HMS Renown 1942

Renown-Class Battlecruisers were built for the Royal Navy during the years of 1915 to 1916. They were originally laid down as improved versions of the Revenge-class battleships, and were the world's fastest capital ships upon their commissioning. There were 2 ships built in this class.

Renown-Class Battlecruisers served between the years of 1916 to 45.

Preceded by:  HMS Tiger

Succeeded by: Courageous class

Renown-Class Battlecruisers were HMS Renown & Repulse. HMS Renown supported British forces during the Norwegian Campaign and briefly engaged the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on 9 April. Renown opened fire first, but she was hit first by two 11 inch 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.  HMS Repulse joined HMS Prince of Wales to form Force Z. 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. Spotted by a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft during the following afternoon and shadowed for the rest of the day, Force Z turned back during the evening. They were 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 hitting 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. The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse contributed to the rapid fall of Singapore and Malaya to the Japanese.