey.

Second World War
At the beginning of the Second World War, Repulse was part of the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. She patrolled off the Norwegian coast and in the North Sea in search of German ships, as well as to enforce the blockade for the first couple months of the war. Early in the war, the aft triple 4-inch gun mount was replaced with an 8-barrel 2-pounder mount. In late October, she was transferred to Halifax with the aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47) to protect convoys and search for German raiders. Repulse and Furious sortied from Halifax on 23 November in search of the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst after it had sunk the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi, but Repulse was damaged by heavy seas in a storm and was forced to return to port. Repulse escorted the convoy bringing most of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division to Britain from 10 to 23 December 1939 and was reassigned to the Home Fleet. In February 1940, she accompanied the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91) on a fruitless search for six German blockade runners that had broken out of Vigo, Spain.

Repulse was assigned to support Allied operations during the Norwegian Campaign in April–June 1940. On 7 April, Repulse, along with the bulk of the Home Fleet, was ordered to sea to intercept what was thought to be another attempt to break-out into the North Atlantic. The ship was detached the following day to search for a German ship reported by the destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92), but the destroyer had been sunk by the GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Hipper before Repulse arrived and she was ordered to rendezvous with her sister Renown south of the Lofoten Islands, off the Norwegian coast. On 12 April, Repulse was ordered to return to Scapa Flow to refuel and she escorted a troop convoy upon her return. In early June the ship was sent to the North Atlantic to search for German raiders and played no part in the evacuation of Norway.

Accompanied by Renown and the 1st Cruiser Squadron, Repulse attempted to intercept the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau as it sailed from Trondheim to Germany in July. Until May 1941, the ship escorted convoys and unsuccessfully searched for German ships. On 22 May, Repulse was diverted from escorting Convoy WS8B to assist in the search for the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck, but she had to break off the search early on 25 May as she was running low on fuel. The ship was refitted from June–August and received eight Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon as well as a Type 284 surface gunnery radar. Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October and was transferred to East Indies Command.

Force Z
In late 1941 Winston Churchill decided to send a small group of fast capital ships along with one modern aircraft carrier to Singapore, to deter expected Japanese aggression. In November, Repulse which was in the Indian Ocean was ordered to Colombo, Ceylon to rendezvous with the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53). The carrier HMS Indomitable (92), which was assigned to join them, was delayed when she ran aground in the Caribbean. Prince of Wales and Repulse and their escorting destroyers comprised Force Z, which arrived in Singapore on 2 December 1941. On the evening of 8 December, Force Z set out on an attempt to destroy Japanese troop convoys and protect the army's seaward flanks from Japanese landings in their rear.

Force Z was spotted during the afternoon of 9 December by the JSUB I-65, and floatplanes from several Japanese cruisers spotted the British ships later that afternoon and shadowed them until dark. Admiral Sir Tom Phillips decided to cancel the operation as the Japanese were now alerted. Force Z turned back during the evening, after having tried to deceive the Japanese that they were heading to Singora. At 00:50 on 10 December, Admiral Philips received a signal of enemy landings at Kuantan and correspondingly altered course so that he would arrive shortly after dawn.

The crew of JSUB I-58 (1925) spotted Force Z at 02:20, reported their position, and fired five torpedoes, all of which missed. Based on this report the Japanese launched 11 reconnaissance aircraft before dawn to locate Force Z. Several hours later 86 bombers from the 22nd Air Flotilla based in Saigon were launched carrying bombs or torpedoes. The crew of a Mitsubishi G3M reconnaissance bomber spotted the British at 10:15 and radioed in several reports. The pilot was ordered to maintain contact and to broadcast a directional signal that the other Japanese bombers could follow.

The first attack began at 11:13 when 250 kg bombs were dropped from eight G3Ms from an altitude of 11500 ft. The battlecruiser was straddled by two bombs, then hit by a third which penetrated through the hangar to explode on the armoured deck below. This inflicted a number of casualties and damaged the ship's Supermarine Walrus seaplane, which was then pushed over the side to remove a fire hazard. Anti-aircraft fire damaged five of the Japanese bombers, two so badly that they immediately returned to Saigon. In the ensuing attacks, Repulse was skilfully handled by her captain, Bill Tennant, who managed to avoid 19 torpedoes as well as the remaining bombs from the G3Ms. However, Repulse was then caught by a synchronised pincer attack by 17 Mitsubishi G4M torpedo bombers and hit by four or five torpedoes in rapid succession. The gunners on the Repulse shot down two planes and heavily damaged eight more, but the torpedo damage proved fatal. At 12:23, Repulse listed severely to port, quickly capsized and went down by the stern with the loss of 508 officers and men. The destroyers HMS Electra (H27) and HMAS Vampire (D68) rescued the survivors, including Captain Tennant.

Wreck
HMS Repulse came to rest at 183 ft, almost upside down with her starboard side elevated and her port side buried in the seabed at 3.61667°N, 104.33333°W. The wreck site was designated as a 'Protected Place' in 2002 under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, 60 years after her sinking.

Survivors described five torpedo hits on Repulse, four on the port side and one on the starboard side. The four portside hits purportedly were: two amidship, one abreast of the rear turret and one near the propellers. The starboard side hit was amidships. A 2007 diving expedition could confirm only two of the hits by examination of the wreck: the portside hit near the propellers and the starboard hit amidship. Unfortunately, at the time of the expedition, the portside midships section of the wreck was buried in the ocean floor thus the claimed hits there could not be confirmed. However, the area abreast of the port rear turret was accessible and no sign whatsoever of a torpedo hit – as described by survivors – was found to be there.

In October 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported that both Prince of Wales and Repulse were being "extensively damaged" with explosives by scrap metal dealers. In May 2023, it was reported that a Chinese ship, Chuan Hong 68, illegally scavenged the wreck for its low-background steel. In July 2024, this same vessel, Chuan Hong 68, suspected of not only looting the wrecks of Force Z but other WWII wrecks in Asian water's, was back 'working' in the region and was subsequently detained by Malaysia authorities for ‘paperwork violations’.

title: HMS Repulse (1916)


text:
HMS Devonshire

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Devonshire, originally in honour of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, and later after the county of Devonshire (now called Devon).

 * HMS Devonshire (1692) was an 80-gun third rate launched in 1692 and blown up in action with the French in 1707 at the Battle at the Lizard.
 * HMS Devonshire (1710) was an 80-gun third rate, launched in 1710, hulked in 1740, and sold in 1760.
 * HMS Devonshire (1745) was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1745 and broken up in 1772.
 * HMS Devonshire (1804) was a fire ship purchased in 1804 and expended on 3 October of that year at Boulogne-sur-Mer.
 * HMS Devonshire (1812) was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1812, on harbour service from 1849, and broken up in 1869.
 * HMS Devonshire (1904) was a Devonshire-class cruiser (1903) armoured cruiser launched in 1904 and sold in 1921.
 * HMS Devonshire (39) was a County-class cruiser heavy cruiser launched in 1927, converted to a training ship in 1947, and sold in 1954.
 * HMS Devonshire (D02) was a County-class destroyer guided missile destroyer launched in 1960 and sunk as a target in 1984.

Battle honours
Ships named Devonshire have earned the following battle honours:

 * Barfleur, 1692
 * Finisterre, 1747
 * Ushant, 1747
 * Louisburg, 1758
 * Martinique, 1762
 * Havana, 1762
 * Norway, 1940
 * Arctic, 1941
 * Diego Suarez, 1942

In film

 * The James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies features a fictional Type 23 frigate named HMS Devonshire, sunk by Elliot Carver's stealth ship.

title: HMS Devonshire


text:
Talk:The Clash at Bonds International Casino

Removed text
I removed the following text from the article page as I deem a link to an external auction site item from Wikipedia an inappropriate use:

 * This bootleg was founded at Yahoo! Autctions - Rare Clash - Live At Bonds CD

RedWolf 03:27, Feb 24, 2004 (UTC)

The auction was dead anyway.

I was there! Hooray!
I would love to have a copy of this album. My son and I went to this concert and it was a peak experience for both of us, the warmest, happiest Clash show you can ever imagine. The band was still all friends and we felt like we were their friends too. A great show! The place was huge and half empty thanks to the fire marshall. Ortolan88 20:32, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

This entry is misleading
There's no such Clash bootleg as "live at Bond's Casino" aside from maybe a CDR copy someone once made for a friend.

Bootlegs of this show that do exist (i.e. commercially released and professinally pressed bootlegs) include Bondage At Bonds, Trick Or Treat, and more recently Chaos In New York. One thing that is certain is that none of them were released by Columbia records!

Also, using allmusic as a source isn't very useful as they clearly gleaned all the info from the Black Market Clash website, who worked out this show was really the 9th of June from dated audience recording tapes that correspond with the wrongly dated official soundboard recordings.

Moburma 10:59, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

arena days.
This article is misleading in its references to The Clash's "arena days". While it is correct The Clash did play arenas towards the end of the group, these were either in the support slot for a select number of The Who concerts (Shea Stadium), or at the US Festival. The Clash never embarked on full scale arena tours, mostly playing theatre and concert hall venues, such as Bonds.211.30.52.219 (talk) 09:48, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:ClashBonds1981.jpg
Image:ClashBonds1981.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 19:52, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Questioning artist reference
In the opening of this article, there is a reference to "New York musicians, including Pearl Harbor." There was a San Francisco band named "Pearl Harbor and The Explosions", fronted by a singer named Pearl E. Gates (legal name change). It was well known that Pearl E. Gates hung out with the Clash, moving to England after Pearl Harbor broke up. After she moved to England, she changed her name to Pearl Harbour, and released a solo album in 1981. Is this a reference to the same person, and should the article be changed to reflect this? (She was defintely not a New York musician.) I have no specific info on Pearl actually taking part in this event. Mediasponge (talk) 00:37, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Perhaps google could shed some light on the original author's source? Alcuin (talk) 04:16, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I dug up a reference to the Bonds shows that says it was the same Pearl Harbour (new spelling) who acted as DJ for the shows. Bonds_81-05-28 Mediasponge (talk) 00:48, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I was there. It was Pearl.  I was the original author.  Ortolan88 (talk) 19:34, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

During their US tour in early 1979, I saw them at the Harvard Square Theater - #9 on the list of the 40 Greatest Concerts in Boston History - and they were selling "Pearl Harbor Tour" tshirts with planes dropping bombs; I wore mine until it disintegrated. I wonder if it was meant as a double entendre referencing the singer "Pearl Harbour" although I do not remember seeing her with them in Boston, the opening act was Bo Diddley. Just the kind of joke they would have liked. BTW, a friend who was with me at the concert, a music critic for The Brown Daily Herald (our college paper), said he saw Village Voice critic Robert Christgau walk out in disgust Rgoya (talk) 06:11, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

I bought beers for the band
Yeah, I went to a few of the Bonds shows. Although the shows were sold out, the rescheduling forced some people to get rid of their tickets. During that time I worked at Sound One in the Brill Building on 49th Street. On 50th Street, the Paramount Building (now Hachette Filipacchi, I think) was being built, and during lunch I happened upon Mick, Topper and Paul watching the heavy equipment in the deep crater. I asked them, "Can I buy you a beer?" and they said, "Sure Mate." So I hurried to the nearest deli and hurried back with a sixpack, and handed them beers. They said, "Thanks Mate," and moved on. I guess I should have said, "Can I buy you a beer and have one with you?" ;-) Rgoya (talk) 05:47, 15 July 2014 (UTC)


text:
HMS London (69)

HMS London, pennant number C69, was a member of the second group of the County-class cruiser heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy. She and her sisters; HMS Sussex (96), HMS Shropshire (73), and HMS Devonshire (39) differed from the earlier group of Counties, (known as the Kent class), by having a smaller forward superstructure, which was positioned slightly further aft, and little armour plating. HMS London's career spanned over twenty years.

Interwar career and rebuild
London was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 23 February 1926, and later launched on 14 September 1927 and commissioned on 31 January 1929. London served with the 1st Cruiser Squadron until March 1939, and was the flagship of Admiral Max Horton during his time in command of 1st Cruisers. Her flag captain during this time was Henry Harwood. From 1936 she was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Charles Kennedy-Purvis (later Sir Charles) and on 1 September 1937 she and her sister ship  Sussex made a week-long goodwill visit to Venice, mooring opposite the Doges Palace. London and her sister ship Shropshire facilitated the evacuation of thousands of civilians from Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. From March 1939 she was under reconstruction at the Chatham Dockyard, and was much altered in appearance. Replacement of her machinery was considered, but later abandoned. She was given a new superstructure above the main deck and in many ways resembled a Fiji-class cruiser light cruiser. Her single 4-inch gun mounts were changed to twin mounts, and several 20mm AA guns and radar were added. In addition, she was fitted with a 3½-inch cemented armoured belt, 8 feet deep down from the main armoured deck which covered the machinery spaces. The reconstruction work was finally completed in March 1941. The refit was planned to be implemented to other ships of the County class, but due to wartime pressures no other ships were reconstructed.

Wartime career
London was involved in the pursuit of the German battleship GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck in May 1941. During this time at sea, many cracks appeared in her upper deck and hull, due to the weight of the new superstructure causing stresses. She entered a commercial shipyard on the River Tyne in October 1941 and was under repair until February 1942. London then spent from March 1942 to November 1942 in the North Atlantic on convoy protection duties in the company of several US Navy warships. This period of operations in the heavy North Atlantic seas caused hull cracks and popped rivets in her lower hull, necessitating the ship again going into the dry-dock in December 1942 for strengthening of the hull and for the fitting of newer and more refined radar, and of more light anti-aircraft guns. This refit rectified her hull and was completed in May 1943, with the ship ready for sea in July. After sea trials and loading of ammunition, she was assigned to operate off the South African coast and then to the Eastern Fleet for the rest of the war.

Postwar, the Amethyst incident, and decommissioning
Following the Second World War, and being the Royal Navy's only modernised 8-inch gun cruiser, London was refitted for further service in early 1946 to allow her to serve in the postwar fleet. Following the refit she sailed for the far east in 1946 and served there for the next three years on the China Station.

In the spring of 1949 the frigate HMS Amethyst (F116) became trapped by advancing Communist Chinese forces up the Yangtze River. London sailed up the river as a show of strength in an attempt to help free the frigate. The Communist forces were not intimidated and took the cruiser under fire. London returned fire with her 8-inch and 4-inch guns, firing several hundred rounds, but was hit several times. Her two forward 8-inch turrets and "X" turret aft were damaged and rendered inoperable, and her bridge sustained several hits. London retreated down river and returned to Hong Kong for repairs which lasted until the end of July.

London remained in Chinese waters until August 1949, when she was relieved by HMS Kenya (14), and she returned to the UK in the autumn of 1949. London was surveyed to determine if an extensive repair and refit for further service was feasible, but the condition of her machinery (dating back to 1928 and not replaced during her rebuild in the 1930s), as well as the large crew she required made her too expensive a proposition, given Britain's post war financial difficulties. She was retired to reserve in the River Fal until sold for scrapping in 1950.

title: HMS London (69)