HMS RENOWN WEARING THE STANDARD OF HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES ARRIVES IN PLYMOUTH SOUND 22 JUNE 1922

HMS RENOWN is seen here entering Plymouth on completion of her tour to India and Japan and the Far East with HRH The Prince of Wales. The battles of the Falklands and Heligoland Bight early in the Great War had clearly shown, some believed, the great value of fast yet heavily armed ships: that these attributes were achieved at the expense of armour in RENOWN and REPULSE was a point not lost on the Grand Fleet which the two new ships joined only days after the Battle of Jutland where the vulnerability of our lightly armoured battlecruisers had been graphically illustrated. Although they were thereupon taken in hand for enhancement of their armour - and on several subsequent occasions as well - many in the fleet always remained unconvinced about their ability to withstand punishment from heavy shellfire. But RENOWN received a major reconstruction in the late 1930s and rejoined the fleet in time for a very busy war. She was scrapped in 1948.