Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time.

The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ship in 15 months.

Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October 1941 and was transferred to the East Indies Command.

Repulse and her consort, the battleship Prince of Wales, were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941 when they attempted to intercept landings in British Malaya.

The usable material was transferred to the builders who had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March.

[5] The Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce 112,000 shaft horsepower (84,000 kW), which would propel the ship at 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph).

After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ship was still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines.

The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted.

[15] The ship fired a total of 54 15-inch shells during the battle and scored one hit on the light cruiser Königsberg that temporarily reduced her speed.

[19] The Battlecruiser Squadron visited Lisbon in February 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises.

[20] A squash court was added on the starboard side between the funnels, and a sauna and bubble bath on the quarterdeck for the Prince of Wales' tour of Africa and South America[19] that lasted from March to October.

[22] A fixed catapult replaced the midships 4-inch triple mount and a hangar was built on each side of the rear funnel to house two of the ship's Fairey III aircraft.

She transported 500 refugees from Valencia and Palma de Mallorca to Marseilles, France in late 1936 after the start of the Spanish Civil War.

The King and Queen ultimately travelled aboard the liner RMS Empress of Australia while Repulse escorted them on the first half of the journey.

She patrolled off the Norwegian coast and in the North Sea in search of German ships, as well as to enforce the blockade for the first couple months of the war.

[28] In late October, she was transferred to Halifax with the aircraft carrier Furious to protect convoys and search for German raiders.

[29] Repulse escorted the convoy bringing most of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division to Britain from 10 to 23 December 1939 and was reassigned to the Home Fleet.

In February 1940, she accompanied the aircraft carrier Ark Royal on a fruitless search for six German blockade runners that had broken out of Vigo, Spain.

On 7 April, Repulse, along with the bulk of the Home Fleet, was ordered to sea to intercept what was thought to be another attempt to break-out into the North Atlantic.

The ship was detached the following day to search for a German ship reported by the destroyer Glowworm, but the destroyer had been sunk by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper before Repulse arrived and she was ordered to rendezvous with her sister Renown south of the Lofoten Islands, off the Norwegian coast.

[32] In early June the ship was sent to the North Atlantic to search for German raiders and played no part in the evacuation of Norway.

[33] Accompanied by Renown and the 1st Cruiser Squadron, Repulse attempted to intercept the Gneisenau as it sailed from Trondheim to Germany in July.

[28] Repulse escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October and was transferred to East Indies Command.

[35] In late 1941 Winston Churchill decided to send a small group of fast capital ships along with one modern aircraft carrier to Singapore, to deter expected Japanese aggression.

At 00:50 on 10 December, Admiral Philips received a signal of enemy landings at Kuantan and correspondingly altered course so that he would arrive shortly after dawn.

This inflicted a number of casualties and damaged the ship's Supermarine Walrus seaplane, which was then pushed over the side to remove a fire hazard.

In the ensuing attacks, Repulse was skilfully handled by her captain, Bill Tennant, who managed to avoid 19 torpedoes as well as the remaining bombs from the G3Ms.

Unfortunately, at the time of the expedition, the portside midships section of the wreck was buried in the ocean floor thus the claimed hits there could not be confirmed.

However, the area abreast of the port rear turret was accessible and no sign whatsoever of a torpedo hit, as described by survivors, was found.

[47] In October 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported that both Prince of Wales and Repulse were being "extensively damaged" with explosives by scrap metal dealers.