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Those known to have sailed in HMS Renown during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of HMS Renown from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMS Renown? There are:46 items tagged HMS Renown available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Gnr. Albert Edward Waters H.M.S Renown Albert Waters was my father.
I heard many stories as a kid. After the war he jumped ship in Australia and changed his name to Patric Shamous O'Sullivan, and managed big cattle properties and loved to fight. He was a boxer in the navy and told the story of nearly being court marshalled for shooting a German Submarine Captain on a boarding party who he let go below to get photos of his family and turned on Dad with a machine gun. Dad said he shot him with 2 45 pistols.
He also said he served on submarines for a time and on Gibraltar.
He was one of 3 or 4 to escape from a depth charged submarine out the torpedo tube.
He did his training on the Tall ships around 1936-7 as he signed up before the war. He said he was on the ship that the Japanese signed the surrender on in the Harbour. On the day he said the sky was full of hundreds of American aircraft as a show of force to the Japanese.
He was on that ship because his ship had been cut in half by an American ship which zigged when it should have zagged. He said the ship he was on was on escort duty. Only a few survived this
In Australia after the war he often helped the Police break up rampaging Aboriginal gangs. I have been told this from the police direct in the outback.
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CPO. Gilbert "Sky" Turner HMS Renown My grandfather, Gilbert Turner served in the Royal Navy. He was a chef, and my grandmother told me that he cooked a meal for Winston Churchill and the King of Norway at separate times whilst on the battlecruiser HMS Renown. I would be interested to find out more.
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AB. Peter Stanley Tomlinson HMS Renown (d.5th September 1944) Peter Tomlinson was an uncle I never knew. He was killed in 1944 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and is buried in Trincomalee British War Cemetery in Sri Lanka. His death was something of a mystery as he was discovered, according to a letter received from the Captain of HMS Renown on which he was serving, with fatal head injuries in the harbour after being assigned to picket duties on board the ship. The letter is in my Mother's possession and is the only information which the family received regarding his death. He was aged 19 when he died and my Mother remembers her older brother with great fondness. RIP Uncle Peter I am proud to be your nephew.
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A.B. Stanley Horace Bettany HMS Victory Stanley Bettany enlisted in the Royal Navy on 17th of December 1941 after learning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
He enlisted at Coventry, where he lived, and was transferred to Portsmouth. He served on HMS Victory on several occasions. His first was from 25th Feb 1942 to 9th April 1942. His second was 14th June 1945 to 25th August 1945 after returning from Trincomalee on HMS Renown. His third posting on HMS Victory was from 16th February to 3rd June 1946 after which he was demobbed.
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Stok1. William Henry Campbell HMS Renown Recently I found out that my father, William Campbell served as Stoker on HMS Renown from August 1939 to June 1943. I am trying to trace further information. I understand he boxed for the Navy during his 13 years service
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Ships writer Victor John Mustoe HMS Renown My father Victor Mustoe served on HMS Renown in the East.
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Ldg.Sea Francis James "Joe" Coyne HMS Flamingo Joe Coyne was with the Black Swan class sloop HMS Flamingo from her commissioning in 1939 to her bombing in the Mediterranean in November 1941.
The ship was first deployed protecting the North Sea convoys and then took part in the Norway campaign where, as with all the RN units taking part, she was under constant dive bomb attack.
Joe, at this time, was an AB and his station was on one of the ship's pom pom anti aircraft guns. He claimed never to have hit anything in spite of his best efforts.
At the close of the Norway campaign, the ship was sent immediately to the Mediterranean in support of the North African and Malta convoys where she was again under constant attack from the air.
By this time, because of the ship's constant movement, Joe had received no news from home for two years, so when he finally received the letter telling him that he was a father for the first time, his joy at having a baby daughter was tempered with anger at being kept so long in ignorance. As an expression of this he removed his cap and kicked it over the side. The captain on the bridge had witnessed this performance and for some extraordinary reason had the cap retrieved from the sea. His recent promotion to Leading Seaman was as a consequence reversed.
In November 1941 Flamingo's luck finally ran out when she was bombed and disabled having received a direct hit in the engine room.
Joe by this time had his rank restored and was now the ship's coxswain and as such was at the wheel when Flamingo was hit. The ship had rapidly taken on water and was half submerged when she was taken in tow by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart, who successfully towed her into Alexandria.
Here the ship's company were redeployed, Joe returning to the UK on HMS Renown. On reaching his home port of Chatham, he was assigned to HMS Keren.
The Keren had been requisitioned out of the merchant fleet where her name had been Kenya (A name she was restored to at the close of hostilities). As a liner, she was suitable for the Navy to use as a troop transport and landing ship. The Keren was deployed to the Mediterranean where she took part in the Sicily and Italy landings and later towards the end of the war, she was in support of the campaign in Burma.
Joe by this time was a Petty Officer. In the interval between the end of the war in Europe and the surrender of Japan, he was employed at Chatham Barracks training Officer cadets.
Joe was awarded the Atlantic, Burma, Italy and Africa stars, the latter twice. After serving eighteen years in the navy, he left the service in November 1945 having received promotion to Chief Petty Officer should he sign on for a further twelve years.
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George Victor Mann HMS Renown My father, George Victor Mann, served in the Royal Navy from the 13th of February 1939 until 1945. He served on HMS Renown from the 13th of February 1939 as Stoker 2nd Class, he was promoted
on the 31st of January 1940 Stoker 1st Class, and on the
17th of October 1942 to Leading Stocker.
In 1943 he transferred to HMS Bellwort and was promoted again on the 17th of June 1944 to Stoker Petty Officer. In 1944 and 1945 he was onboard HMS Orion.
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Able.Sea. George Robert "Bob" Collis HMS Havelock My father, George Robert Collis, served in the Royal Navy from 19 February 1942 to 29 May 1946
- HMS Collingwood - Ordinary Seaman - 19/2/1942 - 12/5/1942
- HMS Victory - Ordinary Seaman - 13/5/1942 - 22/8/1942
- HMS Havelock H88 Ordinary & Able Seaman - 7/9/1942 - 8/3/1945
- HMS Victory - Able Seaman - 9/3/1945 - 19/4/1945
- HMS Nimrod - Able Seaman - 20/4/1945 - 6/7/1945
- HMS Osprey - Able Seaman - 7/7/1945 - 27/7/1945
- HMS Hastings - Able Seaman - 28/7/1945 - 28/10/1945
- HMS Osprey - Able Seaman - 29/10/1945 - 31/10/1945
- HMS Caroline - Able Seaman - 1/11/1945 - 31/12/1945
- HMS Victory - Able Seaman - 1/1/1946 - 29/5/1946
Whilst his naval record does not show him having served on HMS Renown in the photograph I have of him in naval uniform he is wearing the cap from Renown, I can only assume he was on loan to the ship at the time.
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Gnr. Eric Hodgkinson HMS Renown My father served as a gunner on HMS Renown in WWII.
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Jack Rogers HMS Renown My dad, Jack Rogers, served on HMS Renown from approximately 1942 to 1946.
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Gnr. John Cramphorn HMS Renown My grandfather was a gunner on HMS Renown in WWII.
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Stoker 1/Cl. Bertram Wood DSM HMS Ark Royal (d.1942) My grandfather, Bertram Wood DSM, served in the Royal Navy from 1924 until April 1942, when he was killed. He served in HMS Ark Royal, HMS Royal Sovereign, HMS Pembroke, HMS Chatham, HMS Repulse, HMS Renown, HMS Ramillies, HMS Valiant, HMS Pegasus, HMS Ajax and HMS Havock.
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L.Sig. George William Pickett HMS Cyclops Not a lot is known about George Pickett's sevice days. He was on HMS Renown and He said whilst on HMS Renown, they brought Winston Churchill from Nova Scotia to the United Kingdom. On George's 21st Birthday in 1944, his address was 101 Mess, HMS Cyclops. In February 1946, in St. Rodeaux, he joined the Atheling as crew and sailed to Australia.
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