Calling all HMS Repulse & HMS Renown fans

[Joachim]

Hi to all Repulse and Renown fans!

I�ve got a question concerning Renown�s name on the aft superstructure, after searching online and in my books: After her conversion, I can�t find indications that she has been showing her name there. Got it painted in the camouflage scheme, too? Or was it removed in wartime?

I�d be grateful for information!

Thanks and best regards from Dortmund!

Joachim

[Andrew F]

Hi all!

In post refit but prewar photos of the port rear gun house there can be seen two davits in front of the the house. In all my poor quality war time photos I cannot see them . Does anyone know if they should be there ? Were they folding like the paravane ones at the bow?

thanks


Andrew

[Blackbrazen]

Does anyone know of a picture of the uppermost compass platform above the bridge and the Admirals shelter on Renown after her rebuilding in 1939? I have the Profile Morskie plans, which are quite clear...but are they correct?
Any opinions/ideas would be most welcome!

[Joachim]

I�d be curious about some details and using Profile Morskiye, too!

Regards from Dortmund!

Joachim

[Rob Jansen]

Hi everyone,
My name is Rob and I've enjoyed this forum for years but only recently have been able to "log on".

My intense interest is in cold-war ships but I decided to build Trumpeters new Renown as a change of pace so please forgive me for my ignorance concerning the Royal Navy regarding my question.

I want to do the Renown as it appeared while with Task Force "H" in late 1941. There are two reasons why, one, a camouflage scheme like worn by the Renown in 42' is something a "cold-war" modeler like me could only dream of aspiring too, and second I think it hides the graceful details of the ship and like the overall gray look.

There seems to be evidence, mostly in paintings and graphics that Renown wore a two-tone scheme with a darker color on the hull up to the main deck (507B and 507A?). However most photos and other posts I've read seem to indicate that the ships mostly wore an overall 507B...

Does anybody have a thought on this?

Thanks so much!!!
-Rob

[RNfanDan]

Renown was indeed in a crisp, elegant two-tone light/dark scheme for a goodly part of 1940. This is one of my favorite schemes, a time when the ship was largely uncluttered with additional light AA or bristling with myriad radars.

[PaulC]

Renown was indeed in a crisp, elegant two-tone light/dark scheme for a goodly part of 1941. Hull was primarily 507B and upperworks mainly 507c. This is one of my favorite schemes, a time when the ship was largely uncluttered with additional light AA and bristling with myriad radars.

Are you sure about those colours Dan? A two tone scheme was worn by Renown, Ark Royal & Sheffield during the Bismarck chase, but it's unclear whether the three were identical or not. Sheffield's upperworks were AP507C (Admiralty light grey) and her hull was AP507A (Admiralty dark grey). The contrast is pretty clear on many photos of the ship and this is the scheme given in the WEM resin kit. In the photo of Renown you posted, the hull looks to be AP507A. The superstructure, to me, looks more like 507B (medium) rather than light - as it does in Duke of York's 1943 scheme - thought it could conceivably be 507A as was the case for Sheffield.

Photo's of Ark Royal do not suggest a major contrast between the lower (below weather deck level) and upper hull & island - suggesting A and B rather than A and C.

What say you all?

Paul

[Rob Jansen]

Great picture Dan!

I had not seen that one before. OK, so definitely a two-tone but still some debate on which gray (grey) shades. Paul suggests a darker one with 507B on the superstructure? Wasn't the Renown painted overall 507B in 1939?

Anyhow, thank you both so much for answering my first post, I'll be busy enough back dating and assembling for a while (I promised myself I wouldn't get too uptight about being perfect I know I'll miss a few things).

[MartinJQuinn]

Renown was indeed in a crisp, elegant two-tone light/dark scheme for a goodly part of 1941. Hull was primarily 507B and upperworks mainly 507c. This is one of my favorite schemes, a time when the ship was largely uncluttered with additional light AA and bristling with myriad radars.

That is a great photo Dan. Looking through some other photos, I wonder if that darker color isn't 507A.

Here's Rodney in 507B - the tone seems lighter than in the Renown.

Rodney - period postcard

Here is Royal Oak in 507A - the tone seems consistent with that on the hull of Renown.

Royal Oak - source unknown

[RNfanDan]

Are you sure about those colours Dan?

No. In looking further, the B-upperworks/ A-lower hull tones Paul suggested, seem closer to the mark.

I think the C/B combination I described, would contrast a bit more sharply than the apparent B/A appearance of my posted image (which seems closer to that of Hood's paintwork, seen in some of that ship's 1930s photos).

Still, a very fine appearance for Renown, in my opinion.

[PaulC]

Yes...Hood was 507A through the first half (and a bit more) of the 30's then was lightened up to 507C for her Mediterranean service.

Renown looked to be mainly 507C when she emerged from reconstruction, but as war clouds threatened, she, like Hood quickly went to 507B.

Paul

[Rob Jansen]

Are you sure about those colours Dan?

No. In looking further, the B-upperworks/ A-lower hull tones Paul suggested, seem closer to the mark.

I think the C/B combination I described, would contrast a bit more sharply than the apparent B/A appearance of my posted image (which seems closer to that of Hood's paintwork, seen in some of that ship's 1930s photos).

Still, a very fine appearance for Renown, in my opinion.

Thank you so much both Dan and Paul,
507B/A it is, and I think from the few resources I've been able to read that this combination does seem to make sense. So now that part is taken care of!!!!

[PaulC]

You're welcome Rob.

Hope you enjoy doing your build as much as I'm enjoying mine. Renown in any guise is a beauty!

[Alex V Mandel]

Happy Easter and Best Wishes to everybody!
Please can somebody answer this? - as i can't find any certain answer in the literature.

In the Raven and Robers' book, on the page 254, there is a photo captioned: "Looking aft from the flag deck of Renown".

It is clearly visible on the photo that the mainmast is already a tripod; thus, the photo is certainly taken after the autumn-1941 repair and modernization. However, the object on the left from the second funnel certainly seems a boat - that, IMHO, suggests that the photo is taken before the 1943 repairs (when the boats were moved back and down - to the ex-catapult deck). Agree?...

What intrigues me here, is that i can't see on this photo (on funnels, or any part of superstructure - anywhere!) any sign of camouflage: the ship certainly seems still painted in "monotone" gray color, of some (apparently not very dark) shade.

Whether this photo must be considered as a proof that there was a period (probably late autumn - early winter 1941?) when the HMS Renown was already modernized (tripd mainmast, etc.) - but not camouflaged yet, and still wore the grey on every vertical surface?...

[RNfanDan]

What intrigues me here, is that i can't see any sign of camouflage: the ship certainly seems still painted in "monotone" gray color, of some (apparently not very dark) shade.

The photo you describe seems likely to have been taken while the ship was painted in her late war color scheme, when she sported a blue-grey panel on the side of her hull and a generally grey monotone upperworks. Note the presence of the 20-mm shielded gun in the lower foreground and the Type 285 aerials on the aft HACS. Both the radar and the first of her 20mm guns were not fitted until her August-October 1941 refit.

[Alex V Mandel]

Hello RNfanDan,
Thank you for your comment! So do you mean that there was no such period when the HMS Renown was already having the tripod mainmast and some Oerlikons (after the autumn 1941 repairs), but still was not camouflaged yet?...

[RNfanDan]

Tryin' to corner me, yes?

My best information has it, that the ship was camouflaged by the time she re-entered service after the Rosyth refit. She evidently went in with light grey upperworks and a pole mainmast, and came out with camo paint and a tripod mainmast---not to mention the Oerlikons.

There is something else I noticed, on further examination of the photo you refer to, reinforcing my opinion that the shot was taken later in the war. Looking carefully at the tips of her starfish platform, I noticed what appear to be sensors (antennas) installed, possibly for direction-finding. I defer to those more informed than I as to their function, but I don't believe such fittings were seen until much later in the war than 1941 or 1942.

Beyond this, I am at a loss to help much...

[dick]

I agree with Dan. Note also the civilian in the foreground and what I think is Plymouth breakwater in the background. I suspect the picture was taken shortly after the war ended.

Has anyone got a good picture of the port side of Renown's 1942 camouflage?

[Alex V Mandel]

Dan and Dick,
Thasnk you very much for your comments and help! - it is most appreciated :)

[ar]

I agree with Dan. Note also the civilian in the foreground and what I think is Plymouth breakwater in the background. I suspect the picture was taken shortly after the war ended.

Has anyone got a good picture of the port side of Renown's 1942 camouflage?

The photo was taken while the ship was laid up near Plymouth shortly after the end of the war.

I can send you a port broadside view showing the first Admiraly camouflage pattern.
Your address is still Falmouth, Cornwall, I presume?