HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers built during WWI. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge class battleship but her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord restarted her construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly.

The ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Renown, and her sister ship Repulse, were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

Renown did not see combat during the war and was reconstructed twice between the wars; the 1920s reconstruction increased her armour protection and made lesser improvements, while the 1930s reconstruction was much more thorough. The ship frequently conveyed royalty on their foreign tours and served as flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron when Hood was refitting.

During WWII Renown was involved in the search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in 1939 and participated in the search for the Bismarck in 1941. She took part in Operation Torch and spent much of 1943 refitting or transporting Winston Churchill and his staff to and from various conferences with various Allied leaders.

In early 1944 Renown was transferred to the Indian Ocean where she supported numerous attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia and various island groups in the Indian Ocean. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in early 1945 and was refitted before being placed in reserve after the end of the war