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