Why Victorian flagship staffs stayed compact

Renown carried a much smaller command burden than a later radio-equipped headquarters ship. Wireless telegraphy became a major, reasonably reliable command tool by the Russo-Japanese War. In Renown's period, flags and lamps still carried much of fleet communication through signalmen already assigned to the ship. A flagship might add a few signal personnel for resilience, but it did not need a separate electronic communications organization or additional flag rigging. Victorian communications therefore kept the flagship staff and its accommodation needs relatively small.