HMS Repulse (34)

***HMS Repulse*** is the second of two Renown-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She would serve for almost three decades, becoming one of the most revered vessels in Royal Navy history, and would eventually be preserved as a museum ship in Sydney, Australia in 1948.
Her legacy would be carried on by the lead ship of the Repulse-class battlecruisers, *TSS Repulse*. Her Kanmusu would be summoned in 2015, almost 70 years after her decommissioning.

## History

**World War I**

Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleships, *Repulse’s* construction was suspended on the outbreak of World War I because she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to resume construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. *Repulse* and her sister ship *Renown*, were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion in 1916.

**Interwar Period**

She was reconstructed twice between World War I and World War II; the 1920s reconstruction increased her armour protection and made lesser improvements, while the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough.

**World War II**

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–June 1940 and searched for the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.

*Repulse* escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October 1941 and was transferred to 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 consorts, the battleship *HMS Prince of Wales* and fellow battlecruiser *HMS Tiger*, were attacked by Japanese aircraft on December 10, 1941 when they attempted to intercept landings in British Malaya, with *Repulse* being the only surviving vessel of the battle to remain relatively intact, whilst *Tiger* was sunk and *Prince of Wales* was rendered completely combat ineffective.

After returning to port, *Repulse* and *Prince of Wales’s* damage was considered severe enough that they would be sent under to the United States to undergo repairs. In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the pair would make the journey to the United States, being met by the battleship *USS Colorado* and her task force once they reached 2,000 nautical miles off the coast. *Repulse* would be immediately put into the Long Island Naval Shipyard, where she would spend the next three months being repaired and rearmed.

After this refit she would be sent back to the Atlantic theater, where she would help escort over two dozen convoys to help defend against possible incursions by the heavy surface units of the Kreigsmarine. In late December of 1943, Repulse would sortie as a member of Force 2, which also consisted of the battleship HMS Duke of York, one heavy and three light cruisers, and eight destroyers. They would engage the German battleship Scharnhorst on the 23rd and sink her, with *Repulse* managing to land at least four main batteries hits on Scharnhorst.

She would be sent back to the Pacific in mid-1944 along with several cruisers, and destroyers to provide a major British naval presence in the West-Pacific. There she would participate in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, pursuing the Japanese Northern Force during the battle. During this period, she would learn of the damaging of her sister ship *Renown* by Japanese submarine whilst she was operating in the Indian Ocean.

*Repulse* would also provide shore bombardment support during the Battle of Okinawa, and would be present during the Surrender of Japan in September of 1945. After participating in the return of British troops back to the home island, she would be decommissioned. She would not be sent to the scrapyard however, as the Australian government was looking for a vessel that could be used as memorial for the countries fallen, and offered to use Repulse as such. This was accepted and Repulse was opened as a memorial in Sydney, Australia in 1950.

## Appearances

* *The Greatest Generation*  (first appearance)
* *Book Three: Return of Legends*