RN Pre-Dreadnought Battleships: HMS Renown

[Brian James]

Second Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Renown pictured on her arrival at Portsmouth following the Royal Visit to India, 1905-6....Prior to her tour she began a special refit at Portsmouth to configure her as a Royal Yacht.During the refit, the remainder of her secondary armament was removed to increase her accommodations.On October 8th, Renown left Portsmouth bound for Genoa, Italy. At Genoa, the Prince and Princess of Wales—the future King George V and Princess Mary embarked for a royal tour of India.

[Brian James]

Second Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Renown pictured in 1897...Production of a new 12-inch gun was behind schedule and the three Battleships planned for the 1892 Naval Programme that were intended to use the new gun had to be delayed. In their stead, an improved Centurion Class Battleship design was chosen to keep the workers at Pembroke Dockyard fully employed. No formal requirement for a second Class Battleship suitable for use as the flagship on foreign stations or to reinforce cruiser squadrons existed at the time, but the decision to build the ship was strongly influenced by the views of the Controller of the Navy, Rear Admiral John A. 'Jacky' Fisher and the Director of Naval Intelligence, Captain Cyprian Bridge who favoured smaller ships with a smaller main armament and large secondary armament. They pressed for additional ships of this type as substitutes for the two other Battleships originally programmed, but this was rejected by the Admiralty as there was no demand for additional second-class Battleships.
The Director of Naval Construction, William Henry White, submitted three designs in early April 1892 and the smallest one was chosen on April 11th. The design was quite innovative in several different ways. It was the first Battleship to use Harvey armour, which allowed the secondary casemates to be armoured, the first to use a sloping armour deck and the first to provide armoured shields over the main armament. On April 1st 1914 she was sold at auction to Hughes Bolckow for scrap at a price of £39,000. She was broken up at Blyth.

[Brian James]

Second Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Renown pictured during her tenure as flagship of Vice Admiral John Fisher, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1900.

[Brian James]

Second Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Renown pictured in various stages of construction c 1894 at Pembroke Dockyard and shown returning from Africa in 1906.