Peter Charles Smith - The battle-cruiser HMS Renown, 1916-48

By the same Author:

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
PEN & SWORD MARITIME
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Copyright Peter C. Smith 2008

ISBN 978 1 84415 745 7
PRINT ISBN: 9781848845206
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PRC ISBN: 9781844687213

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First edition published in 1976 as Hit First, Hit Hard
by William Kimber, London

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Hit First, Hit Hard and go on Hitting, Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher, First Sea Lord, 21 October 1904 to 25 January 1910.

Foreword

by the late Vice-Admiral B.C.B. Brooke, CB, CBE, Royal Navy

I welcome Peter Smiths history of the last of the Battle-cruisers, HMS Renown. My own connection with this famous ship was unique. When she was commissioned for the first time in September 1916 I was on her bridge during her first seagoing trials. Many years later I was her Commanding Officer in the East during the last two years of World War II.

In my experience this great ship never failed to answer the slightest touch of wheel or engines, nor did her armament ever fail when needed.

The rapport between Renown and her commanders brought her to life and permeated all who served in her; indeed it became an identity. This ship thereby attained the heights of efficiency and morale, and was always found ready and anxious to Hit First and Hit Hard.

Renowns last appearance on the world stage took place in Plymouth Sound in 1945 where she lay proudly wearing the standards of His Britannic Majesty and that of the President of the United States of America, Old Glory, a fitting symbolism of her place in history.

After this she laid down her burden, as so many great fighting ships had done before her, with supreme and immaculate dignity. The reception of the most powerful leaders of the Western World was a final tribute to her life of strenuous and unfailing service. To those who served in her she will never die and for those who follow this book will serve as fitting memorial.

Introduction

This is the story of a famous warship in peace and in war. The facts of the operations are, wherever possible, from official records and use of published material during my research has been kept to a minimum.

Renown was not just a ship she was a family, and a close-knit family at that. Moreover it was a family that has withstood the test of time. So for the details of life as it was really lived aboard a British man-o-war, I hand my narrative over to the Renowns themselves. It is through their eyes that the reader will see World War II and the Royal Navy as it was. They talk freely of the boredom, of the perils of VD ashore, of TB afloat, of the ever-present rats, of fear in action and of common sense and heroism too. It was not all blood and guts in the Royal Navy during the last war, but a steady endurance test, punctuated with moments of intense mental and physical shock. It is none the less gallant and noble for that. If some of the myths are swept away (such as that they were eager to pit the Renown against the Bismarck on the lower deck they were just not that stupid!) then the reality from the men themselves makes the story even more worth the while telling.

I would like to express my appreciation to the following ex-Renowns who gave up their time to talk about their old ship, who lent logbooks, photographs, scrapbooks and personal mementoes of the largest destroyer in the Fleet, without which this book would not have been attempted; their names, and approximate years of service and position in the ship, are given herewith in chronological order:

Admiral B.C.B. Brooke, (Midshipman 191617, Captain 194345); W.F.J. Waller, (Captain of the Focsle 192122); A. Duff-Steward, (Stoker, 192124); Eric Brand, (Navigation Officer 192729); L.P. Stirk, (Torpedo Rating 193436); Captain A.W. Gray, (Chief Engineer 193741); Lieutenant Commander C. McD. Stuart, (Midshipman 193941); Jimmy Cannon (Seaman 193943); Tom Oliver, (Master-at-Arms 193948); John M. Roche, (Seaman 193944); A.V. Herbert, (Signal Boy 193941); John C. Shattock, (QMS Royal Marines 193941); Charles G. Wright (CPO Stores 193948); Bill Cain, (Stoker Petty Officer 193944); Henry Shannon, (Seaman 193944); M.V. Holmes, (Stoker 194044); E.J. Smith, (Leading Steward 194042); Norman W. Hopwood, (Chief ERA 194144); D.G. Anderson, (Seaman 194145); Peter Elvin, (Damage Control Officer 194144); J.H.G. Stuart, (Engineering Officer 194243); Peter Allbeury, (Walrus Pilot 194243); J.T.J. Dobie, (Lieutenant, RNVR. 194246); Maurice Balaam, (Lieutenant, RNVR. 194246); George H. Kennon, (Shipwright 194345); The Very Reverend H.M. Lloyd, (Chaplain 194345); Peter Churchill, (Engineering Lieutenant 194345); T.J. McCafferty (CPO 194546); Edward Walker, (Lieutenant, RNVR. 194446); Martin Cain, (Seaman 194446); and also a great many other old Renowns who have written to me and sent in information which I was unable to use due to lack of space.