Brown-Curtis direct-drive turbines and 42 boilers produced 126,000 shaft horsepower on trials, above the 112,000-horsepower design figure, and drove Renown to 32.5 knots. With about 4,300 tons of fuel aboard, she could cover roughly 4,000 nautical miles at 18 knots. That amounted to about a ton of fuel per mile, which explains why a large warship was an expensive substitute for smaller vessels on routine work. Her speed carried her into the hunts for Admiral Graf Spee and Bismarck, the Norwegian campaign, Force H, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, Arctic convoy cover, Operation Torch, and Eastern Fleet attacks on Japanese-occupied facilities in Indonesia. The same performance that gave her such reach imposed capital-ship costs on every deployment.
Notable Point · 2:41-8:20
Speed, fuel, and an unusually wide war career
Renown's 32-knot performance made her the world's fastest capital ship when completed, but it came with formidable boiler and fuel demands.