Clydebank Beauty

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…