HMS Repulse (1916)

Repulse with other capital ships of the Atlantic Fleet on manoeuvres in the 1920s
History
United Kingdom
Name	Repulse
Ordered	30 December 1914
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Laid down	25 January 1915
Launched	8 January 1916
Commissioned	18 August 1916
Identification	Pennant number: 34
Motto	Qui Tangit Frangitur Who touches me is broken
Nickname(s)	Repair[1]
Fate	Sunk by Japanese bombers, 10 December 1941
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Renown-class battlecruiser
Displacement	27,200 long tons (27,636 t) (normal) 32,220 long tons (32,737 t) (deep load)
Length	750 ft 2 in (228.7 m) p.p. 794 ft 1.5 in (242 m) (o.a.)
Beam	90 ft 1.75 in (27.5 m)
Draught	27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power	42 × water-tube boilers 112,000 shp (84,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts, 2 × steam turbine sets,
Speed	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Crew	967 1,222 (1919)
Armament	3 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 5 × triple, 2 × single 4 in (102 mm) guns 2 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 3–6 in (76–152 mm) Decks: 1–2.5 in (25–64 mm) Barbettes: 4–7 in (102–178 mm) Gun turrets: 7–9 in (178–229 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Bulkheads: 3–4 in (76–102 mm)
General characteristics (1939)
Displacement	34,600 long tons (35,155 t)
Draught	29 ft 8 in (9 m)
Installed power	8 × boilers, 112,000 shp (84,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts, 4 × steam turbines
Speed	31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Range	6,650 nmi (12,320 km; 7,650 mi)
Complement	1,181
Armament	3 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 3 × triple 4 in (102 mm) guns 6 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA guns 2 × quadruple 40 mm (1.6 in) 2-pdr AA guns
Armour	Belt: 2–9 in (51–229 mm) Decks: 1–4 in (25–102 mm) otherwise no change
Aircraft carried	4 × seaplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × aircraft catapult

HMS Repulse was one of two Renown-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval for her to resume construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ship in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Repulse and her sister ship Renown were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

Repulse participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, the only combat she saw during the war. She was reconstructed twice between the wars; a reconstruction in the 1920s increased her armour protection and made lesser improvements, while another in the 1930s was much more thorough. Repulse accompanied the battlecruiser Hood during the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron on a round-the-world cruise in 1923 to 1924 and protected international shipping during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 to 1939.

The ship spent the first months of the Second World War hunting for German raiders and blockade runners. She participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April to June 1940 and searched for the Bismarck in 1941. Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October 1941 and was transferred to the East Indies Command. She was assigned in November to Force Z, which was supposed to deter Japanese aggression against British possessions in the Far East. Repulse and her consort, the battleship Prince of Wales, were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941 when they attempted to intercept landings in British Malaya.

In December 2023, a memorial was erected at Teluk Cempedak beach, commemorating both Repulse and Prince of Wales. The memorial was unveiled by the King Abdullah of Pahang.^[2]