THE BOOKS OF PETER C. SMITH
HIT FIRST, HIT HARD. HMS Renown
1916-1948.
H/B 1979 (ISBN 0 7183 0206 0) ; H/B
Edition Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2008 (as
The Battle-Cruiser HMS RENOWN) ISBN 1-844-15745-8; P/B Edition
Pen & Sword, due April 2011.
The story of the Royal Navy
battle-cruiser H.M.S. Renown was a long and distinguished one.
Originally built for the First World War she subsequently served in the
post-war fleet and took royalty around the world. Modernised just in time for
the second great sea war, she re-joined the fleet in September, 1939 and for
the first two years of the war her speed and heavy gun armament made her one of
the most important ships of the fleet. She escorted the famous carrier Ark
Royal for most of her illustrious career as flagship of Force "H"
in the Mediterranean and took part in many
stirring battles and convoy actions.
Later she covered Russian convoys in the
Arctic before going out to the Indian Ocean where she took part in attacks on
Japanese targets in the Indian Ocean. Her
final duties included the meeting of King George VI and President Truman in
1945. A host of fresh detail coupled with eyewitness memoirs from former crew
members make this an outstanding warship biography.
Reviewing this book the Navy News
said: "Peter Smith has chosen well in featuring the famous battle cruiser,
Renown, for her career touched most of the naval highlights of the
Second World War..." From New
Zealand John Paston wrote of the new
edition:- "I really enjoyed reading it and I can say I have rarely read a
book in this category I class as 'Unputdownable'." He added the book was
"...a great blend of narrative and eye-witness detail." Rob Jerrard's
Internet review stated:- "The book makes excellent reading ........and is
highly recommended." Awarding the new edition five stars on Amazon, S. P. Stevens
said it was, “A very good book with the right for me mix of history and
stories of the crew.” Granting a similar rating, “BLb”
recorded that: “This book is not merely a record of a piece of tin, it is
the biography of a whole way of life. This book lives and breathes Navy, read
it yes, but own it, touch it, and you feel part of its existence.”
