HMS Inflexible (1907)
| - | Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: | 1905 |
| Laid down: | 5 February 1906 |
| Launched: | 26 June 1907 |
| Commissioned: | 20 October 1908 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1923 |
| Struck: | 31 March 1920 |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 17,290 tons standard
20,700 tons full load |
| Length: | 530 ft (162 m) waterline
563 ft (172.8 m) overall |
| Beam: | 78.5 ft (23.9 m) |
| Draught: | 26.7 ft (8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 31 Yarrow boilers, 4 Parsons steam direct drive turbines
Total power output: 46,947 hp (35 MW)
inner propellers: 3-bladed, 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m) diameter
outer propellers: 3-bladed, 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) diameter |
| Speed: | 26.48 knots (48 km/h) (trials) |
| Range: | 6330 nautical miles (11,720 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
2290 nautical miles (4240 km) at 23 knots (43 km/h) |
| Fuel capacity: | 3084 tons of coal
725 tons oil |
| Complement: | 784 |
| Armament: | 8 x 12 in (305 mm) (4x2)
16 x 4 in (102 mm) (16x1)
1 to 3 x 4 in (102 mm) AA
1 x 3 in (76.2 mm) AA
5 x 18 in (457 mm) submerged torpedo tubes |
| Armor: | Belt: 4 to 6 in (102 to 152 mm)
Turrets: 4 to 7 in (102 to 178 mm)
Deck: 1 to 2.5 in (25 to 64 mm)
Conning Tower: 10 in (254 mm) |
| Aircraft: | none |
| Motto: |
HMS Inflexible was the second of three
Invincible-class battlecruisers built for the
Royal Navy in 1906 to 1908. As such, she was one of the first ships to be designated as a
battlecruiser.
She was authorized in the naval expansion program of 1905, and built at the John Brown shipyard on the
Clyde, being laid down on
5 February 1906, launched on the
26 June 1907, and commissioned on
20 October 1908.
Upon commissioning,
Inflexible was assigned to the Nore Division of the British
Home Fleet. On
26 May 1911, she was in a collision with the battleship
Bellerophon, and suffered bow damage. She was under refit and repair through November, where her fore funnel was also raised by 6 feet.
On the outbreak of
World War I Inflexible was flagship of the
Mediterranean Fleet. Between
4 and
10 August 1914 she was engaged in the
pursuit of Goeben and Breslau, before being ordered back to Britain on
19 August 1914. Between
1 and
10 October, she was on the Shetland patrol, covering a troop convoy. She was ordered to the
South Atlantic on
4 November 1914 following the British defeat at the
Battle of Coronel, and she arrived at the
Falkland Islands on
7 December. The
next day, she took part in the First
Battle of the Falkland Islands, where she assisted in the destruction of the German East Asian squadron under the command of Admiral Graf
Maximilian von Spee, without incurring any damage to herself.
On
19 December, no longer needed in the South Atlantic, she was ordered back to the Mediterranean, where she underwent a refit at
Gibraltar before becoming flagship of the
Dardanelles operation on
24 January 1915. On
18 March, while she was part of the fleet that was attempting to force the Dardanelles Narrows, she was hit twice by gunfire from Turkish forts and nine crew members were killed; later the same day, she struck a mine and was forced to withdraw after taking in 2,000 tons of water. After repairs at
Malta and Gibraltar, she returned to Britain, and joined the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron of the
Grand Fleet on
19 June 1915.
On
31 May 1916, she participated in the
Battle of Jutland where she sustained no damage, unlike her sister-ship
HMS Invincible which blew up after taking hits from a German ship, revealing the weakness of the battlecruiser design - its lack of adequate armor. In August 1916, she sailed for operations against the German fleet, but no contact was made. On
February 1 1918, she collided with the submarine
K22 off
May Island with minor damage. On
21 November, she was present at
Scapa Flow for the surrender of the
German High Seas Fleet.
She 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 materialize. She was sold in December
1922, and scrapped in Germany in 1923.
* John Roberts,
Battlecruiser, (Chatham Publishing, London, 1997), ISBN 1-86176-006-X, ISBN 1-55750-068-1
* Siegfried Breyer,
Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970 (Doubleday and Company; Garden City, New York, 1973) (originally published in German as
Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer 1905-1970, J.F. Lehmanns, Verlag, Munchen, 1970). Contains various line drawings of the ship as designed and as built.
*
Maritimequest HMS Inflexible Photo Gallery
