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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # 80-G-385067:  British battlecruiser Renown at sea in the Indian Ocean area, 12 May 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the BRITISH NAVY --

HMS Renown (Battlecruiser, 1916-1948)

HMS Renown, lead ship of a class of two 26,500-ton battlecruisers, was built at Glasgow, Scotland. Completed in September 1916, she served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the remaining two years of World War I. In 1920-21, following a refit, she carried the Prince of Wales on a voyage to Australia and America. During 1923-26, she was extensively refitted to increase her protection against gunfire and torpedoes. After a decade of further service, Renown was again reconstructed, greatly changing her appearance and giving her a modern anti-aircraft gun battery, much enhanced aircraft-handling facilities and up-to-date gunfire controls. This work was completed in September 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War.

Renown's high speed made her a valuable asset during World War II. In late 1939, she was sent to the South Atlantic to search for the German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee. She covered minelaying operations along the Norwegian coast in early April 1940 and, on the 9th of that month, engaged the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, damaging the latter. Later in 1940 and into 1941, she operated with Force "H", based at Gibraltar to provide strategic presence in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean. While with Force "H", she participated in a bombardment of Genoa, Italy, in February 1941. After Home Fleet service in 1942-43, Renown was sent to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. Operating from Ceylon in 1944-45, she helped contain the Japanese in the East Indies. HMS Renown had brief post-war service in British waters and was sold for scrapping in March 1948.

This page features virtually all our views of the British battlecruiser Renown.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 42200

HMS Renown
(British battlecruiser, 1916)

Steaming at high speed, circa 1916-17, as seen from the high-angle gun platform of another British warship. Gun is probably a three-inch type.
Note that Renown still has her original searchlight installation, which was replaced later in 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 450 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 437

HMS Renown
(British battlecruiser, 1916)

Photographed during World War I, probably in 1918.
Note training scales painted on "A" and "Y" turrets and aircraft atop "B" and "Y" turrets.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 465 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57076

HMS Renown
(British battlecruiser, 1916)

Photographed circa 1918.
Note aircraft carried atop her "B" turret.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 450 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57144

HMS Renown
(British battlecruiser, 1916)

In the Pedro Miguel Lock, Panama Canal, 13 September 1920.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 490 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57145

HMS Renown
(British battlecruiser, 1916)

Photographed circa the later 1920s, following her 1923-26 refit.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57183

HMS Repulse
(British Battlecruiser, 1916-1941)

Leading other Royal Navy capital ships during maneuvers, circa the later 1920s.
The next ship astern is HMS Renown. The extensive external side armor of Repulse and the larger "bulge" of Renown allow these ships to be readily differentiated.
Photograph by Underwood & Underwood.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57181

HMS Repulse
(British Battlecruiser, 1916-1941)

Firing her 15-inch guns during maneuvers off Portland, England, circa the later 1920s.
The next ship astern is HMS Renown.
Photographed from HMS Hood.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 130KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86393-KN (Color)

"Force 'H' off Gibraltar"

Watercolor by Edward Tufnell, RN (Retired), depicting British battlecruiser Renown, battleship Malaya and aircraft carrier Ark Royal operating together in 1941.

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. Donation of Melvin Conant, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 42KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-385067

British battlecruiser Renown


Operating with other capital ships of the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean area, 12 May 1944. HMS Valiant is in the right distance. The French battleship Richelieu is in the left background.
Photographed from a USS Saratoga (CV-3) plane.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 155KB; 740 x 615 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 28 January 2001
Coding updated 15 April 2001