14.
Dec. 17, 2011

My father, Bernard Puckering, was part of the crew on HMS Renown on round the world trip with Prince of Wales in 1920's. He was the telegraphist. Wondered if any one recognises his name.

Anne Kelly

13.
Aug. 5, 2011

My grandfather on my mothers side served as Bosun on the HMS Renown during the Prince of Wales tours. His name was Samuel Adams who was born in Bath and lived in Chandlers Ford, Hants. If anyone has any info on crew lists or sites of interest please leave message on the message board.

Thanks
Jonathan,
Sag Harbor, USA

12.
July 12, 2011

I have a black silk cloth with the Royal Crest on and the words “DIEU ET MON DROIT” embroidery done by H. Imamura of Nagasaki, Japan, which I was told that my Great Uncle was given when he served on HMS Renown in April 1922, Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) visit to Japan. How do I find out if this is correct? I believe he was the Purser on the Renown at the time, his Last name was Phillips first name I think was Albert and he came from the Bristol area. I would be grateful for any information you could let me have as to finding out a little bit more about the silk and my great uncle's service record.

Best regards,
Lynda Oldroyd

11.
Mar. 30, 2011

My father Able Seaman Edward (Ted) Schulz served on the Renown from 13th June 43 till 21st Nov 45.
He spoke not much about his service only info I have is that he manned multiple Pom Poms (anti-aircraft guns).
He had a spell in hospital in Canada and spoke about losing a young rating about the time of the refit in Durban.
He died was I was quite young and i've now worked it out that I was conceived when Renown was back in Scotland after the refit, he was given leave so travelled down to my mum in London!, this was around April 45.
He then saw service again on Renown until he was demobbed in November '45. Does anyone have photos of the ship's company or any info whatsoever that may prove of interest. I would be most grateful if you would email me.

Very best regards,
Brian Schulz

10.
May 18, 2010

My great uncle and godfather Alfred Bartholomew born 1894 served aboard HMS Renown, I think she must have been in Portsmouth when he got married at Emsworth in 1926, he was Leading Stoker at that time. I remember him telling us before the war about the trip to Australia with our future King and Queen. He also went to India, Aunt Lydia had a silver bangle like a snake that he bought out there. Uncle Alfie joined the navy in WW1 and stayed in till WW2 ended, during WW2 he served on HMS Winchelse, I believe she was nicknamed the "Winklepot" and was at Dunkirk and on the Atlantic Convoys. He was a lovely man.

Eve Mothershaw

9.
Apr. 2, 2010

My dad, Jack Stephens, served on the Renown from August 139 to December 1943 as Yeoman/Chief Yeoman of Signals. I am currently researching his service record between 1928 and 1953 and found this site most helpful.

Pete Stephens

8.
Sept. 8, 2009

It is with great interest that I have read Victor Humphries post on the Message Board. My Father died when I was young, but he too served on The Renown and I believe he too was involved in the radar. His name was Reginald Crabb and would be pleased to hear if anyone has any recollection of him.

Yours sincerely,
Peter Crabb
Hartburn, Stockton, UK

7.
Aug. 28, 2009

My father served on the Renown (Stoker) during the war. Looking through some of his photographs she looked an impressive ship, specially the ones covered in ice.

Kind Regards,
Geoff Griffiths
Wrexham, North Wales

6.
May 8, 2009

My father sailed on the Renown from Sept. 1926 to March 1928. He had the Duke and Duchess of Wales on ship when they went to Australia. I always remember seeing a picture of the Renown on the wall of our lounge when I was a little girl. I have my fathers navy records and at the end of the war he was on HMS Bridlington a
minesweeper.

Marnet Torres

5.
Oct. 27, 2008

I noticed a picture of a chapel for St. Nicholas onboard of HMS Renown. St. Nicholas is the protector of sailors, but.....the Dutch and Belgiums based Sint-Nicolaas (or Sinterklaas) on this saint, in the Anglo Saxon world Santa Claus is based on this saint. Did you know that?

I cannot tell you the complete story, for I do not know all details. I know Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Myra (situated now in Turkey) in the 3rd of 4th century. I do not know what made him a saint, but I do know sailors regard St Nicholas as their "Guardian Angel". As far as I know his remains were moved to a church cathedral in Bari, Italian harbor at the Adriatic sea.

Again I do not know what made Saint Nicholas (or Sinterklaas) a friend for the children, but since the second half of the 19th century Saint Nicholas makes the journey from Spain to The Netherlands and Belgium every year to reward sweet children and to punish the "bad" children.

It's highly plausible some immigrants brought the habit of celebrating Sinterklaas to the USA, were Sinterklaas was turned into Santa Claus etc etc.

I guess there will be plenty of information around on the internet the forthcoming months about this subject (and no doubt Wikipedia will have some articles about Sinterklaas)

However what surprised me more on this picture is the fact that there was a chapel for a saint on board of a battleship; I always believed this was a catholic habit and I did not know the same thing was/is done in the Anglican church. I will look for some sites about Dutch shipping (enough old sailors who publish their pictures on the internet), will get back to you about this

Great site, beautiful pictures, only very few pictures of Dutch ships :)
Ton

4.
June 7, 2007

My friends Grandfather was Master at Arms on HMS Renown in 1922 during the tour with the then Prince of W ales.  He was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal for services to the Prince.  We are researching his service at present and have found that a relative served on Renown in 1899 and was mentioned on the Roll of Honour.

Bob

3.
May 8, 2008

My grandfather William Duke Leech was a crew member on the Renown when the then Prince of Wales traveled out to Australia. Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of knowing my grandfather as his ship the HMS Blue Sky floundered off Kent in 1922 but he did leave a legacy -  a silver anchor brooch commemorating that trip.

I wonder if there is anyone else who still treasures this memento I am assuming that this brooch was given to crew members as a keep sake. I have passed this onto my grand-daughter with the promise it will stay in the family and be passed on through the years. Great website, full of wonderful information. 

Regards,
Geraldine Todd
West Sussex

2.
Apr. 21, 2007

I really like your website. HMS Renown has always been my favourite warship. I have a number of very nice Renown photos, some of which I have colourized in Adobe Photoshop. If you would like to have them to post on your website just give me a buzz. It's also very nice to see that message by Mr. Victor Humphries. We were in e-mail contact a few years ago and it was a very enjoyable experience. Actually though, Renown's motto was "Guardian Of Ancient Renown"

Warmest regards,
Monty Mills,
Newfoundland, Canada

1.
Apr. 9, 2007

Hi Mike , I am a 82 year old WW2 veteran of the Royal Navy serving only on one ship HMS Renown, which was a great and happy ship. I volunteered for the RN at the age of 18 and never having seen a ship I was awe struck when I arrived in Rosyth dockyard at 10:30pm in total darkness (Blackout) and I asked the old sailor standing next to me after we got out of the RN truck where is the Renown, he replied its in front of you about 10 feet away, as my eyes got accustomed to the darkness I could see the huge size of this ship. I was beginning to think that volunteering was not such a good idea, but I realized that I must press on, and the time I spent on the Renown was OK except for the food which was not very good. My first trip was across the north Atlantic in a hurricane sept 1943, no escorts, arrived Halifax NS, to pick up Winston Churchill and his wife and daughter Mary. As radar operator my cruising station was operating a surface warning type 273 radar set which was situated in a small steel box atop the fore mast, above the box was a perspex lantern type construction which contained the trans and receive dish's which we had to continually rotate by hand. It was a hard job climbing the mast every watch especially in rough weather, we did not have safety harnesses like they have today, I nearly fell twice. If any one is interested in the Renown try to find the book "Hit First Hit Hard" which was the Motto of the Renown. Keep up the good work a remarkable web site.

Kind regards,
Victor Humphries,
Fremantle, West Australia