- Author
- Churchill, Peter, Lieutenant Commander, RN (Rtd) and Payne, Alan
- Subjects
- Ship histories and stories
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- June 1979 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
In the case of the battleships over 1,500 tons was saved, but in the case of Renown the figure was over 2,500 tons due to the much more powerful machinery. ‘It is interesting to note that after HMS Renown’s reconstruction, in which 8 boilers were substituted for the original 42′, wrote Vice-Admiral Sir John Kingscome, ‘she remained during the whole of the late war the fastest capital ship in the fleet, and was capable of developing 130,000 shaft horse power with ease’. This is believed to be the first official confirmation that Renown as re-engined was actually slightly faster than the Hood.
In addition to the great reduction in the machinery weight, the length of the machinery spaces was reduced from 305 to 216 feet. Shaft horsepower was increased from 112,000 to 120,000 and the steam pressure from 250 to 350 pounds per square inch.
For some very odd reason Jane’s Fighting Ships and nearly all other sources gave the standard tonnage of the rebuilt Renown as 32,000 tons, which was the old figure. It was in fact 30,750 tons and in 1946 this figure was given by the Director of Naval Construction and Jane’s Fighting Ships. The corresponding deep displacement in 1939 was 36,080 tons, this figure increased during the war. Although over 2,500 tons was saved from the machinery weight, there was an addition of about 1,300 tons in the armament weight with the result that the net savings ended up as 1,250 tons.
At the outbreak of war in 1939 the only German battle cruisers were Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and they were only armed with 11 inch guns. Although their official standard tonnages were given as 26,000 tons they proved to be over 6,000 tons heavier which enabled them to be heavily armoured. On top of all this the Admiralty believed the German ships could only make 27½ knots whereas in actual fact they had a maximum speed of over 30 knots. But the German battle cruisers had their defects – the 11 inch guns, somewhat unreliable machinery, and the protection was not as good as it could have been due to the excessive length of the machinery spaces, which resulted in a very long armoured citadel. For different reasons both the German and the British Admiralties gave strict instructions that the two classes of battle cruisers should not under any circumstances engage modern battleships. In the case of the Renown class it was because their armour was not up to the modern standard and in the German case it was because of their 11 inch guns. The German battle cruisers were even ordered to avoid the obsolescent Revenge class because of their 15 inch guns, and they did.
During the Narvik Campaign in 1940, Renown, with 9 destroyers in company, encountered Scharnhorst and Gneisenau about 50 miles from the entrance to Vestfjord, on 9th April. Renown opened fire at 0405 at long range, in heavy seas and snow squalls; the Germans replied several minutes later; then for ten minutes they engaged Renown, but it was the latter that scored the first effective shot, putting Gneisenau’s main armament control system out of action. The enemy now tried to break off the action, but Renown pursued them, and in rough seas scored a second, which put Gneisenau’s forward turret out of action, and a third hit was scored aft. Renown was hit twice, but only superficial damage resulted; in her Quarter-master’s Lobby aft, there used to be mounted a piece of her ship’s side (well above the waterline) with a neat hole exactly eleven inches in diameter punched in it.
But for her superior speed it is very likely that Gneisenau might have been sunk, she was not designed to withstand the fire of 15″ guns and was expressly forbidden by the German Admiralty to engage enemy battleships except in defence.
The famous Force ‘H’ was constituted at Gibraltar on the 28th June as a consequence of the collapse of France, with the Hood as flagship of Admiral Somerville. On the 10th August, when the Force had come home to reorganise, the Hood arrived at Scapa, where the Admiral’s flag was transferred to Renown. On the 13th August, while under orders to Gibraltar, Renown was diverted to Iceland in view of possible enemy operations from Norway. She eventually arrived at Gibraltar on the 20th August.
At the end of November 1940, the first attempt to run reinforcements through the Mediterranean to Admiral Cunningham’s Fleet and to the Army in Egypt was made; during October, plans were concerted for these operations to take place in the following month, to be called ‘Coat’, White’ and ‘Collar’ ‘Coat’ was to combine the passage of Barham, Berwick and Glasgow and three destroyers to join Cunningham in the western Mediterranean with the delivery of 2,150 troops to the garrison of Malta who were to be embarked in those ships. ‘White’ was the transport of Hurricane fighters in Argus to a flying-off position within range of Malta, and finally ‘Collar’ was to consist of the passage of three large transports carrying motor vehicles urgently needed by the Army in Egypt; these three ships were to be escorted by Manchester and Southampton, in which were embarked some 1,400 troops. Covering their passage was Force H, with Somerville flying his flag in Renown.
The Italians, under their C-in-C Admiral Campioni, flying his flag in the new battleship Vittorio Veneto (9 x 15″ guns, and a speed of over 30 knots) in company with another battleship Guilio Cesare (10 x 12.6″ guns, and 28 knots) and their First Cruiser Squadron which consisted of Pola, Fiume and Gorzia and their 3rd Cruiser Squadron – Trieste, Trento and Bolzano – (all six of which were equipped with 8″ guns) and 16 destroyers decided not to become involved in a battle; remember that they had recently suffered heavy losses at Taranto, and they only had these two battleships fit for service. From the moment that Campioni reversed course, the only way that a gunbattle could develop was for Ark Royal’s aircraft to deliver a torpedo attack.
Renown came up from the south and engaged the fleeting targets offered by the western group of Italian cruisers as they appeared momentarily clear of their smokescreen; the torpedo attack by the eleven Swordfish under the command of LCDR Mervyn Johnstone was ‘carried out with resolution and was successfully staved off by the manoeuvring and gunfire of our ships and through the presence of the close escort of destroyers’ – the quotation is from the Italian report of the engagement. It was no shame to the pilots that they failed to score a hit; though greeted by a terrifying barrage from scores of guns, they went in to drop their torpedoes inside the destroyer screen at ranges of 700 to 800 yards, and miraculously they all survived to return safely to Ark Royal.
One more attempt was made to damage the enemy when nine Swordfish attacked the Italian First Cruiser Squadron; they achieved almost complete surprise as they dropped down out of the sun, only two salvoes being fired at them before the first torpedo was dropped; after that the gunfire was intense but was quite regardless of direction, one large shell was seen to hit the water very close to one of the cruisers, and shells from their close-range weapons spattered the sea all round the ships; in spite of this, no torpedo hits were achieved.
The Italian attack from the air upon Force H which inevitably followed was no more successful – ten high-level bombers in V formation had their bombing-run thrown out by a turn together by all ships and Ark Royal was completely obscured by tall plumes of dirty water thrown up by the bombs, some of which were a bare ten feet from the ship’s side. The Action off Cape Spartivento, as it came to be called, was now finally over, and Somerville’s Force H divided, those for Malta continuing with the convoy which safely reached its destination, and the remainder returning to Gibraltar. Somerville’s son John was in the destroyer Defender, and father and son had not seen one another for nearly three years; the sight of Defender nipping across Renown’s stern and around her bows cheered up the Admiral very much, as his son waved to him.