laststandonzombieisland

Some 110 years ago this month, a great view of the conning tower and forward turrets, complete with newly-installed 15″/42 Mark I guns, of the future Renown-class battlecruiser HMS Repulse, seen whilst fitting out at John Brown & Co’s Clydebank yard, Scotland.

August 1916 National Records of Scotland, UCS1-118-443-295

The 10th RN ship to carry the name, Repulse commissioned 18 August 1916, just over two months too late for Jutland. The month prior, she hit 31.73 knots on her speed trials, making her the world’s second fastest capital ship upon completion, only bested by her sister Renown, which hit 32.58.

However, the two sisters, Renown and Repulse, spent so much time in modification and maintenance over their careers that the wags in the fleet collectively knew them as HMS Refit and HMS Repair.

This included, for Repulse, 27 months (December 1918 – March 1921) at Portsmouth Dockyard to install torpedo bulges and improved armor to fix the shortcomings exposed in British battlecruisers at Jutland, and a 37-month (April 1933 – May 1936) modernization on the eve of WWII. Add to that numerous minor maintenance and refit periods, and she spent nearly a fourth of her 25-year career in the yard.

Portsmouth Dockyard blueprint for Renown-class battlecruiser HMS Repulse dated 1936.

Repulse nonetheless earned three battle honors (Norway 1940, Atlantic 1940, and Bismarck Action 1941) before she gave her last full measure, escorting the HMS Prince of Wales on 10 December 1941