Invincible 1909
Inflexible 1919
| Name | No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Invincible | Armstrong, Elswick | 2/4/1906 | 13/4/1907 | 3/1909 | sunk 31/5/1916 | |
| Indomitable | Fairfield, Govan | 1/3/1906 | 16/3/1907 | 6/1908 | stricken 3/1920 | |
| Inflexible | John Brown, Clydebank | 5/2/1906 | 26/6/1907 | 10/1908 | stricken 3/1920 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
17373 |
|
Displacement full, t |
20078 |
|
Length, m |
172.8 |
|
Breadth, m |
22.1 |
|
Draught, m |
8.0 |
|
No of shafts |
4 |
|
Machinery |
Parsons steam turbines, 31 Babcock & Wilcox or Yarrow boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
41000 |
|
Max speed, kn |
25.5 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 3085 + oil 710 - 725 |
|
Armour, mm |
belt: 152 - 102, bulkheads: 178 - 152, turrets: 178 (all sides), 76 (roof), barbettes: 178 (over main deck) - 51 (under main deck), deck: 64 - 19, over magazines: 89, CT: 254 (face and sides) - 178 (rear) - 51 (roof) |
|
Armament |
4 x 2 - 305/45 Mk X, 16 x 1 - 102/40 QF Mk III, 7 x 1 - 7.7/94 , 5 - 450 TT (4 beam, 1 stern) |
|
Complement |
784 |
Ship project history: First battlecruisers in the world. They have made huge impression on naval experts of all countries, however their design represented the obvious dissonance between high-power dreadnought gun armament and very weak protection.
Protection: 152-mm main belt with 3,43 m height extended from barbette "A" to the barbette "Y", closed at fore end by 178-mm and by after end by 152-mm bulkheads. Its full length was 95 m (55 % of ship length). Fore belt between barbette "A" and stem was 102-mm. Main deck over citadel was 25 mm with 25-mm slopes (51 mm over magazines), main deck from barbette "Y" to stern was 64-mm with 64-mm slopes, fore part from barbette "A" to stem covered by 38-mm deck.
Modernizations: 1910,Indomitable; 1911, Inflexible; 1/1915,Invincible: raising of fore funnel.
10/1914, Invincible, 4/1915, Indomitable: + 1 x 1 - 76/45 QF Mk I
11/1914, Invincible: - 1 x 1 - 76/45; + 1 x 1 - 47/40 Hotchkiss AA
11/1914, Inflexible: + 1 x 1 - 47/40 Hotchkiss
4/1915, Invincible; 7/1915, Inflexible: + 1 x 1 - 76/45 QF Mk I
late 1916, both survived: additional 25mm armour on the turret roofs and 25mm of additional armour over the crowns of the magazines; - 1 - 450 TT (stern)
4/1917, Indomitable: - 16 x 1 - 102/40; + 12 x 1 - 102/50 BL Mk VII.
4/1917, Inflexible: - 1 x 1 - 47/40; + 1 x 1 - 102/50 BL Mk VII AA
4/1917, Indomitable: + 1 x 1 - 102/50 BL Mk VII AA
7/1917, Inflexible: - 16 x 1 - 102/40; + 12 x 1 - 102/45 BL Mk IX.
1918, both survived: flying-off platforms on "P" & "Q" turrets for Sopwith Pup and 11/2-strutter.
1919, Inflexible: - 1 x 1 - 102/50 AA; + 1 x 1 - 76/45 QF Mk I
Naval service: Cruisers actively participated in WWI. Invincible and Inflexible have destroyed German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Falklands in December 1914 , later Inflexible served as a flagship in Dardanelles. Indomitable shot 134 305mm shells at Dogger bank, having sunk an armoured cruiser Blücher. Invincible received 5 shells from battlecruiser Derfflinger in action at Jutland. After last hit she blown up in half by explosion of magazines. All but 3 of complement were lost. Both survivors since 1919 placed in reserve and stricken 1922.
Invincible 1910
Indomitable
© Ivan Gogin, 2008-09