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HMS Repulse 1939 World Naval Ships Forums Archive

HMS Repulse 1939

Posts 1 to 7

When HMS [I]Repulse[/I] emerged from a winter 1938-1939 refit at Portsmouth it had undergone some changes, particularly in the features of its aft superstructure. Two of the most notable changes were the result of [I]Repulse[/I] being nominated for duty as Royal Yacht for HM Tour of Canada and the United States in 1939. Where the ship had been fitted since 1936 with port and starboard gun houses, each with a twin 4-inch experimental BD (between decks) AA mounting, there now stood accommodation shelters for the Queen (portside) and King's staff (starboard). The starboard gun house was completely removed, along with its AA mounting and internal fittings; in its place was built a new, much larger structure, containing a bath and cabins for the King's staff. This structure was approximately 43 feet in length and some 16 feet wide. On the port side the gun house was partially preserved, but still extensively reconstructed. This became the "Queen's Shelter", again fitted with cabins and appointed internally with fine accommodations. Unlike the starboard shelter, it was left the same length and width, but its tapered aft portion was modified to a fully rectangular form in order to increase interior space. In addition, a corridor/hallway was extended from inside the ship and divided the structure athwartships, terminating in a steel doorway which opened onto the upperdeck. The frames and bulkheads for this corridor formed the main strength members for the roof-mounted 4-inch HA gun overhead, which replaced the former twin BD mounting. In my diagram, I have depicted the former gun houses' configurations(shaded in green), with the new and reconstructed accommodation shelters "superimposed". The surrounding key structures of the ship are the upperdeck, shelter deck, and points of reference (to scale). Outlined [COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]in blue [/COLOR]is the aft island shelter below the "flying deck", which will be detailed in another diagram. It is my hope that modelers of HMS [I]Repulse[/I] will gain an appreciation of the changes made at this level during its 1938-39 winter refit. Comments are welcome! Dan
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Dan here's a nice shot of Repulse off a Russian site,don't have any date ...Regards Brian..
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Brian: I don't know that I would call Repulse a Royal Yacht but she certainly makes a proper Royal Flagship. Brian

[QUOTE=Brian Wentzell;10087246]Brian: I don't know that I would call Repulse a Royal Yacht but she certainly makes a proper Royal Flagship. Brian[/QUOTE] Brian (Wentzell that is!): Judging by various "bits' I have read over the years, I think it's rather a matter of semantics. Over the years I have seen the term "Royal Yacht" applied to vessels as disparate as RMS [B]Empress of Australia[/B] (Royal visit to Canada in 1939), HMS [B]Vanguard[/B] (Royal visit to South Africa in 1947), SS [B]Gothic[/B] (Royal world tour in 1954) and MV [B]Hebridean Princess[/B] (chartered by the Queen for holiday cruises in 2006 and 2010). I guess the use of the word "Royal" makes sense ... the word "yacht" perhaps not so much! Ooops - just realized that this is on a modelling thread - sorry Dan!

[CENTER]OLD BUSINESS[/CENTER] In my first post to this thread, I attempted to illustrate major changes that were made during [I]Repulse[/I]'s 1938-39 winter refit, particularly dealing with the reconstruction and replacement of her former twin, experimental 4" BD gun houses. I drew these structures without overheads, for clarity. In this post, I have added the decks/overheads to the King and Queen shelters. For the port side structure, or Queen's shelter, note that I have highlighted the extension to the overhead (in yellow), and as #8 on the diagram Key. This was not practical in the absence of the Queen's shelter overhead/deck. The extension was apparently found necessary when a large, ready-use ammunition locker compromised crew movement in the area of a ladderway, near the locker. An "easement" at the inboard end of the extension aided in reduction of congestion as well. During 1939, there were two such large ready-use lockers secured along [I]Repulse[/I]'s aft island shelter portside bulkhead---one forward, as described, the other further aft. These faced outward , and it is possible that their locations were chosen to minimise stresses to the Queen's shelter overhead (which, it will be recalled, was not newly constructed). A third, identical ammunition locker was fitted at the extreme aft, inboard corner of the Queen's shelter, as well. I also outlined, in blue, the key area of focus for this follow-on post. [CENTER]"AFT ISLAND " STRUCTURE[/CENTER] In this second effort, the focus shifts upward one level to the shelter deck, which ran between the ship's catapult break and the quarterdeck step-down. Within this overall area stood a smaller "aft island", consisting of two enclosed end-structures and a central area between; the forward end-structure contained a galley and an auxiliary kitchen. The island's aft end-structure [see below] contained most of the number three 4" triple gun-support column and a divided interior, housing a ventilation header. This was a tapered structure, supporting a roughly-triangular gun platform overhead for the number three triple 4" mounting (later exchanged for an 8-bbl pompom). In this illustration I have included important fittings and equipment, which are identified in the Key. Most are self-explanatory but by no means is it a "complete" diagram, being limited mainly to those details which underpin more "visible" features outside the confines of the aft island, especially above it. The "roof" of this island was actually formed by the "flying deck" (a term carried over from the age of sail); this deck and its fittings will be addressed in a subsequent post, but for this "instalment" I have left out the flying deck and features above it, for clarity. I should mention here, that much of what is shown in my illustration are items that date back to the ship's original completion. Photographs of some of these features can be seen in the book [I]Clydebank Battlecruisers[/I] by Ian Johnston. <><><><><> [CENTER]VENTILATION[/CENTER] Central to my diagram are three of the ship's four, aft air-ventilation trunks. These trunks supplied fresh air (intake) and "waste air" (exhaust) to and from the ship's machinery spaces, deep inside the hull. Note that this was not combustion exhaust, but "room air". Historically, the central space below the flying deck, between the end-structures, was mostly open-sided. This allowed dispersion of the exhaust air into the open. However, when [I]Repulse[/I] was selected to serve Their Majesties as Royal Yacht for their upcoming 1939 Royal Tour of Canada and the US, the exhaust-air trunks were extended upward through the flying deck. The rest of the open area was then cleared of most equipment other than the ammunition hoist shafts. It was then divided into cabins and utility rooms for officers displaced by HM staff and royal party members. The third ventilation trunk, furthest aft, supplied fresh air to the condenser room, deep inside the ship. It was located within the aft block structure of the island, abaft the 4-inch triple (later octuple pompom) support column. This trunk was enclosed within the tapered, narrowing bulkheads, not visible from the outside. The fresh air was drawn through ventilation ports cut into the structure sides, just below the flying deck. The trunk terminated a few feet above the shelter deck proper, having screened cutouts on its sides, and a metal "roof" fitted. Fresh air was supplied to this intake trunk via rectangular ports seen near the aft end of the island shelter, two of which (by 1939) were on the starboard bulkhead with longer, more continuous openings on the port side, opposite. These intake ports are readily seen in many photographs of the ship. [CENTER]AFT ISLAND END-STRUCTURE[/CENTER] In addition to the intake ventilation system, the aft end-structure contained two ammunition hoists which served the number four triple 4" mounting, out on the shelter deck. Members of the gun crew would offload 4" Q.F. ammunition from the hoist, feeding it out of the structure through round cutouts in the bulkhead. Two such openings were paired on both port and starboard bulkheads, near each hoist. Each opening was fitted with a hinged cover to keep out the weather. Beneath these openings were fastening points for wooden inclined planes (ramps), and if a pair of hands did not take the ammo as it was passed through, the ramps served to land the ammunition more gently than letting it simply fall to the deck, where the risk of damage or separation of shell and casing was considerable. Each plane was inclined in order to roll the shells away, making room for the next hand-through. [CENTER]AFT ISLAND ENCLOSURE[/CENTER] Until the ship's 1938-39 winter refit, the flying deck was partly supported by an arrangement of six tubular steel uprights and four, heavier H- columns. During the construction of the island's partitioned interior spaces, bulkheads were erected below the deck and along its port and starboard edges, permanently enclosing the open structure along most of its perimeter (save for a small area at its forward, starboard end). This small area contained a hatch-ladderway, as well as a new stairway up to the flying deck (7), and a doorway to the island interior.
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[QUOTE=Scatari;10087258] Over the years I have seen the term "Royal Yacht" applied to vessels as disparate as RMS [B]Empress of Australia[/B] (Royal visit to Canada in 1939)...[/QUOTE] It is interesting that [I]Repulse[/I] was even selected to serve as Royal Yacht for the 1939 Tour of Canada at all, considering the state of international tensions and sense of impending war that was so prevalent in those days. The work went ahead despite this, but risking the absence of so major a warship at that time, must have given the Admiralty quite a few worries. [I]Empress of Australia [/I]would eventually serve in [I]Repulse[/I]'s stead, although this no doubt impacted the battlecruiser's crew pretty hard---carrying Their Majesties was something that put quite a shine on [I]Repulse[/I]'s men, who were already immensely proud of their ship. She was definitely an "elite" among the Navy. By the way, when she went down in December 1941, most of the luxuries aboard were still in place! FYI, Dan

[CENTER][U]CORRECTION[/u][/CENTER] In my preceding illustration's key, the identifications of the ventilation trunks are INCORRECT: #2 and #4 trunks served the [b]Condenser room;[/b] #5 trunk served the [b]Engine room.[/b] No boiler room ventilation trunks existed in the diagrammed area. [CENTER]FLYING DECK [/CENTER] In this [i]Repulse[/i] aft superstructure plan view, the key features of the flying deck, forming the overhead of the aft island shelter, are shown. Major points include the #3 triple 4-inch mounting, gun crew shelter (GCS), ventilation trunk extension headers, and W/T communications aerial trunks--which contained the feedlines that connected to the ship's aerials. Also of note for modellers, is the galley oil-stove exhaust; this was the attachment point for the ship's long "Charley Noble", which was routed up the mainmast and eventually terminated just below the starfish platform. [CENTER]<><><><><>[/CENTER] [Center]GCS[/Center] The gun crew shelter, situated at the base of the HACS director support, was modified during the 1938-39 refit. This was necessary to enable the condenser room exhaust trunk to be extended upward through the flying deck, as a portion of the GCS and its internal fittings lay directly over the trunk. The engine room exhaust trunk was also extended upward through the flying deck. The GCS did not interfere with this extension, although several fittings and structures outside and forward of the GCS bulkhead had to be removed. These included a small fresh-water tank, a Carley-float stowage rack, and two lockers. Inside the GCS itself, the intrusion of the condenser-room vent extension necessitated removal of some ready-use shell racks and other fittings. Already cramped for space by the HACS support tower and two ammunition hoists, the trunk's presence now blocked access to the ammunition hand-through ports and ramps for number three 4-inch triple gun mounting. These were relocated further forward. Other non-essential fittings within the GCS may have been removed, as compensation. Notable too, is the removal of the ladderway from the shelter deck below, formerly used by gunnery crews to access the GCS directly from below. This was caused by the new construction of cabins and the enclosure of the island shelter; however, the new ladder/stairway (key #7 in a previous diagram) now permitted access up to the flying deck. For modelling purposes, probably the most important point is that the GCS was visibly changed in its configuration by the 1938-39 Portsmouth refit. I've not yet seen a model kit that has depicted this structure quite accurately. The four inverted-J extensions, especially, require altering or modification, if not complete replacement. In a previous post, I indicated the importance of the vent trunks and ammunition hoist shafts, as they directly affected the visible features of the aft island structures. In the text above, the ventilators' locational importance has been detailed; of lesser impact, but also relevant (especially in scales larger than 1:700) are the ammunition hoist shafts. Although not visible to admirers of your model, their associated davits --jutting upward from the GCS roof, near the base of the HACS support tower-- can be modelled. Their placement should match exactly the locations of the hoists, relevant to the surrounding structures. These davits were removed around the time when the #3 triple 4-inch mounting was replaced by an octuple pompom (February 1941), 4-inch ammunition no longer being required. [CENTER]<><><><><> VENT HEADERS[/CENTER] An important detail which some [I]Repulse[i] models fail to address, concerns the four inverted-J headers that occupy prominent positions on and around the GCS. These headers were grouped in two pairs, with each pair configured as one shorter, one taller. The ship's individual headers within each paired group was [b]half the horizontal thickness of the trunk it served[/b]. At issue is the fact that the trunks themselves were NOT of equal fore and aft dimensions, but many models are nonetheless supplied with headers of equal thickness. This error can affect the appearance and accuracy of the GCS, itself, as well as the placement of the #3 gun mounting (especially when using aftermarket upgrades). For now, I will state that the condenser room vent trunk (#4 in my prior diagram key) was [b]six[/b] feet in its fore/aft dimension, while the engine room trunk (#5) measured [B]eight[/b] feet. My final point relevant to the topic, is that the GCS roof and aft side bulkheads fully encompassed the header designated in my diagram as R3, and a substantial portion of R4. I hope to post a profile diagram later, illustrating these issues. Thank you for viewing my posts! Dan
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