Editing Renown-class battlecruiser (section)

===Improved ''Revenge''-class battleships===
The battleships of the 1914 Naval Programme consisted of three improved ''Revenge''-class ships, named ''Renown'', ''Repulse'' and ''Resistance'', and one further member of the {{sclass|Queen Elizabeth|battleship|4}}, called ''Agincourt''. ''Resistance'' and ''Agincourt'' were to be built in royal dockyards while ''Renown'' was awarded to [[Fairfield Shipping and Engineering|Fairfield]] and ''Repulse'' to [[Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company|Palmers]]. The design was approved on 13 May 1914 and the improvements over the ''Revenge'' class consisted of:<ref name=b91>Burt 1986, p. 291.</ref>
* A consistent thickness of {{convert|1.5|in}} for the protective wing [[Bulkhead (partition)|bulkhead]]s.
* An enlarged torpedo control tower.
* An enlarged [[conning tower]] with the armour rearranged for better access.
* A protected spotting position in the bow.
* The width of the [[keel]] was increased to provide a more rigid structure amidships to resist stress while docking.
* Shell stowage for the main guns was increased from 80 rounds per gun to 100.<ref name=b91/>

These changes would have done little to change the size of the ships in comparison to their predecessors other than a decrease in [[draft (ship)|draught]] to {{convert|28|ft|6|in|m|1}}, {{convert|1|ft|6|in|cm|1}} less than the older ships. They would, however, have been {{convert|2|kn|lk=in}} slower than the ''Revenge''-class ships as they were to be provided with only {{convert|31000|shp|lk=in}} rather than the {{convert|40000|shp|abbr=on}} of their predecessors.<ref>Burt 1986, pp. 276, 291.</ref>

Work on all four ships was suspended at the beginning of the First World War and the two ships to be built in the royal dockyards were cancelled on 26 August 1914, as it was believed that they could not be completed before the end of the war. Admiral Lord Fisher, once he returned to office as First Sea Lord in October, began pressuring Winston Churchill, then [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], to allow him to convert the suspended contracts for ''Renown'' and ''Repulse'' into a new class of battlecruisers capable of the very high speed of {{convert|32|kn}}. Churchill argued that their construction would interfere with other construction programmes, absorb too many resources, and still could not be finished in time. Fisher countered by arguing he could keep the building time to a minimum, as he had done with {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|2}}, by using as much material ordered for the battleships as possible, including their {{convert|15|in|adj=on|0}} [[gun turret]]s. Churchill was unmoved, however, until the experiences of [[Battle of Heligoland (1914)|Battle of Heligoland Bight]] in August and the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]] in December, seemed to demonstrate that high speed and heavy gun power was a potent combination and vindicated Fisher's long-held belief on the viability of the battlecruiser. These actions, plus pressure from Admiral [[John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe|Jellicoe]], commander of the [[Grand Fleet]], and [[Vice Admiral]] [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|Beatty]], commander of the Battlecruiser Force, caused Churchill to gain approval from the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] to build two ships on 28 December.<ref>Roberts, pp. 46–47.</ref>