HMSInflexible was one of threeInvincible-classbattlecruisers built for theRoyal Navy beforeWorld War I and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiserSMS Goeben and thelight cruiserSMS Breslau in theMediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and hersister shipInvincible sank the Germanarmoured cruisersSMS Scharnhorst andSMS Gneisenau during theBattle of the Falkland Islands.Inflexible bombardedTurkish forts in theDardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while maneuvering. She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent toMalta, and thenGibraltar for more permanent repairs. Transferred to theGrand Fleet afterwards, she damaged the German battlecruiserLützow during theBattle of Jutland in 1916 and watchedInvincible explode. She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold forscrap in 1921.

Inflexible in New York City, 1909
History
United Kingdom
Name	Inflexible
Ordered	1905
Builder	John Brown & Company,Clyde
Laid down	5 February 1906
Launched	26 June 1907[1]
Commissioned	20 October 1908[2]
Stricken	31 March 1920
Fate	Scrapped, 1922
General characteristics
Class and type	Invincible-classbattlecruiser
Displacement	17,290long tons (17,570 t) (normal) 20,700 long tons (21,000 t) (deep load)
Length	530 ft 1 in (161.57 m) (waterline) 567 ft (173 m)o/a
Beam	78 ft 10.13 in (24.0317 m)
Draught	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) (deep load)
Installed power	31 ×Yarrow boilers 41,000 shp (30,574 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 2 × direct-drivesteam turbine sets
Speed	26.48knots (49 km/h; 30 mph) (trials)
Range	3,090 nmi (5,720 km; 3,560 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	784
Armament	4 × twin12 in (305 mm) guns 16 × single4 in (102 mm) guns 5 ×18 in (450 mm)torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 4–6 in (102–152 mm) Decks: 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm) Barbettes: 7 in (178 mm) Turrets: 7 in (178 mm) Conning tower: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 2.5 in (64 mm)

TheInvincible-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until 1911 when they were redesignated as battlecruisers by an Admiralty order of 24 November 1911. Unofficially a number of designations were used until then, including cruiser-battleship, dreadnought cruiser and battle-cruiser.^[3]

Inflexible was significantly larger than herarmoured cruiser predecessors of theMinotaur class. She had anoverall length of 567 ft (173 m), abeam of 78 ft 10.13 in (24.0 m), and adraught of 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) at deep load. She displaced 17,290long tons (17,570 t) at load and 20,700 long tons (21,000 t) atdeep load, nearly 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) more than the earlier ships.^[4]

Inflexible had two paired sets of Parsons direct-drive turbines, each of which was housed in a separate engine-room and drove an outboard and inboard shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines were coupled to the outboard shafts and the low-pressure turbines to the inner shafts. A cruising turbine was also coupled to each inner shaft; these were not used often and were eventually disconnected. The turbines were powered by thirty-oneYarrow water-tube boilers in four boiler rooms.^[5] The turbines were designed to produce a total of 41,000shaft horsepower (30,574 kW), but reached nearly 47,000 shp (35,048 kW) during her trials in 1908. She was designed for 25knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), but reached 26.48 knots (49 km/h; 30 mph) during trials.^[6] She carried 3,084 long tons (3,133 t) of coal, and an additional 725 long tons (737 t) offuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate.^[7] At full fuel capacity, she could steam for 3,090nautical miles (5,720 km; 3,560 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).^[8]

Inflexible mounted eightBL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk X guns in four twin hydraulically poweredturrets. Hersecondary armament consisted of sixteen4-inch (102 mm) QF Mk III guns. In 1915, the turret roof guns were transferred to the superstructure, and the total number of guns was reduced to twelve. All of the remaining guns were enclosed incasemates and given blast shields at that time to better protect the gun crews from weather and enemy action.^[9] These guns were replaced by twelve4-inch BL MK IX guns on CPI mountings during 1917.^[10]

Heranti-aircraft armament consisted of a singleQF 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt AA gun on a high-angle MKII mount at the aft end of the superstructure that was carried from July 1915. A 3-pounderHotchkiss gun on a high-angle MkIc mounting with a maximum elevation of 60° was fitted in November 1914 and used until August 1917. A 4-inch BL MK VII on a HA MkII mount was added in April 1917. Five18-inch (457.2 mm) submergedtorpedo tubes were fitted on theInvincibles, two on each side and one in the stern.^[8] Fourteen torpedoes were carried for them.^[10]

The armour protection given to theInvincibles was heavier than that of theMinotaurs; their waterlinebelt measured 6 in (152 mm) amidships in contrast to the 4 in (102 mm) belt of their predecessors. The belt was 6 inches thick roughly between the fore and aft 12-inch gun turrets, but was reduced to four inches from the fore turret to the bow, but did not extend aft of the rear turret. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 7 in (178 mm) of armour, except for the turret roofs which used 3 in (76 mm) ofKrupp non-cemented armour (KNC). The thickness of the maindeck was 1–2 in (25–51 mm) and the lower deck armour was 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm).Mild steeltorpedo bulkheads of 2.5-inch thickness were fitted abreast themagazines and shell rooms.^[11]

After theBattle of Jutland revealed her vulnerability to plunging shellfire, additional armour was added in the area of the magazines and to the turret roofs. The exact thickness is not known, but it was unlikely to be thick as the total amount was less than 100 long tons (102 t).^[12]

She was authorized in the naval expansion program of 1905, and built at theJohn Brown & Company shipyard^[1] on theClyde. She waslaid down on 5 February 1906,launched on 26 June 1907, and commissioned on 20 October 1908.^[13]Inflexible was initially assigned to the Nore Division of the BritishHome Fleet.^[2] She was the temporary flagship of Admiral of the Fleet SirEdward Hobart Seymour while in New York for theHudson–Fulton Celebration in September 1909. On 26 May 1911, she was in a collision with the battleshipBellerophon that damaged her bow. She was refitted in October–November 1911, where her fore funnel was also raised by 6 feet (1.8 m) to reduce smoke interference with the bridge.^[14]

On the outbreak of theFirst World War,Inflexible was flagship of theMediterranean Fleet. Accompanied byIndefatigable, under the command ofAdmiralSir Archibald Berkeley Milne she encountered the German battlecruiserGoeben and the light cruiserBreslau on the morning of 4 August 1914 headed east after a cursory bombardment of the French Algerian port ofPhilippeville, but Britain and Germany were not yet at war so Milne turned to shadow the Germans as they headed back toMessina to recoal. All three battlecruisers had problems with their boilers, butGoeben andBreslau were able to break contact and reached Messina by the morning of the 5th. By this time, war had been declared, after the German invasion of Belgium, but an Admiralty order to respect Italian neutrality and stay outside a 6-nautical-mile (11 km) limit from the Italian coast precluded entrance into the passage of theStrait of Messina where they could observe the port directly. Therefore, Milne stationedInflexible andIndefatigable at the northern exit of the Strait of Messina, still expecting the Germans to break out to the west where they could attack French troop transports, the light cruiserGloucester at the southern exit and sentIndomitable to recoal atBizerte where she was better positioned to react to a German sortie into the Western Mediterranean.^[15]

The Germans sortied from Messina on 6 August and headed east, towardsConstantinople, trailed byGloucester. Milne, still expectingRear AdmiralWilhelm Souchon to turn west, kept the battlecruisers at Malta until shortly after midnight on 8 August when he set sail forCape Matapan at a leisurely 12 knots (22 km/h), whereGoeben had been spotted eight hours earlier. At 14:30, he received an incorrect signal from the Admiralty stating that Britain was at war with Austria; war would not be declared until 12 August and the order was countermanded four hours later, but Milne followed his standing orders to guard the Adriatic against an Austrian breakout attempt, rather than seekGoeben. Finally on 9 August, Milne was given clear orders to "chaseGoeben which had passed Cape Matapan on the 7th steering north-east". Milne still did not believe that Souchon was heading for the Dardanelles, and so he resolved to guard the exit from theAegean, unaware that theGoeben did not intend to come out.^[16]Indomitable remained in the Mediterranean to blockade theDardanelles, butInflexible was ordered home on 18 August.^[17]

The West Indies Squadron ofRear Admiral Christopher Cradock was destroyed by the GermanEast Asia Squadron commanded byAdmiral Graf von Spee during theBattle of Coronel on 1 November 1914. In response, theAdmiralty ordered that a squadron be sent to destroy the Germans. The squadron, under the command ofAdmiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, consisted ofInvincible (flag) andInflexible. They departed on 11 November and rendezvoused with several other cruisers under Rear Admiral Stoddard atAbrolhos Rocks, off the coast ofBrazil on the 26th. They departed the following day and reachedPort Stanley on the morning of 7 December.^[18]

Spee – making a leisurely voyage back to the Atlantic – wished to destroy the radio station at Port Stanley, so he sent the armoured cruiserSMS Gneisenau and the light cruiserNürnberg to see if the harbor was clear of British warships on the morning of 8 December. They were spotted at 07:30, although the pre-dreadnoughtCanopus, grounded in Stanley Harbor to defend the town and its wireless station, did not receive the signal until 07:45. It mattered little because Sturdee was not expecting an engagement and most of his ships were coaling. Furthermore, the armoured cruiserCornwall and the light cruiserBristol had one or both of their engines under repair. The armed merchant cruiserMacedonian was patrolling the outer harbor entrance while the armoured cruiserKent was anchored in the outer harbor, scheduled to relieve theMacedonian at 08:00. The Germans were not expecting any resistance and the first salvo fromCanopus's guns at 09:20 caused them to sheer off from their planned bombardment of the wireless station and fall back on Spee's main body.^[19]

Sturdee's ships did not sortie from the harbor until 09:50, but they could see the retreating German ships on the southwest horizon. TheInvincibles, fresh out of dry dock, had a 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) advantage over Spee's ships which all had fouled bottoms that limited their speeds to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) at best. The light cruiserLeipzig was lagging behind the other ships andInflexible opened fire on her when the range dropped to 17,500 yards (16,000 m) at 12:55.Invincible opened fire shortly afterwards and both ships began straddlingLeipzig as the range closed to 13,000 yards (12,000 m). At 13:20, Spee ordered his squadron to separate and ordered his light cruisers to turn to the southwest while his armoured cruisers turned to the north east to cover their retreat. The German ships opened fire first at 13:30 and scored their first hit at 13:44 whenSMS Scharnhorst hitInvincible, although the shell burst harmlessly on the belt armour. Both sides fired rapidly during the first half-hour of the engagement before Sturdee opened up the range a little to put his ships outside the effective range of the German guns. British gunnery was very poor during this period, scoring only four hits out of 210 rounds fired. The primary cause was the smoke from the guns and funnels as the British were downwind of the Germans.^[20]

Spee turned to the south in the hope of disengaging while the British had their vision obscured, but only opened the range to 17,000 yards (16,000 m) before the British saw his course change. This was futile as the British battlecruisers gave chase at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). Forty minutes later, the British opened fire again at 15,000 yards (14,000 m). Eight minutes later, Spee turned again to the east to give battle; this time, his strategy was to close the range on the British ships so he could bring his 15 cm (5.9 in) secondary armament to bear. He was successful, and they were able to open fire at 15:00 at maximum elevation. On this course, the smoke bothered both sides, but multiple hits were made regardless. Those made by the Germans either failed to detonate or hit in some insignificant area. On the contrary,Gneisenau had her starboard engine room put out of action. Sturdee ordered his ships at 15:15 back across their own wakes to gain the windward advantage. Spee turned to the northwest, as if to attempt tocross the British T, but actually to bringScharnhorst's undamaged starboard guns to bear as most of those on his port side were out of action. The British continued to hitScharnhorst andGneisenau regularly during this time andScharnhorst ceased fire at 16:00 beforecapsizing at 16:17 with no survivors.Gneisenau had been slowed by earlier damage and was battered for another hour and a half byInflexible andInvincible at ranges down to 4,000 yards (3,700 m). Despite the damage her crew continued to fire back until she ceased firing at 16:47. Sturdee was ready to order 'Cease fire' at 17:15 when an ammunition hoist was freed up and she made her last shot. The British continued to pound her until 17:50, after her captain had given the order to scuttle her at 17:40. She slowly capsized at 18:00 and the British were able to rescue 176 men.^[21] She had fired 661 twelve-inch shells during the battle^[17] and had only been hit three times because she was often obscured byInvincible's smoke. Only one man was killed and five wounded aboard the battlecruisers during the battle.^[22][23]

After the Battle of the FalklandsInflexible was repaired and refitted atGibraltar. She arrived at the Dardanelles on 24 January 1915 where she replacedIndefatigable as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. She bombarded Turkish fortifications on 19 February, the start of theBattle of Gallipoli, to little effect, and again on 15 March, with the same results. She was part of the first line of British ships on 18 March as they attempted to suppress the Turkish guns so the minefields could be swept.^[14] Turkish return fire was heavy and she was hit a number of times. A 15 cm (5.9 in)howitzer shell knocked out the left gun of 'P' turret, a 105 mm (4.1 in) shell hit theyard above the foretop and killed or wounded everybody within. A heavy shell of unknown size hit her on the port side 6 feet (1.8 m) below the waterline, but only dished in the side plating. A 240 mm (9.4 in) shell hit the foremast at the same level as theflying bridge and set fire to the navigator's sea cabin. The hit destroyed all the cables and voice pipes running through the foremast to the fire control director. The smoke from the fire was choking the wounded so she withdrew to turn her head into the wind and the fire was then quickly put out.^[24] She returned to reengage the Turkish forts and was hit once more with little effect.^[25] Later, as she was turning in Eren Keui Bay, she was seriously damaged by a mine – probably about 100 kg (220 lb) in size – that blew a large hole in her starboard bow and flooded the forward torpedo flat, drowning 39 men. She had to be beached at the island ofBozcaada (Tenedos) to prevent her sinking, as she had taken in some 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of water, but she was temporarily repaired with acofferdam over the 30-by-26-foot (9.1 m × 7.9 m) hole. She sailed to Malta, escorted byCanopus andTalbot on 6 April. She nearly foundered when her cofferdam worked loose in heavy weatheren route and had to be towed stern-first byCanopus for six hours while the cofferdam was repaired. She was under repair at Malta until early June before she sailed for home.^[26] She reached theU.K. on 19 June, where she joined the3rd Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS) of theGrand Fleet under the command ofRear AdmiralH.L.A. Hood.^[14]

At the end of May 1916, the 3rd BCS was temporarily assigned to theGrand Fleet for gunnery practice. On 30 May, the entire Grand Fleet, along with Admiral Beatty's battlecruisers, was ordered to sea to prepare for an excursion by the GermanHigh Seas Fleet. In order to support Beatty, Admiral Hood took his three battlecruisers ahead of the Grand Fleet. At about 14:30,^{[Note 1]}Invincible intercepted a radio message from the light cruiserGalatea, attached to Beatty's Battlecruiser Force, reporting the sighting of two enemy cruisers. This was amplified by other reports of seven enemy ships steering north. Hood interpreted this as an attempt to escape through theSkagerrak and ordered an increase in speed to 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) at 15:11 and steered East-Southeast to cut off the fleeing ships. Twenty minutes later,Invincible intercepted a message from Beatty reporting five enemy battlecruisers in sight and later signals reporting that he was engaging the enemy on a south-easterly course. At 16:06, Hood ordered full speed and a course of south-southeast in an attempt to converge on Beatty. At 16:56, with no British ships in sight, Hood requested Beatty's course, position and speed, but he never received a reply.^[27]

Hood continued on course until 17:40, when gunfire was spotted in the direction to which his light cruiserChester had been dispatched to investigate other gunfire flashes.Chester encountered four light cruisers of Hipper's 2nd Scouting Group and was badly damaged before Hood turned to investigate and was able to drive the German cruisers away. At 17:53,Invincible opened fire onWiesbaden; the other twoInvincibles followed two minutes later. The German ships turned for the south after fruitlessly firing torpedoes at 18:00 and attempted to find shelter in the mist. As they turned,Invincible hitWiesbaden in the engine room and knocked out her engines whileInflexible hitPillau once. The 2nd Scouting Group was escorted by the light cruiserRegensburg and 31 destroyers of the 2nd and 9th Flotillas and the 12th Half-Flotilla which attacked the 3rd BCS in succession. They were driven off by Hood's remaining light cruiserCanterbury and the five destroyers of his escort. In a confused action, the Germans only launched 12 torpedoes and disabled the destroyerShark with gunfire. Having turned due west to close on Beatty's ships, theInvincibles were broadside to the oncoming torpedoes, butInvincible turned north, whileInflexible andIndomitable turned south to present their narrowest profile to the torpedoes. All the torpedoes missed, although one passed underneathInflexible without detonating. AsInvincible turned north, her helm jammed and she had to come to a stop to fix the problem, but this was quickly done and the squadron reformed heading west.^[28]

At 18:21, with both Beatty and the Grand Fleet converging on him, Hood turned south to lead Beatty's battlecruisers. Hipper's battlecruisers were 9,000 yards (8.2 km) away and theInvincibles almost immediately opened fire on Hipper's flagship,Lützow, andDerfflinger.Lützow quickly took ten hits fromLion,Inflexible andInvincible, including two hits below the waterline forward byInvincible that would ultimately doom her.^[29] But at 18:30,Invincible abruptly appeared as a clear target beforeLützow andDerfflinger. The two German ships then fired three salvoes each atInvincible, and sank her in 90 seconds. A 305 mm (12-inch) shell from the third salvo struck the roof ofInvincible's midships 'Q' turret, flash detonated themagazines below, and the ship blew up and broke in two, killing all but six of her crew of 1,032 officers and men, including Rear-Admiral Hood.^[30]

Inflexible andIndomitable remained in company with Beatty for the rest of the battle. They encountered Hipper's battlecruisers only 10,000 yards (9.1 km) away as the sun was setting about 8:19 and opened fire.Seydlitz was hit five times before the German battlecruisers were rescued by the appearance of thepre-dreadnought battleships of Rear Admiral Mauve and the British shifted fire to the new threat. Three of the predreadnoughts were hit before they too were able to turn into the gloom.^[31]

The loss of three battlecruisers at Jutland (the others wereQueen Mary andIndefatigable) led to the force being reorganised into two squadrons, withInflexible andIndomitable in the 2nd BCS. However, after Jutland there was little significant naval activity for theInvincibles, other than routine patrolling, thanks to theKaiser's order that his ships should not be allowed to go to sea unless assured of victory.^[14] Two torpedoes fired by the GermanU-boatU-65 during one of these patrols on 19 August 1916 missed astern.^[32] On 1 February 1918, she collided with the British submarineHMS K22 off theIsle of May with minor damage. This was during a night exercise in the Firth of Forth involving the Flotilla, eight capital ships, and numerous cruisers and destroyers. It was a series of collisions which led to the loss of two K boats, serious damage to three others, including K22, and a cruiser, and the deaths of 104 submariners, with no enemy involved. She was fitted with two flying off ramps fitted above her midships turrets in early 1918. On 21 November she was present atScapa Flow for the surrender of theGerman High Seas Fleet.^[14]

The end of the war saw the end for many of the older vessels, not least the two remainingInvincible-class ships.Inflexible was paid off to the Reserve Fleet in January 1919 before being decommissioned on 31 March 1920. Chile briefly considered purchasing the ship in 1920, however the sale did not materialise. She was sold for scrap on 1 December 1921, and scrapped in Germany the following year.^[14] Mount Inflexible in theCanadian Rockies was named after the battlecruiser in 1917.^[33][34]

• Burt, R. A. (1986).British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
• Campbell, John (1986).Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-324-5.
• Johnston, Ian & Buxton, Ian (2013).The Battleship Builders – Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-59114-027-6.
• Massie, Robert K. (2003).Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Random House.ISBN 0-679-45671-6.
• Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Johnston, Ian (2011).Clydebank Battlecruisers: Forgotten Photographs from John Brown's Shipyard (Hardcover). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1591141204.
• Roberts, John (1997).Battlecruisers. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-068-1.
• Tarrant, V. E. (1986).BattlecruiserInvincible: The History of the First Battlecruiser, 1909–16. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-147-1.
• From theRoyal Navy log book forHMSInflexible, 7 and 8 December 1914.Transcribed by theOld Weather^[?] project. TheInflexible's ship log and captain's after action report have been transcribed and are available at this link.
• From theRoyal Navy log book forHMSInflexible, 18 to 21 March 1915.Transcribed by theOld Weather^[?] project. TheInflexible's ship log have been transcribed and are available at this link.

• "HMSInflexible Photo Gallery".MaritimeQuest. Retrieved27 December 2006.
• "Royal Navy Log Books – HMSInflexible".naval-history.net. Retrieved3 January 2014.OldWeather.org transcription of ship's logbooks October 1914 to March 1915
• Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project – HMSInflexible Crew List