HMS Renown was a second-class predreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1890s. Intended to command cruiser squadrons operating on foreign stations, the ship served as the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station and the Mediterranean Fleet early in her career. Becoming obsolete as cruiser speeds increased, Renown became a royal yacht and had all of her secondary armament removed to make her more suitable for such duties. She became a stoker's training ship in 1909 and was listed for disposal in 1913. The ship was sold for scrap in early 1914.
Design and description
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 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 11 April. 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.
General characteristics
Renown had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of at deep load. She displaced at normal load and at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of at deep load.
In 1903, the crew numbered between 651 and 674 officers and ratings. She was considered to handle well by her captains and was a good sea-boat. In view of her intended duties abroad, her bottom was coppered to reduce biofouling.
Propulsion
Renown was powered by a pair of three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller. Steam for the engines was provided by eight cylindrical boilers at a working pressure of . The engines were designed to produce a total of which was intended to allow her to reach a speed of . The engines proved to be more powerful than anticipated and Renown reached during sea trials under forced draught. The ship carried a maximum of of coal, enough to steam at .
Armament
She was armed with four 32-calibre, breech-loading 10-inch Mk III guns in two twin-gun barbettes, one forward and one aft. Each gun was provided with 105 shells. Her secondary armament consisted of ten 40-calibre quick-firing (QF) 6-inch Mk II guns. Half a dozen of these guns were mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull and the remaining guns were mounted on the upper deck in casemates in the superstructure. Defence against torpedo boats was provided by a dozen QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. Eight of these were mounted on the upper deck amidships. They fired , shells at a muzzle velocity of . 200 rounds per gun were carried by each ship. Renown also carried eight QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. Each gun was provided with 500 rounds of ammunition. She had five 18-inch torpedo tubes, one in the stern above water and two on each broadside underwater.
Armour
The ship's protection was generally composed of Harvey armour and her waterline main belt was thick. It was long amidships and high of which was below the waterline at normal load. Fore and aft oblique bulkheads, and ] thick, connected the belt armour to the barbettes. The upper strake of six-inch armour was long and high. It covered the ship's side between the rear of the barbettes up to the level of the main deck. Oblique bulkheads six inches thick connected the upper armour to the barbettes.