Invincible-class battlecruisers- This is a type of battlecruiser of the Royal Navy of Great Britain during the First World War. They became the world's first battlecruisers. Three ships were built: Inflexible, Invincible, Indomitable.
Built according to the program 1905-1906. Entered into service in 1908-1909. Initially classified as armored cruisers. They became the world's first armored cruisers with a steam turbine power plant and a single main caliber. The concept of their use was based on the idea of the First Sea Lord John Fisher - “speed is the best armor.” According to this plan, Invincible-class cruisers were supposed to win a battle with any faster enemy and be able to escape from a stronger one. While maintaining the armor at the level of other armored cruisers, ships of this type had stronger weapons and greater speed. The advantages of the new cruisers caused a change in classification - in 1911 ships of the Invincible class were reclassified as battlecruisers.
However, by the beginning of the First World War, due to the construction of new, more advanced battlecruisers by Germany and Great Britain, Fischer's original concept did not justify itself. The speed of the German battlecruisers was in no way inferior to the speed of the Invincible-class cruisers, with comparable or stronger weapons and better armor. War experience showed that Invincible-class cruisers were effective only when used against older armored cruisers. So, in 1914 In the battle of the Falkland Islands, Inflexible and Invincible sank the German armored cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst with virtually no losses. The results of battles with modern German battlecruisers were not so impressive. In summer 1914“Indomitable” and “Inflexible” failed to catch up with “Goeben”. And the Indomiteble in the battle of Dogger Bank was only able to catch up with the damaged armored cruiser Blücher, being unable to participate in the battle with the German battle cruisers Moltke, Seydlitz and Derflinger.
"Invincible" sank May 31, 1916 in the Battle of Jutland after several shells from the Derflinger hit the area of the side turret, which caused an explosion of ammunition and the death of the ship with almost its entire crew. The Inflexible and Indomitable, which remained in service, were removed from active participation in hostilities until the end of the war. After the end of the war they were transferred to the reserve and to 1920-1921 sold for scrap.
Invincible-class battlecruisers
The Invincible-class battlecruisers became the world's first ships of this class. Essentially, they opened a new era not only as a new class of ships, but also in the views of the naval command on the further tactical and strategic use of cruisers. Representing a logical development of previous types of armored cruisers, they were superior to them in all respects and had a tremendous influence on the naval doctrines of the major naval powers. The Invincible, no less than the Dreadnought, deserves the right to be considered a revolutionary ship in military shipbuilding. Its appearance forced other maritime powers to follow the example of Great Britain.
The working draft of a new generation armored cruiser was developed under the leadership of the chief designer of the Narbeth naval shipbuilding department almost in parallel with the working draft of the Dreadnought. But when the design reached the stage of detailed development of the cruiser, the engineers' attention completely switched to the Dreadnought project, since unexpected difficulties arose there in ensuring the required speed. This took a lot of time, so to complete the work, the cruiser project was handed over to design engineer Whiting.
Already in the early stages of design, it became clear that the engine rooms were so long that they could pose a danger in terms of the strength of the hull and the unsinkability of the ship. Although this circumstance was promptly brought to the attention of the mechanical engineers designing the power plant, they refused to accept any other option for the location of the machine plant, even if a separate rather large room was allocated for the installation of auxiliary mechanisms, fenced off from the main engine room.
Now it can be argued that only due to this reason alone, that is, the peculiarities of the internal layout of the power plant compartments, when developing a detailed design, the designers were forced to accept the general arrangement that the future battle cruiser ultimately received. For the Invincible-class battlecruisers, new hull lines similar to the Dreadnought type were developed. They turned out to be even more successful - with power close to the rated one, the design speed was significantly exceeded.
The general development of the project and working drawings were completed on June 22, 1905, and in February 1906 the first ship of the new series was laid down. Since at that moment there was no need to build cruisers in the same short time as the Dreadnought, all three ships of the first generation were in construction from 26 to 32 months, which was also a relatively short period for such new and large ships than the British shipbuilders can be quite proud. Conceived and built in accordance with the ideas of Admiral Fisher, these first-generation cruisers began to be harshly criticized even at the design stage, but, although not without flaws, they were the first step towards creating the battlecruiser force of the future Grand Fleet, which brought it well-deserved fame in naval battles of the First World War.
According to Campbell and Burt, the normal design displacement of the Invincible-class battlecruisers was 17,250 tons with a draft of 7.65 m bow and 8.13 m stern, which was 2,650 tons more than the armored cruiser Minotaur, and 860 tons less than that of the battleship Dreadnought (Conway 181 Utah). According to Burt, the design displacement at full load (3000 tons of coal and 700 tons of oil) was 20,420 tons at an average draft of 9.07 m, full displacement 21,765 tons at an average draft of 9.49 m.
Length of Invincible-class cruisers: according to Campbell, between perpendiculars 161.6 m; along the waterline 171.6 m and overall 172.9 m, which is 14.7 m more than that of the Minotaur and 12.3 m than that of the Dreadnought. Burt gives, respectively, 161.7 m; 170.8 m and 172.9 m; Brayer 161.5 m; 171.4 m and 172.8 m. The greatest width, according to Burt, was 24 m, which is 1.3 m wider than that of the Minotaur and 1 m narrower than that of the Dreadnought (according to Campbell and Brayer 23 .9 m). L/B ratio = 7.2, versus 6.49 for the Minotaur and 6.43 for the Dreadnought.
According to Campbell, the freeboard height at the design normal displacement reached 9.14 m at the bow, 6.71 m amidships (Burt leads 6.4 m) and 5.23 m at the stern of the ship. The height of the side from the keel to the hanging deck ( spardeck) amidships was 14.7 m. An increase in draft by 1 cm corresponded to an increase in displacement by 27.5 tons.
The ship's hull was divided by watertight bulkheads into eighteen main compartments. The double bottom was installed on 85% of the ship's length. The method of connecting the riveted hull structure is a mixed set of transverse frames and longitudinal stringers. The desire to lighten the hull by any means led to the fact that the hull connections of the cruisers turned out to be quite weak. It is known that on the Invincible, during normal docking, deformation of the double bottom support links occurred, which in itself is a sign of insufficient hull strength. The outdated ram was finally abandoned. Although the stem in its underwater part remained still protruding, it no longer had a pronounced ram profile.
The ship's hull was divided in height by six decks and a double bottom flooring. The upper deck formed the forecastle deck and extended two-thirds of the length of the hull. It had a noticeable rise from amidships to the stem. Below it, along the entire length of the hull, ran the main deck, which was the upper deck in the aft part. The middle deck also ran the entire length of the hull below the main deck, forming the flooring of the cabins and rooms. The lower (armored) deck ran under the middle one at different levels. Even lower, the platform at the bow and stern ends and in the area of the middle towers served as a location for racks for main caliber charges. Below the platform there was a projectile deck and, finally, at the very bottom, a double bottom flooring.
The Invincible class cruisers had the highest freeboard of any major British warship when they entered service. Their long and relatively narrow hull had a forecastle extending over two-thirds of the ship’s length with a slight rise to the stem and two superstructures separated by a pair of middle towers. Although these cruisers were considered good seaworthy ships, according to the British themselves, they could hardly be called particularly stable gun platforms.
The choice of main armament from guns of a “single large caliber”, adopted on cruisers of this type, ensured the greatest destructive effect of shells along with the highest possible shooting accuracy for that time and the effectiveness of artillery fire control at distances up to the extreme. The choice of an increased range for artillery combat was determined by the weakness of the onboard armor. According to Admiralty requirements, the main fire armament was as commensurate as possible with a speed of about 25 knots, armor protection similar to the Minotaur armored cruiser and main dimensions corresponding to the docks available in the UK. The main requirement for cruisers of this type was the ability to conduct the maximum possible artillery fire in the bow sector without the dangerous mutual influence of muzzle gases from neighboring towers on each other. Admiral Fisher especially emphasized the importance of conducting powerful artillery fire in the bow sector against the retreating enemy, as opposed to the Dreadnought, for which the main thing was the large weight of the broadside.
The layout of the main caliber artillery of such a large cruising-type ship had its own characteristic features and, in any case, was not rejected even for the design of a battleship. The final version of the first-generation battlecruisers with barbettes echeloned diagonally with main-caliber artillery towers in the middle part of the hull, standing quite close to each other, nominally allowed firing in any direction with six guns, that is, three towers out of four available, which also had and a sufficient height of the gun axes above the waterline. It was considered the best solution, since it was fully feasible with an acceptable length and width of the ship, which, in turn, depended on the required internal volume of the hull to ensure the proper location of the charging and shell magazines, engine and boiler rooms.
Thus, in the final version of the project on the British Invincible-class battlecruisers, the main caliber artillery consisted of eight 305-mm rapid-fire guns of the Mk.X type in four two-gun turrets of the Mk.VIII type, of which the bow and stern turrets were located in the center plane, and two were slightly echeloned in the middle part, but not in a common citadel, but in individual barbettes. The turrets had the following letter designation: bow "A", two middle ones "P" and "Q" and stern "Y". Moreover, the left turret “P” was located 8.5 m ahead of the right one and in the stowed position its guns were directed forward, while those of the turret “Q” were directed backwards. The height of the gun axes above the waterline at normal displacement for turret “A” was 9.75 m, “P” and “Q” 8.53 m, “Y” 6.4 m.
The distance from the stem to the barbette axis of turret “A” was 42 m, from “A” to “P” 44.5 m, that is, turret “P” was located almost on the midship frame. The distance between the axes of the barbettes of the towers “P” and “Q” along the center plane was 8.5 m, across 16 m. Thus, the middle towers with the outer edges of their barbettes reached the level of the outer hull plating. The distance between the axes of the barbettes of the towers “Q” and “Y” was 38 m, and between “A” and “Y” 91 m. This value, adjusted for half the diameter of the barbette (4.3 m), determined the length of the main armor belt.
The firing sector for gun turrets “A” and “Y” was 300°, for the middle ones “P” and “Q” 210°, of which 30° was on the opposite side. The total firing sector was 1020° or 255° per turret. At the same time, different numbers of guns operated in different sectors of fire: fire sector 0-30° 4 guns, 30-65° 6 guns, 65-90° 8 guns, 90-150° 6 guns, 150-180° 4 guns.
The arrangement of the turrets on the first German battlecruiser Von der Tann, built later, was fundamentally similar to that adopted on the British battlecruisers of the Invincible class. Only on the German cruiser the middle turret of the starboard side was located in front of the left one, they were further apart from each other along the length of the ship and closer to the center plane, therefore, theoretically, each had a larger sector of fire on the opposite side than the British (125° versus 30° ).
Due to the expected negative impact of muzzle gases on neighboring turrets, the project developers never had any intention of receiving an eight-gun salvo. At best, they hoped to maintain a six-gun broadside salvo within a limited field of fire (about 30°) on the opposite side, even if one of the middle turrets failed. Basically, they assumed firing in three-gun (or, in extreme cases, four-gun) salvoes, alternately with one gun from each turret.
In the Battle of the Falkland Islands on the Invincible, the guns on turrets "P" and "Q" were fired across the deck to one side to produce four guns in a salvo (with one gun firing alternately from each turret). But, not to mention the damage to the deck, the results of this shooting were stunning. The sounds of shots deafened the gunners, horizontal gunners and sight installers, and from the "R" turret it was reported that the horizontal gunners were constantly being replaced, as they were too stunned to aim at the target normally. After this battle, firing from the middle turret through the deck was considered undesirable and was used only as a last resort.
On the Inflexible and Indomitable, for aiming the Mk.VIII artillery mounts, manufactured respectively by Vickers in Barrow and Armstrong in Elswick, a hydraulic guidance system common to the British Navy was used, exactly the same as on the Lord Nelson and Dreadnought ". On the Invincible, the main caliber gun turrets were equipped with an electric drive, with turrets “A” and “Y” being Vickers, and “P” and “Q” being Armstrong.
In addition to the guidance system, their main difference was the ammunition supply device at the level of the reloading compartment. In Mk.VIII installations, the projectile and charge moved directly from the main lifting tray to the charger without any overload at the intermediate or holding position. This system was chosen to provide a "clean feed", but this came at the cost of a time delay because the main lift tray could not lower until the loader had received all the ammunition. This did not fully suit the navy.
The same situation has developed with the promising electrically driven units installed only on Invincible. The Invincible's turrets were driven by electric motors. In the spring of 1905, the Admiralty expressed a wish, as an experiment, to install turrets with an electric drive on one of the new cruisers of the next year's budget, since they had long expressed the opinion that an electric drive during operation could have an advantage over a hydraulic one.
In August of the same year, the final decision was made to equip Invincible with experimental main caliber turrets with exclusively electric drive, although all then existing artillery installations in the British fleet were hydraulically driven. Gun turrets "A" and "Y" with Mk.IX mounts were manufactured by Vickers in Barrow, and turrets "P" and "Q" with Mk.X mounts were manufactured by Armstrong in Elswick. The weight of one turret installation without guns was 335 tons. Having accepted the proposal of the two largest companies producing naval artillery weapons, the Admiralty wanted to test and compare two different options, choosing the best one for future ships. Both companies signed contracts according to which, if the electric drive proves unsuccessful, they undertake at their own expense to convert the gun mounts to a well-tested hydraulic drive.
All devices of these installations were driven by an electric current of 200 V. Moreover, the horizontal guidance electric motor, located next to the turret installation, was considered more as part of the general ship equipment than directly from the main battery installation itself. The guidance speed was controlled using the Leonard system, which, by changing the excitation current of the horizontal guidance electric motors, provided a maximum guidance speed of 4°/s.
Vertical guidance of the guns was carried out using an Archimedes screw with a diameter of 127 mm driven by a special electric motor, which, through a worm gear, quite accurately provided the required elevation angle for the gun barrel. In the absence of a hydraulic system in the turret, the need arose for a fundamentally new system for recoil and retraction of the gun barrel after firing. To solve this problem, the Vickers company used springs of considerable size, while the Armstrong company used pneumatic devices, later adopted on almost all subsequent types of gun mounts. To absorb the recoil energy from the shot after the end of the recoil, the spring and oil buffer provided an idle motion against a roll of about 305 mm in length.
The equipment driven by electricity included the mechanisms of chargers, transfer pushers in the reloading compartment, electric motors of the hammer for loading the gun and the bolt mechanism.
But in practice, this innovation did not prove to be reliable in operation and turned out to be worse than the previous method using a hydraulic drive, since the speed of pointing the towers was slow and uneven. Although it was planned to convert the electric drive to a hydraulic one between October 1912 and May 1913, this actually happened only in 1914.
The installations of the main caliber guns of the 1907 model at the Von der Tann had electric drives for vertical aiming of the guns and rotation of the turrets. The installations of both countries, like most similar towers, had a reloading chamber, a supply pipe and a lower lift as a single part of the rotary system, rigidly connected to the tower.
Designed in 1904, the fast-firing 305-mm guns of the Mk.X model with a bore length of 45 calibers (13,775 mm) and a barrel without breech weight of 56.8 tons had a gun length of 14,168 mm and a chamber length of 2,057 mm. The barrel was fastened with steel wire. The rifling system was an ordinary profile with a constant rifling steepness - one turn per 30 calibers. A more advanced bolt mechanism was designed for the new model gun. The changes concerned the gearing in the bolt frame, through which the bolt piston could rotate.
The 305-mm guns of the Mk.X model fired shells weighing 386 kg (charge weight 117 kg of MD cordite) with an initial speed of 831-860 m/s (for the Von der Tann, for a 280-mm gun, 299 kg and 820 m/s) and developed a muzzle energy of 14600 tm. The installations provided a declination angle of gun barrels of -5° and an elevation angle of + 13.5°, which made it possible to have a maximum firing range of projectiles with a head ogive radius of two calibers of 14950 m (81 ca.). The rate of fire was two shots per minute. When in 1915-16. these ships began to be equipped with projectiles with a radius of ogive heads of four calibers, the maximum firing range increased to 17370 m (94 cables). Brayer lists a maximum firing range of 19,000 m (103 cables) at a gun barrel elevation angle of +13°.
According to the peacetime standard, the total ammunition load consisted of 640 shells for all eight main caliber guns, or 80 shells per barrel: 24 armor-piercing with a mild steel tip and 40 semi-armor-piercing. Both types of projectiles contained black powder as an explosive. The remaining 16 shells filled with lyddite were high-explosive. According to the wartime standard, the ammunition load consisted of 880 shells for all eight main caliber guns, or 110 shells per barrel, and this proportion remained the same. In addition, there were 24 practical shells per ship.
With the supply of projectiles with a radius of revived heads in four calibers, the equipment for the gun became different: 33 armor-piercing projectiles with a mild steel tip, filled with lyddite, and a few, possibly, with black powder; 38 semi-armor-piercing with a tip and 39 high-explosive. By mid-1916, the ammunition load had changed again to 44 armor-piercing with a tip, 33 semi-armor-piercing with a tip and 33 high-explosive. After the Battle of Jutland, the number of high-explosive shells was reduced to 10, and the rest of the ammunition was divided equally between armor-piercing and semi-armor-piercing. During the war, the ammunition load was supplemented with several shrapnel shells. After the First World War, the peacetime ammunition requirement was 77 armor-piercing with a tip and 33 semi-armor-piercing with a tip per gun.
Ammunition was stored in the turret compartment. The charging cellar was located on the platform above the projectile cellar, located on the deck. The air temperature in the cellars was maintained automatically in the range of 15-20°C. The cellars were equipped with an irrigation and flooding system. Shells and charges were stored in racks. From them, the shells were lifted with special ratchet devices, placed on carts and moved to the preparation tables. Next, the shells entered the feeders of the lower chargers located in the supply pipe and rose to the reloading compartment, and from there the charges and shells were fed using the upper chargers into the fighting compartment of the turret. Each charger was loaded with one projectile and two half-charges. The towers were also equipped with an independent manual feed.
When the first generation battlecruisers entered service, they did not have time to install central fire control devices. The main caliber fire was controlled from the front conning tower and an adjustment post with a range finder on the top of the foremast.
According to the project, the anti-mine artillery, like on the Dreadnought, was to consist of 20 rapid-firing 76-mm guns weighing 914 kg. But as a result of a longer construction period compared to the Dreadnought, the sailors had the opportunity to make changes to the original design. And they, as it turned out, were necessary.
In 1906, experimental artillery firing was carried out on the outdated destroyer Skate. As a result of these tests, it was decided to install larger caliber anti-mine artillery on the battlecruisers. Preference was given to 102-mm rapid-fire guns of the QF.Mk.III model, designed in 1906, with a barrel length of 40 calibers (4080 mm) (according to Burt 45 calibers) on carriages of the P.I model with a length of 4200 mm. The weight of the gun barrel was 1320 kg (according to Brayer, 2200 kg). Each ship was supposed to have 16 of these guns, designed to fire at all types of ship and coastal targets.
Rapid-firing 102-mm guns fired shells weighing 11.35 kg with a charge weight of 1.62 kg with an initial speed of 701 m/s to a maximum range of 8230 m (44.5 cables). The maximum rate of fire was 9-10 rounds per minute.
Initially, the Invincible and Indomitable had a total ammunition load of 102 mm QF.Mk.III guns of 1,600 rounds or 100 per barrel, which was less than the main caliber artillery shells during the war. At first, the ammunition included 50 steel semi-armor-piercing and 50 lyddite high-explosive rounds. Then the ratio of types of ammunition changed in favor of high-explosive - 30 semi-armor-piercing and 70 high-explosive rounds. In addition, the total ammunition load of these guns included 24 practical and 200 shrapnel rounds per ship in case the 102 mm guns were used to support a naval landing. Thus, initially on cruisers the total ammunition load for 102-mm QF.Mk.III guns was 1,824 rounds. Later, when the cruisers "Invincible" and "Indomitable" were re-equipped with 102-mm guns of the QF.Mk.VII type, the ammunition load was the same 100 rounds per barrel, but with a different configuration: 25 semi-armor-piercing, 60 high-explosive and 15 high-explosive rounds with a night tracer.
According to the design, on all three cruisers, four guns were placed in the front and rear superstructures, and the remaining eight, two each, were placed on the roofs of the artillery towers. In 1911, the guns on the roofs of the towers were surrounded by canvas covers to protect them from water splashes. However, in 1914-15. four guns from the end turrets "A" and "Y" were removed and moved to the forward superstructure. Later, the guns in the superstructures were covered with steel shields. In 1915, the remaining four guns on the middle "P" and "Q" turrets were also dismantled, thereby reducing the total number of anti-mine guns to twelve. These were the first and last British battlecruisers to have anti-mine guns mounted on the roofs of their turrets.
However, the 102-mm rapid-fire guns of the QF.Mk.III model were not considered powerful enough, and in April 1917, the Indomitable was re-equipped with twelve 102-mm rapid-fire guns of the QF.Mk.VII model with a barrel length of 50 calibers (5100 mm) in installations of sample P.IV. In turn, in July 1917, Inflexible was also re-equipped with twelve rapid-firing 102-mm guns of the BL.Mk.IX model with a gun bore length of 44 calibers (4890 mm) in CP.I model mounts. Their total ammunition load was 1,800 rounds (150 per barrel): 37 semi-armor-piercing, 90 high-explosive and 23 high-explosive rounds with a night tracer. Both of these types of guns fired the same shells weighing 14.1 kg, and thus both first-generation battlecruisers that survived the war were now armed with mine-resistant artillery, the same type as most other battlecruisers.
Rapid-firing 102 mm QF.Mk.III guns were also used as salute guns. Therefore, the 47-mm Hotchkiss salute guns, usually installed for this purpose on large British warships, were not installed on the Invincible and Indomitable. They appeared on them only in 1919. The anti-aircraft armament of the first generation battlecruisers included 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft guns, 47-mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft guns and 102-mm QF.Mk.VII rapid-fire guns with a barrel elevation angle +60°, converted into anti-aircraft from anti-mine, giving the barrel a large elevation angle.
The 76-mm anti-aircraft gun of the Mk.I sample had a weight of 1016 kg, a maximum elevation angle of +90°, a projectile weight of 5.67 kg, an initial projectile speed of 762 m/s, a maximum firing range of 12300 m (66 cables) and a rate of fire of 15- 20 rounds per minute.
The ammunition load of 47-mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft guns was initially 500 high-explosive rounds, 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft guns - 270 high-explosive and 30 shrapnel rounds. The ammunition load of the 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft guns was later reduced to 120 high-explosive and 30 shrapnel rounds. The ammunition load of the 102-mm anti-aircraft guns was 75 semi-armor-piercing with a head fuse and 75 shrapnel rounds, although its configuration was later changed to 160 high-explosive and 30 shrapnel rounds.
The composition of the anti-aircraft weapons of battlecruisers changed several times. In October 1914, Invincible had one 76 mm Mk.I anti-aircraft gun, but in November it was removed and replaced with a 47 mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun. This gun remained on the cruiser when, in April 1915, one 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft gun was again installed on the Invincible. Both of these guns were on him at the time of his death.
On the Inflexible in October 1914, on the initiative of the artillery officer of the cruiser, Captain 2nd Rank Werner, two 102-mm anti-mine guns of the BL.Mk.III model were converted into anti-aircraft guns by giving their barrels a large elevation angle. One of these guns was mounted on turret "A", and the second on turret "Y". It should be noted that at the beginning of 1915 these same guns were used for mounted “howitzer” fire against coastal targets in the Dardanelles. However, the command did not approve of this alteration.
In November 1914, one 47-mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun was added to the Inflexible, and in July 1915, another 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft gun was installed on the aft superstructure platform. Finally, in April 1917, the 47-mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun was replaced by a 102-mm anti-aircraft gun of the QF.Mk.VII model with a gun barrel elevation angle of +60°. It was installed in the center plane on a platform behind the front chimney. But the 76-mm anti-aircraft gun also remained. Later, the cruiser's anti-aircraft armament consisted of two 76-mm anti-aircraft guns mounted on a platform located behind the middle chimney.
The Indomitable had no anti-aircraft weapons at all until April 1915, when a 76-mm Mk.I anti-aircraft gun was installed on it. In April 1917, one 102-mm rapid-fire gun of the QF.Mk.VII model with a gun barrel elevation angle of +60° was added as an anti-aircraft gun, also in the center plane on the platform behind the front chimney. The cruisers were armed with seven Maxim system machine guns.
In 1918, on both surviving cruisers, the central fire control post on the top of the foremast was expanded and an anti-aircraft rangefinder was installed on it. On the front side of the Mars and at the end of the aft superstructure, range indicators to enemy ships were again installed. On the roofs of towers "A" and "Y" the values of the bearings of the rotation angles of the towers were painted.
The ships' torpedo armament consisted of five underwater 457-mm torpedo tubes (four onboard - two in front of the barbette of turret "A" and two behind the barbette of turret "Y", and one aft) with a total ammunition load of 23 torpedoes. In addition, torpedo attacks could also be carried out from steam boats aboard cruisers. For them, each cruiser had six 356 mm torpedoes. In 1916, after the Battle of Jutland, the stern underwater torpedo tube on the Inflexible and Indomitable was dismantled.
In 1918, towards the end of the war, the cruisers Inflexible and Indomitable, which survived the Battle of Jutland, received light reconnaissance aircraft. Each had on board two Sopwith-type wheeled aircraft, taking off from special wooden platforms mounted on top of the middle "P" and "Q" towers.
The armament described here turned out to be quite suitable for first-generation battlecruisers, although the placement of both the 305-mm guns and the 102-mm guns was recognized as not being entirely successful, and the initial sample of the latter turned out to be too weak.
In accordance with the Admiralty's recommendations to the Fisher Committee, when designing the cruiser, armor was largely sacrificed for armament and speed and had to correspond to the level of armor of the Minotaur-class armored cruisers. Thus, the necessary armor protection was limited by the mutually exclusive requirements of high speed, freeboard, armament and fuel capacity. It was hoped that it would be sufficient to protect the most important parts of the ship from medium-caliber shells in long-range combat. Namely, this type of military action is based on the experience of the Japanese-Chinese war in 1894 and the Russian-Japanese war in 1904-05. war was considered most likely when ships performed the functions of a cruiser and was their main purpose. At the same time, this meant that the armor would not be able to protect the cruiser from large-caliber shells, which it would have to be fired upon while performing its main task - a high-speed formation of the battle fleet.
The horizontal armor turned out to be especially weak. According to the memoirs of Admiral Mark Kerr, in 1909, with the rank of captain of the first commander of the Invincible, “... when the construction of the Invincible was being completed at the Armstrong shipyard on the River Tyne, Phillip Watts visited the shipyard to watch the progress of construction and see me . Among other points discussed, I brought to Watts's attention that, in his opinion, the range at which the battles would be fought would, one way or another, begin at least from 14,000 m (76 cab.)" and that "the issue was from such a distance, the projectile will pass over the barbette and pierce the deck" (falling along a hinged trajectory and hitting the unarmored part of the ship's hull above the armor belt) and explode, "hitting the very magazine of ammunition, resulting in an explosion that will destroy the ship."
According to Kerr, Watts replied “that he was aware of the danger,” but “the Admiralty requirements were for protection only against flat gunfire at a range of approximately 8,500 m (46 meters),” at which point the shell still has a flat trajectory and hits the ship with a small angle to the horizontal plane, and “with a maximum maximum displacement of about 17,000 tons, the lack of a sufficient displacement reserve did not allow him to increase the thickness of the deck armor, despite understanding the danger of mounted fire from large-caliber projectiles at a distance of 14,000 m (76 cabs) and more.”
The possibility in future naval battles of conducting artillery fire at distances of 14,000 m (76 cables) or more, that is, at large angles of incidence of shells, was considered controversial at that time and was not properly assessed in official naval circles taking into account the possibility of firing main caliber artillery, since the main practical firing was still carried out at a distance of up to 5500 m (27 cables).
Perhaps different understandings of the expected combat distances played a role in this. In Germany, they were confident that due to the prevalence of limited visibility in the North Sea, shooting at a distance of more than 10,000-12,000 m (54-65 cables), at which shells fall along a rather steep trajectory, was extremely rarely possible. In England, first of all, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Fisher, assumed long distances, which, with superior speed, each ship could choose arbitrarily, based on the fact that “speed is the best defense.”
As Admiral Schofield recalls, when he arrived on the Indomitable as a midshipman in 1912, the weakness of the deck armor of the first generation battlecruisers was common knowledge among officers. Under the thin deck armor plates there was a transversely located ammunition cellar, serving two middle turrets of 305 mm guns. This cellar, stretching across the entire width of the ship, housed up to 50 tons of cordite and more than 400 main-caliber shells. Above it was a room for diesel generators, the ventilation of which was carried out through a large air supply shaft that rose to the upper deck, blocked across by a grille. So, in fact, there was almost no obstacle in the path of a vertically falling shell that could prevent it from penetrating directly into the artillery cellar.
All the armor was Krupp cemented, with the exception of the deck armor. Decks with a thickness of 76 mm or less and communication pipes of the conning tower were made of mild steel. Although naval reference books, even in 1914, attributed to the Invincible-class battlecruisers armor protection along the entire waterline of the ship with a 178-mm main armor belt, and gun turrets with 254-mm armor plates, in reality their armor was much weaker. The main armor belt made of Krupp cemented 152 mm armor was installed on a 51 mm thick teak wood pad. It began slightly forward of the outer side of the barbette of the bow turret "A" and ended at the central axis of the barbette of the turret "Y", where its ends between the main and lower (armored) decks were closed by a 152-mm corner bulkhead, butting against the outer aft edge of the barbette of the turret "Y" ".
In the bow, a 178-mm transverse bulkhead closed the ends of the main armor belt in height, also between the main and lower (armored) decks. With an average draft of 7.92 m, the main armor belt went 1.17 m below the waterline and rose above it by 2.26 m, that is, to the level of the main deck. Its total width was 3.43 m, the length along the length of the hull was 95 m (55.4% of the length of the ship's hull along the waterline). In the bow, a continuation of the main one was a 102-mm armor belt, which, at the same height, continued to the stem, and in the stern it was completely absent. The rest of the side was not armored.
The turrets of the 305 mm guns had 178 mm front, side and rear armor plates. To balance the weight of the turret, a 171 mm mild steel plate was hung on the rear armor plates. The thickness of the roof was 63-76 mm, the flooring in the rear of the tower was 76 mm. The barbettes of the main caliber turrets, like those on the Dreadnought, had an internal diameter of 8230 mm. In towers "A", "P" and "Q" the barbettes had a wall thickness of 178 mm up to the main deck, and 51 mm between the main and lower decks. The aft part of the barbette wall of the "Y" turret was increased to 178 mm to the level of the lower deck, below it it also decreased to 51 mm. Below the armored deck they were covered by 51-mm flat bulkheads, reaching under the barbettes of the “P” and “Q” towers to the side of the ship.
At first, the 102 mm anti-mine artillery guns were not protected by anything, but during the war they were covered with armor shields, and some, if possible, were placed behind armor plates in the superstructure.
The front conning tower was armored on the front and sides with a thickness of 254 mm, and at the rear with thinner 178 mm armor. This reservation was located up to the bridge level. The roof and flooring of the cabin had a thickness of 51 mm. The signal tower, which housed the forward fire control post for central fire control of the main caliber artillery, was protected by 76 mm vertical armor, but its roof and deck were of the same thickness as the roof of the front conning tower. A communication pipe extending down from the conning tower with brackets for emergency exit led to the lower forward combat post and had a 102-mm wall to the lower deck.
The armoring of the walls of the torpedo firing tower, located on the aft superstructure, was made 152 mm thick, its roof and flooring 51 mm thick. The communication pipe extending down from the conning tower with brackets for emergency exit led to the lower aft combat post and had a wall thickness of 76 mm. Both lower combat posts had 51 mm walls, the 51 mm thick main deck formed the ceiling of the lower forward combat post and the 25.4 mm ceiling of the lower aft torpedo firing post.
As already indicated, the horizontal armor of the first generation battlecruisers turned out to be clearly insufficient. In addition to the areas already indicated, the main deck had a thickness of 19 mm at the level of the upper edge of the 102 mm armor belt in the bow from the stem to the forward transverse bulkhead. Only in the area of the barbettes of towers “A”, “P” and “Q” the main deck increased in thickness to 51 mm. After the Battle of Jutland, which showed the enormous danger of weak deck armor, a layer of 25.4 mm armor plates was added in the barbette area of all towers.
The horizontal part of the lower (armored) deck was located at the waterline and had bevels to the lower edge of the main armor belt. That is, the lower edge of the bevel sank to the shelf of the main armor belt 1.17 m below the waterline. The flat part of the armored deck in the area of the 152 mm main armor belt had a thickness of 38 mm at the bow, 51 mm in the middle part and 64 mm at the stern. The thickness of the armor plates on the slopes in the area of the main armor belt was 51 mm and 64 mm in the stern. The total thickness of all four decks (from top to bottom (armored) was 82-108 mm.
In all towers, the charging magazines were located on a platform above the shell magazines, and their ceiling was formed by the lower (armored) deck. As a constructive underwater mine protection, the ammunition storage rooms were covered with 64-mm longitudinal screen bulkheads installed below the waterline on the starboard and port sides abeam the bow, middle and stern ammunition magazines and were located at some distance from them, although next to the magazines of the "R" towers " and "Q" there were some places where the transfer compartments adjoined directly to these longitudinal bulkheads. There was no other special anti-torpedo and anti-mine protection for the underwater part of the cruisers.
After the Battle of Jutland, additional 25.4 mm armor plates were installed on the roofs of the towers on the two remaining cruisers. The same slabs were laid on the lower (armored) deck on top of the ammunition magazines. The ammunition supply elevators received additional armor, although not to a large extent. The cellars also received special fire protection against the spread of fire and an improved irrigation and flooding system. As a result of all these improvements, the cruisers' displacement increased by more than 100 tons.
From the above it is clear that such armor was not capable of providing sufficient protection for the vital parts of the battlecruiser against large-caliber shells, especially at long distances. However, according to experts, the loss of the Invincible in the Battle of Jutland occurred due to insufficient protection of its powder charges from fire and explosion. It is assumed that with the German type of charges and the way they were stored, the ship would probably have survived.
All the first projects of armored cruisers of the new generation, considered by the Fisher Committee, provided for the use of familiar and reliable piston engines as the main power plant, although some members of the Admiralty Council were more hopeful and optimistic about the possibility of installing Parsons turbines on them. Admiral Fisher constantly emphasized that maintaining superiority over enemy cruisers in speed as well as in armament was of paramount importance. And since it was expected that the new foreign-built cruisers would be able to reach speeds of up to 24 knots, it was considered necessary for their cruisers to have a speed greater than this.
Considering that this condition can only be met with the help of a turbine installation, they decided to equip the designed cruisers with direct-acting Parsons turbines rotating four three-bladed propellers. The cost of the turbine installation was 472,000 pounds sterling (4,720 thousand rubles in gold).
Since then, the power plants of all British battlecruisers have been designed only with turbines using a four-screw design. According to the project, 31 water-tube boilers with large-diameter tubes were installed in four boiler rooms arranged linearly in two groups, providing a working steam pressure of 16.5 kgf/sq.cm. The Indomitable had boilers of the Babcock and Wilcox type, the other two were of the Yarrow type. Boiler rooms (BO) N1 and N2 were located before towers "P" and "Q", BO N3 and N4 after. KO N1, 15.8 m long, housed 7 boilers, and the rest, almost identical and having a length of about 10.4 m each, but wider, contained 8. The first group of KOs had a length of 26.2 m, the second 20.8 m Both groups of spacecraft occupied 47 m along the length of the ship (24% of the length at the waterline). The total heating surface was 9650 sq.m., and the area of the grates in the boiler furnaces was 163 sq.m. For comparison, on the Minotaur, five boiler rooms with a total length of 48.8 m (30.8% of the length along the waterline) housed 23 boilers.
These battlecruisers were not the first large British ships to be powered by turbine power. In two engine rooms (MO) with a total length of 23.2 m (12% of the length at the waterline), one set of Parsons steam turbines was placed. On the Minotaur, the steam piston engine occupied two engine rooms with a total length of 41.4 m (26.2%). The cruiser's power plant included at least ten turbines. Two high-pressure turbines and two low-pressure turbines for forward speed, two sections of high-pressure turbines and two sections of low-pressure turbines for reverse speed, and two sections of high-pressure turbines for cruising speed. The forward and reverse high-pressure turbines rotated the outer shafts, and the forward and reverse low-pressure turbines rotated the internal shafts.
As is known, the creator of the ship steam turbine, the Englishman Parsons, back in 1897, using the example of the experimental ship "Turbinia", proved the possibility of using steam turbines for ship power plants. Test results showed that turbines are more economical than steam piston engines for high-speed ships and vessels. Moreover, the turbines were found to be equally suited to operate with both high and low pressure steam. Soon a number of small military and merchant ships were already sailing with turbines. With turbine units with a capacity of 23,000 hp. They ordered the battleship "Dreadnought" in 1905 and in 1906 the high-speed turbo ships "Lusitania" and "Mauritania" - the most modern ships of that time.
From the very beginning it became obvious that turbines were more suitable for high-speed ships than for slow-moving ones. By rebuilding the turbines, we found out that there is a gain in weight and efficiency from dividing the power into several turbines located on different shafts and connected in series along the passage of steam. Then, due to the high efficiency of low-pressure turbines, it turned out to be more profitable to discharge the exhaust steam of auxiliary mechanisms into these turbines instead of refrigerators. This steam alone was enough to give the ship a speed of 5-6 knots.
As of 1906, the advantages of the turbine were the absence of vibrations similar to those created by a steam engine (of course, in recent steam engines they were significantly reduced through the use of balancing of rotating parts), a reduction in the maintenance crew and simplified maintenance, low consumption of lubricating oils and reduced wear. But most importantly, the obvious possibility of creating a turbine of very high power has emerged. The dead weights and occupied volumes of a steam engine and a turbine of equal power were approximately the same. However, the turbines still had a number of significant disadvantages. Thus, fuel consumption at low speeds turned out to be higher than that of steam piston engines, which for warships, due to the long voyage under economic power, as the main type of navigation, was a serious disadvantage.
Since by that time suitable methods for reducing and regulating the turbine speed were not yet known, the propeller had to rotate at the same speed as the turbine. Since the peripheral speed of the propeller blades was limited due to the conditions for the occurrence of cavitation, it was necessary to use only propellers of relatively small diameter. The limited ability of turbine ships to maneuver speeds was especially undesirable while the ship was at sea. It was necessary to choose the average value of the number of revolutions of the propeller between the optimal values of the number of revolutions of the turbine and the propeller, which were far apart from each other. At the same time, the propeller turned out to be suboptimal, and the turbines were large and heavy.
The design power on the shafts of the first battlecruisers was 41,000 hp. or 1.98 hp/t displacement when fully loaded, which was supposed to provide the ships with a guaranteed speed of 25.5 knots. (Minotaur has 28,000 hp, 23 kts and 1.74 hp/t, Dreadnought has 23,000 hp, 21 kts and 1.27 hp/t). During a mile run with a normal fuel supply, when only coal was burned in the boiler furnaces (usually sea trials of British ships were carried out only on coal heating), all three cruisers quite easily exceeded the speed of 26 knots. They developed 25.5 knots. with an average draft of 9.07 m at full load (20420 t) and 24.6 kts. with an average draft of 9.49 m at full displacement (21,765 t).
Weight loads of the design normal displacement of ships of the English fleet
|
"Minotaur" |
"Invincible" |
"Dreadnought" |
|
|
Hull and ship systems |
5520 (37,8%) |
6200 (35,9%) |
6100(34,1%) |
|
Booking |
2790(19,1%) |
3460 (20,1%) |
5000 (27,9%) |
|
Power plant |
2530(17,3%) |
3390(19,7%) |
2050(11,5%) |
|
Armament with turrets |
2065(14,1%) |
2440(14,1%) |
3100(17,3%) |
|
Fuel (coal) |
1000 (6,9%) |
1000 (5,8%) |
900 (5,0%) |
|
Crew and provisions |
595 (4,1%) |
660 (3,8%) |
650 (3,6%) |
|
Displacement reserve |
100 (0,7%) |
100 (0,6%) |
100 (0,6%) |
|
Total displacement |
14600(100%) |
17250(100%) |
17900(100%) |
* The percentage clearly shows the cost of increasing speed due to the increase in the weight of the Invincible engine installation and, to a lesser extent, the weight of the long high-sided hull. The Invincible's weapon weight percentage is the same as the Minotaur's.
The ships achieved their best results after they began serving in the navy. They all showed a speed of 26 knots. "Indomitable" maintained a speed of 25.3 knots. for three days with a power plant power of 43,700 hp. (an increase of 6.6%), and then for another three days the cruiser was at economic speed. "Invincible" turned out to be the fastest, developing a speed of 26.64 knots at a measured mile, "Inflexible" developed a speed of 26.48 knots, "Indomitable" 26.11 knots. At the time of entry into service, these ships had the most powerful turbine units and were the fastest in the class of cruisers.
Their design normal fuel supply was 1000 tons of coal, maximum 3084 tons of coal and 700 tons of oil. The maximum fuel supply on different cruisers varied within small limits depending on the volume of coal pits and oil tanks. It amounted to 3000 tons of coal and 738 tons of oil for Invincible, 3084 tons of coal and 725 tons of oil for Inflexible, and 3083 tons of coal and 710 tons of oil for Indomitable. Coal consumption was 660 tons per day at full power and 130 tons per day at a speed of 10 knots.
During long-term navigation in the open sea at a speed of 22.3 knots, which corresponded to a power plant power of 28,700 hp. (70% of the design), coal consumption was 600 tons per day. At the same time, the cruising range when burning only coal in the boiler furnaces was 2340 miles. If coal and oil were burned, the cruising range increased to 3090 miles. According to Burt, the range was 3,000 miles at 25 knots.
On Invincible-class battlecruisers, coal consumption at full power was 0.54-0.77 kg/hp. per hour, on average 0.66 kg, on armored cruisers of the Minotaur type 0.82 kg, Duke of Edinburgh type 0.95 kg. But at 20% power, coal consumption on Invincible-class cruisers was 1.09 kg/hp. per hour, "Minotaur" type 0.85 kg and "Duke of Edinburgh" type 0.93 kg.
The declared cruising range with only the largest coal reserve without the use of oil was 4480-4600 miles at a speed of 15 knots. and 2270-2340 miles at 23 knots. When oil was burned in boiler furnaces in atomized form as an additive to coal, it increased accordingly to 6020-6110 miles at a speed of 15 knots. and 3050-3110 miles at 22.3 knots.
Since there were no special oil heating boilers on British ships, unlike the later construction of German ones, the mixed heating of British boiler systems was very imperfect and required great effort and skill from the stokers. Oil was sprayed through nozzles and burned directly in the furnaces of conventional coal boilers. Each boiler was equipped with five (on the Invincible), four (on the Indomitable) or three (on the Inflexible) single-hole oil nozzles, having a total throughput of 130 kg/hour per boiler (on the Invincible). up to 82 kg/hour (on Inflexible).
Electricity for the ship was provided by four 200 kW turbo generators installed on the lower decks and two 100 kW diesel generators with a total power of 1000 kW and a voltage of 200 V.
The design of the ship with normal displacement (without oil reserves) provided for an estimated metacentric height of 1.15-1.17 m (on the Minotaur 0.90 m), with a fully loaded displacement (3000 tons of coal and 700 tons of oil) 1.29 -1.30 m (on the Minotaur 1.0 m) and with a displacement at overload of 1.56-1.57 m. As a result of various alterations made during the operation of the cruisers, due to the addition of high-mounted cargo and an increase in the weight of the superstructure, the metacentric the height has decreased slightly. By September 1917, on the surviving cruisers its calculated values were determined accordingly as 1.11 m; 1.27 m and 1.44 m.
The rolling period was about 14 seconds. To reduce pitching, one bilge keel was installed on each side. The installation of Fram stilling tanks was not envisaged. Like the Dreadnought, they were equipped with two parallel balance rudders, which made them agile ships with a rather small circulation radius. At the same time, they were completely uncontrollable when moving stern forward.
As on the Dreadnought, the traditional layout of personnel was radically changed. Now the officer's cabins were located in the bow of the ship, and the rank and file were located in the stern. This change to the traditional crew quarters was made at the initiative of Admiral Fisher so that the officers' quarters would be closer to their usual combat posts on the bridge and in the conning tower. But despite this, the innovation turned out to be unsuccessful and did not gain popularity among sailors. Nevertheless, the British adhered to this scheme until the construction of the battlecruiser Queen Mary and battleships of the King George V type.
In accordance with the requirements of Admiral Fisher to reduce the silhouette of the ship to a minimum and thanks to his persistence, after completion of construction, all three cruisers had short chimneys, but later their forward chimneys were somewhat lengthened in order to eliminate smoke from the fore-mars. In 1910, the height of the front chimney was increased on the Indomitable, a year later the same was done on the Inflexible, and on the Invincible this was done only in January 1915. Since 1911, 102-mm guns mounted on the roofs of the turrets To protect against splashes, they were equipped with canvas skirts.
Since August 1914, the ships have undergone many small changes. This included the dismantling of anti-torpedo nets, the installation of protective screens for rangefinders on the masts and additional 76-mm anti-aircraft guns in the aft part of the hinged deck, as well as the installation of central fire control posts on the tops of both masts.
By the time they entered service, the Invincible-class battlecruisers were impressive and impressive-looking ships in appearance. Three-legged foremasts and mainmasts of the same height, three large chimneys installed without an inclination with wide sides, that is, in plan form close to oval, gave a unique appearance. They can be easily distinguished by the following characteristic features: long forecastle; three tall flat chimneys, originally of the same height, standing at irregular intervals and without slope, the rear chimney being further from the middle one and closer to the mainmast; the navigation platform raised high above the bridge, noticeably extended towards the bow; high aft superstructure; The tripod racks of the mainmast were inclined towards the bow.
During the period when construction of the Invincible was being completed, the commander of the Metropolis fleet, Vice Admiral Francis Bridgeman, was interested in the feasibility of installing “heavy and very visible masts” that would support correction posts on the planets. Concern about their appearance was reflected in a series of articles entitled "Ships without masts from a gunner's point of view."
In his article on October 3, 1908, Bridgman states that "...the opinion constantly prevails among officers that heavy masts represent a danger that can be avoided... Many prefer to go into battle with a correction post located below, agreeing to a reduction in the percentage accuracy." On October 14, 1908, Chief of Ordnance Reginald Bacon responded that "Masts are chiefly used for raising the range finder and spotter above the smoke of the ship's guns and the explosions of enemy shells. Tripod-mounted, stable masts provide a very suitable place for the range finder to operate."
Externally, the ships were practically no different from each other and were so similar that at first glance it was difficult to distinguish them. But still there were some differences. So, on the chimneys of each they had their own pipe marks - stripes of white or red color, the number of which each ship had its own.
On the Invincible, the second yard on the foremast was located significantly higher above the mars platform. Solid (no cutouts) siren brackets were located behind the front chimney. Pipe marks - white on each chimney.
On the Inflexible, the lower edges of the saling on the mainmast formed a right angle. The siren brackets had cutouts. Pipe marks - white on the front chimney.
The Indomitable had an angular slope to the lower edge of the saling on the mainmast and solid (no cutouts) siren brackets. Pipe marks are white on the rear chimney.
Like most large ships of the British Navy, their appearance changed several times during their service. In 1910-14. The cruisers were mainly painted dark gray, partially turning into light gray. In 1914-17 The hull color remained only dark gray, and the marks on the chimneys were painted over. Throughout the First World War, various types of camouflage were used: for example, in the Dardanelles, the Inflexible had irregularly shaped white spots on the sides with dark spots on the smokestacks, with the exception of the middle one, which was a very light color. When they served in the North Sea, all three ships, like other battlecruisers in these waters, wore a dark stripe on their sides with a rectangular curve to give the impression of the presence of several ships side by side. It was painted over only at the beginning of 1916.
The battlecruisers had three 6.35-ton Veteni Smith anchors without a rod, two 2.13-ton anchors (stop anchor and werp) of the Martin system and two 0.254-ton Admiralty type.
The capacity of the ship's life-saving equipment was designed for 659 people, that is, without overloading, they could not lift the entire crew of the ship. The ship's rescue equipment included two steam half-longboats 15.2 m long with a total capacity of 140 people, one sailing half-longboat 11 m long with a capacity of 86 people, one sailing longboat 12.8 m long with a capacity of 140 people, two rescue boats with a total length of 9.75 m with a capacity of 118 people, one boat 9.75 m long with a capacity of 59 people, one gig 9.14 m long with a capacity of 26 people, three whaleboats 8.23 m long with a total capacity of 72 people, one dinghy 4.88 m long with a capacity of 10 people and one balsa raft with capacity for 8 people. In addition to those indicated, one steam admiral boat with a length of 12.2 m and one command boat with a length of 9.75 m could be lifted aboard the ship.
During construction, eight lighting spotlights with a mirror diameter of 914 mm were installed on the battlecruisers. Of these, two were placed on the bow superstructure on the sides of the conning tower, two on special platforms on the sides of the front chimney, one on a higher platform on the left side of the middle chimney, another one also on a higher platform on the right side of the rear chimney and the other two are on a special platform on the racks of the tripod mainmast.
Another signal spotlight with a mirror diameter of 610 mm was placed on a special platform under the fore-mars. Anti-torpedo nets and their equipment were installed.
In 1909, distance indicators were installed on the masts (on the Invincible only on the foremast platform) - large dials on which the distance to enemy ships was shown for other ships using arrows.
In 1911, 610 mm signal searchlights were removed from the foremast platforms on all ships. On the Inflexible and Indomitable they were moved to a superstructure behind the forward chimney. All ships had an additional yard on the top of the fore-topmast.
In 1912-13 The distance indicators to enemy ships were removed from all ships. Behind the 102 mm guns, metal screens were installed on turrets “A” and “Y” to protect against muzzle gases from the guns of the middle turrets.
In 1913-14 During the renovation, the screens were removed from towers "A" and "Y". Anti-torpedo nets were removed from all ships. Before the outbreak of the First World War, while the cruisers were in the waters of the Metropolis, they were again equipped with anti-torpedo nets, but in the Mediterranean Sea they no longer had nets. They were removed from the Inflexible and Invincible in November 1914 before sailing into the South Atlantic to the Falkland Islands. Anti-torpedo nets were no longer installed on these cruisers.
Battlecruisers were equipped with radio communications. At the time of entry into service, each ship had radio stations of the Mk.II type, which were later replaced by radio stations of the "1" and "9" types.
After April 1917, six 914 mm searchlights were removed, located on the sides of the forward smokestack and on the tripod foremast posts. Two of them were moved to the lower bridge, and the other four were placed on special platforms on the sides of the rear chimney, nicknamed “coffee boxes.” An additional 914 mm spotlight was installed on a low platform located at the end of the aft superstructure. Two more 610mm signal spotlights were added, one at each corner of the forward chimney platform.
The cost of building each ship, according to the preliminary estimate, was 1,621,015 pounds sterling, according to the estimate agreed by the Admiralty, 1,634,316 pounds sterling, of which the cost of the guns was 90,000 pounds sterling. The final estimate was £1,625,120 or 16,250,000 rubles in gold. However, the cost of building each ship was different.
In the last article, we examined in detail the technical characteristics of the cruisers of the Invincible project, and now we will figure out how they performed in battle, and finally sum up the results of this cycle.
The first battle, near the Falklands, with the German squadron of Maximilian von Spee, is described in sufficient detail in numerous sources, and we will not dwell on it in detail today (especially since the plans of the author of this article include the idea of making a cycle on the history of the raiding squadron of von Spee), but let's note some nuances.
Oddly enough, despite the advantage in gun caliber, neither Invincible nor Inflexible had an advantage in firing range over German cruisers. As we have already said, the firing range of the 305-mm artillery of the first British battlecruisers was about 80.7 cables. At the same time, the German turret installations of 210 mm guns had approximately 10% more - 88 cable guns. True, the casemate 210-mm guns of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had a lower elevation angle and could only fire at 67 cables.
Therefore, despite all the inequality of forces, the battle still did not become a “one-goal game.” This is evidenced by the fact that the British commander Sturdee considered himself forced to break the distance and move beyond the range of the German guns just 19 minutes after the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau opened fire on the British battlecruisers. Of course, he later returned...
In general, during the battle between the German armored and British battlecruisers, the following became clear.
Firstly, the British were poor at shooting at distances close to the maximum. In the first hour, the Inflexible fired 150 shells at a distance of 70-80 cables, of which at least 4, but hardly more than 6-8, were fired at the light cruiser Leipzig, which brought up the rear of the German column, and the rest at the Gneisenau. At the same time, according to the British, 3 hits were achieved in the Gneisenau - whether this is true or not is difficult to judge, since in battle you often see what you want, and not what actually happens. On the other hand, Infelxible's senior artillery officer, Commander Werner, kept detailed records of hits on the Gneisenau, and then, after the battle, interviewed the rescued officers from the Gneisenau. But it should be understood that this method did not guarantee any complete reliability, since the German officers, taking mortal combat, experienced extreme stress, and yet they still had to perform their official duties. At the same time, they, of course, could not keep track of the effectiveness of British shooting. Assuming that during this period of the battle the British managed to achieve 2-3 hits on the Gneisenau with 142-146 shells fired at it, we have a hit percentage of 1.37-2.11, and this, in general, is almost under ideal shooting conditions.
Secondly, we are forced to admit the disgusting quality of British shells. According to the British, they achieved 29 hits at Gneisenau and 35-40 hits at Scharnhorst. In the Battle of Jutland (according to Puzyrevsky), it took 7 hits from large-caliber shells to destroy the Defense, 15 hits from the Black Prince, and the Warrior, having received 15 305 mm and 6 150 mm shells, eventually died too, although the crew fought for the cruiser for another 13 hours. It is also worth noting that the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers had armor protection that was even somewhat weaker than the Invincible-class battlecruisers, and yet the Germans did not spend as many shells on any British battlecruiser that perished in Jutland as on the ships of the squadron von Spee. And finally, we can remember Tsushima. Although the number of hits on Russian ships by 12-inch Japanese “suitcases” is unknown, the Japanese spent 446 305-mm shells in that battle, and even if we assume a record 20% of hits, then even then their total number does not exceed 90 - but for the entire squadron, despite the fact that the Borodino-class battleships were protected by much better armor than the German armored cruisers.
Apparently, the reason for the low effectiveness of British shells was their filling. According to the peacetime standard, the Invincibles were supposed to have 80 shells per 305-mm gun, of which there were 24 armor-piercing, 40 semi-armor-piercing and 16 high-explosive, and only high-explosive shells were loaded with lyddite, and the rest with black powder. In wartime, the number of shells per gun increased to 110, but the proportion between types of shells remained the same. Of the total number of 1,174 shells that the British fired at German ships, only 200 were high-explosive (39 shells from the Invincible and 161 from the Inflexible). At the same time, each fleet tried to use high-explosive shells from a maximum distance, from where they did not expect to penetrate armor, and as they got closer they switched to armor-piercing shells, and it can be assumed (although this is not known for sure) that the British used up their high-explosive shells in the first phase of the battle, when the accuracy of their hits left much to be desired, and the bulk of the hits came from shells filled with black powder.
Thirdly, it once again became clear that a warship is a fusion of defensive and offensive qualities, the right combination of which allows it (or does not allow it) to successfully solve assigned tasks. The Germans shot very accurately in their last battle, achieving 22 (or, according to other sources, 23) hits in the Invincible and 3 hits in the Inflexible - this, of course, is less than the British, but, unlike the British, the Germans They lost this battle, and it is impossible to demand from the beaten German ships the performance of the almost undamaged English ones. Of the 22 hits on the Invincible, 12 were made with 210-mm shells, another 6 with 150-mm shells, and in another 4 (or five) cases the caliber of the shells could not be determined. At the same time, 11 shells hit the deck, 4 – the side armor, 3 – the unarmored side, 2 hit below the waterline, one hit the front plate of the 305-mm turret (the turret remained in service) and another shell broke one of the three “legs” of the British mast . Nevertheless, the Invincible did not receive any damage that would threaten the ship’s combat capability. Thus, the Invincible-class battlecruisers demonstrated the ability to quite effectively destroy the old-type armored cruisers, inflicting decisive damage on them with their 305-mm shells at distances from which the latter’s artillery was not dangerous for the battlecruisers.
The battles of Dogger Bank and Heligoland Bight did not add anything to the fighting qualities of the first British battlecruisers. "Indomiteble" fought at Dogger Bank
But he failed to prove himself. It turned out that the speed of 25.5 knots was no longer sufficient for full participation in the operations of battlecruisers, so in the battle both it and the second “twelve-inch” battlecruiser New Zealand lagged behind the main forces of Admiral Beatty. Accordingly, the Indomiteble did not cause any harm to the newest German battle cruisers, but only took part in the shooting of the Blucher, which was hit by 343-mm shells. Which also managed to respond with one 210-mm shell, which did not cause any damage to the English cruiser (ricochet). Invincible took part in the battle in Heligoland, but at that time the British battlecruisers did not meet an equal enemy.
Another thing is the Battle of Jutland.
All three ships of this type took part in this battle, as part of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral O. Hood, who commanded the forces entrusted to him with skill and valor.
Having received the order to link up with David Beatty's cruisers, O. Hood led his squadron forward. The light cruisers of the 2nd reconnaissance group were the first to catch his eye, and at 17.50, from a distance of 49 cables, the Invincible and Inflexible opened fire and inflicted heavy damage on the Wiesbaden and Pillau. The light cruisers turned away, and in order to let them escape, the Germans launched destroyers to attack. At 18.05 O. Hood turned away, because with very poor visibility such an attack really had a chance of success. However, Invincible managed to damage Wiesbaden so that the latter lost speed, which subsequently predetermined its death.
Then, at 18.10, the ships of D. Beatty were discovered on the 3rd squadron of battlecruisers and at 18.21 O. Hood took his ships to the vanguard, taking a position ahead of the flagship Lion. And at 18.20 German battle cruisers were discovered, and the 3rd squadron of battle cruisers opened fire on the Lutzow and Derflinger.
Here we need to make a small digression - the fact is that already during the war the British fleet rearmed itself with shells filled with lyddite and the same Invincible, according to the state, should have carried 33 armor-piercing, 38 semi-armor-piercing and 39 high-explosive shells, and by the middle 1916 (but it is unclear whether they made it to Jutland) a new ammunition load of 44 armor-piercing, 33 semi-armor-piercing and 33 high-explosive shells was installed on the gun. However, according to the recollections of the Germans (and that same Haase), the British also used shells filled with black powder in Jutland, that is, it can be assumed that not all English ships received lyddite shells, and what exactly did the 3rd squadron of battlecruisers fire? the author of this article does not know.
But on the other hand, the Germans noted that British shells, as a rule, did not have armor-piercing qualities, since they exploded either at the moment of breaking through the armor, or immediately after breaking through the armor plate, without going deeper into the hull. At the same time, the force of explosion of the shells was quite high, and they made large holes in the sides of the German ships. However, since they did not go inside the hull, their impact was not as dangerous as classic armor-piercing projectiles could have produced.
At the same time, what is liddit? This is trinitrophenol, the same substance that was called melinite in Russia and France, and shimosa in Japan. This explosive is very susceptible to physical impact and could well detonate on its own at the moment of penetration of the armor, even if the fuse of the armor-piercing projectile was set to an appropriate delay. For these reasons, Lyddite does not seem to be a good solution for equipping armor-piercing shells with it, and therefore, no matter what the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron fired at Jutland, there were no good armor-piercing shells among its ammunition.
But if the British had them, the final score of the Battle of Jutland might have been somewhat different. The fact is that, having entered into battle with the German battle cruisers at a distance of no more than 54 cables, the British quickly reduced it and at some point were no further than 35 cables from the Germans, although then the distances increased. In fact, the issue with the distances in this episode of the battle remains open, since the British started it (according to the British) at 42-54 cables, then (according to the Germans) the distances were reduced to 30-40 cables, but later, when the Germans saw “ Invincible” he was 49 cables away from them. It can be assumed that there was no rapprochement, but perhaps there was one. The fact is that O. Hood took an excellent position relative to the German ships - due to the fact that visibility towards the British was much worse than towards the Germans, he could clearly see the Lutzow and Derflinger, but they could not see him . Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that O. Hood maneuvered in such a way as to get as close as possible to the enemy, while remaining invisible to him. To tell the truth, it is not entirely clear how he could determine whether the Germans saw him or not... In any case, one thing can be stated - for some time the 3rd squadron of battle cruisers fought “with one goal.” This is how the senior artilleryman of the Derflinger von Haase describes this episode:
"At 1824 hours I fired at enemy battleships in the direction of the northeast. The distances were very small - 6000 - 7000 m (30-40 cables), and, despite this, the ships disappeared in stripes of fog, which slowly stretched interspersed with gunpowder smoke and smoke from chimneys.
Observing the fall of the shells was almost impossible. In general, only undershoots were visible. The enemy saw us much better than we saw him. I switched to long-range shooting, but because of the darkness it didn’t help much. Thus began an unequal, stubborn battle. Several large shells hit us and exploded inside the cruiser. The entire ship was bursting at the seams and broke down several times to escape the covers. It was not easy to shoot under such circumstances.”
Under these conditions, in 9 minutes, O. Hood's ships achieved excellent success, hitting the Lützow with eight 305 mm shells and the Derflinger with three. Moreover, it was at this time that “Lutzov” received blows that ultimately became fatal for him.
The same "Lutzow"
British shells hit the Luttsov's bow under the armor belt, causing flooding of all bow compartments; water filtered into the artillery magazines of the bow towers. The ship almost immediately took on over 2,000 tons of water, sat with its bow at 2.4 m and, due to the damage indicated, was soon forced to abandon formation. Subsequently, it was these floodings, which became uncontrollable, that became the cause of the death of the Luttsov.
At the same time, one of the British shells that hit the Derflinger exploded in the water opposite the 150 mm gun No. 1, which caused deformation of the plating under the armored belt at a distance of 12 meters and the filtration of water into the coal bunker. But if this English shell had exploded not in the water, but in the hull of a German battle cruiser (which could well have happened if the British had normal armor-piercing shells), then the flooding would have been much more serious. Of course, this hit in itself could not lead to the death of the Derflinger, but let us remember that it received other damage and, during the Battle of Jutland, took 3,400 tons of water inside the hull. Under these conditions, an additional hole under the waterline could well be fatal for the ship.
However, after 9 minutes of such a war, fortune turned to the Germans. Suddenly, a gap appeared in the fog, in which, unfortunately, the Invincible found itself, and of course, the German artillerymen took full advantage of the opportunity presented to them. It is not entirely clear who exactly and how many hit the Invincible - it is believed that he received 3 shells from the Derflinger and two from the Lutzow, or four from the Derflinger and one from the Lutzow, but it could be and not so. What is more or less reliable is that at first the Invincible received two shells each, which did not cause fatal damage, and the next, fifth shell hit the third tower (abeam tower on the starboard side), which became fatal for the ship. A 305 mm German shell penetrated the armor of the turret at 18.33 and exploded inside, causing the cordite inside to ignite. An explosion followed, throwing up the roof of the tower, shortly after which, at 18.34, the detonation of the magazines occurred, splitting the Invincible in two.
The death of "Invincible"
It is possible that there were more than five hits on the Invincible, because, for example, Wilson notes that hits from German ships were observed near the turret, which received a fatal blow, and in addition, a shell may have hit the bow turret of the Invincible, above which, According to eyewitnesses, a column of fire rose. On the other hand, errors in descriptions cannot be ruled out - in battle what is often seen is not what is actually happening. Perhaps the force of the explosion of the middle turret ammunition was so strong that the bow magazines detonated?
In any case, the battle cruiser Invincible, which became the ancestor of its class of ships, died under concentrated fire from German ships in less than five minutes, taking with it the lives of 1,026 sailors. Only six were saved, including senior artillery officer Danreuther, who was at the center fire control post on the top of the foremast at the time of the disaster.
To be fair, it must be said that no amount of armor would have saved Invincible from destruction. At a distance of just under 50 kbt, even twelve-inch armor would hardly be an insurmountable barrier against the German 305 mm/50 guns. The tragedy was caused by:
1) Unsuccessful design of the turret compartments, which, during an explosion inside the turret, passed the explosion energy directly into the artillery magazines. The Germans had the same thing, but after the battle at Dogger Bank they modernized the design of the turret compartments, but the British did not.
2) The disgusting qualities of British cordite, which was prone to detonation, while German gunpowder simply burned. If the Invincible charges had contained German gunpowder, a strong fire would have occurred, and the flames from the doomed tower would have risen many tens of meters. Of course, everyone in the tower died, but there was no detonation and the ship would have remained intact.
However, let’s assume for a second that the German shell did not hit the tower, or the British would have used the “correct” gunpowder and no detonation would have occurred. But two German battlecruisers fired at the Invincible, and the Koenig joined them. Under these conditions, we have to admit that “Invincible”, in any case, even without the “golden shell” (the so-called particularly successful hits that cause fatal damage to the enemy) was doomed to death or complete loss of combat effectiveness, and only very powerful armor would give does he have any chance of survival?
The second “twelve-inch” battlecruiser to perish in Jutland was Indefatigable. It was a ship of the next series, but the armor of the main caliber artillery and the protection of the magazines was very similar to the Invincible-class battlecruisers. Just like the Invincible, the Indefatigable's turrets and barbettes had 178 mm of armor up to the upper deck. Between the armor and the upper deck of the barbette, the Indefatigable was protected even slightly better than its predecessor - 76 mm versus 50.8.
It was the Indefatigable that was destined to demonstrate how vulnerable the defense of Britain's first battlecruisers was over long combat distances. At 15.49, the German battle cruiser Von der Tann opened fire on the Indefatigable - both ships were at the end of their columns and were supposed to fight each other. The battle between them lasted no more than 15 minutes, the distance between the cruisers increased from 66 to 79 cables. The English ship, having spent 40 shells, did not achieve a single hit, but the Von der Tann at 16.02 (i.e. 13 minutes after the order to open fire) hit the Indefatigable with three 280-mm shells that hit it at the level of the upper deck in the area of the aft tower and mainmast. The Indefatigable went out of order to the right, with a clearly visible list to the port side, while a thick cloud of smoke rose above it - in addition, according to eyewitnesses, the battlecruiser landed stern-wise. Soon after this, two more shells hit the Indefatigable: both hit almost simultaneously, the forecastle and the main caliber bow turret. Soon after this, a high column of fire rose in the bow of the ship, and it was enveloped in smoke, in which large fragments of the battle cruiser were visible, that is, a 15-meter steam boat flying upside down. The smoke rose to a height of 100 meters, and when it cleared, the Indefatigable was no longer there. 1,017 crew members were killed, only four were saved.
Although, of course, nothing can be said for sure, but, judging by the descriptions of the damage, the fatal blow to the Indefatigable was dealt by the first shells that hit the area of the aft tower. German semi-armor-piercing shells of 280-mm Von der Tann cannons contained 2.88 kg of explosives, high-explosive shells - 8.95 kg (data may be inaccurate, since there are contradictions in the sources on this matter). But in any case, the explosion of even three shells weighing 302 kg, which hit at the level of the upper deck, could not lead to a noticeable list to the left side, and damage to the steering looks somewhat doubtful. In order to cause such a sharp roll and trim, the shells had to hit below the waterline, hitting the side of the ship below the armor belt, but eyewitness descriptions directly contradict this scenario. In addition, observers note the appearance of thick smoke above the ship - a phenomenon uncharacteristic of being hit by three shells.
Most likely, one of the shells, having hit the upper deck, hit the 76 mm barbette of the aft turret, pierced it, exploded and caused the detonation of the aft artillery magazine. As a result of this, the steering turned around, and water quickly began to flow into the ship through the bottom, which was broken by the explosion, which is why both the list and trim arose. But the aft tower itself survived, so observers saw only thick smoke, but not the flames of the explosion. If this assumption is correct, then the fourth and fifth shells simply finished off the already doomed ship.
The question of which of them caused the detonation of the bow tower cellars remains open. In principle, the 178-mm armor of a turret or barbette with 80 cables could withstand the impact of a 280-mm projectile, then the explosion was caused by a second projectile that hit the 76 mm barbette inside the hull, but this cannot be said for sure. Moreover, even if the Inflexible’s cellars had contained not British cordite, but German gunpowder, and detonation had not occurred, still two severe fires in the bow and stern of the battle cruiser would have led to the complete loss of its combat effectiveness and, probably, it would have been destroyed anyway. Therefore, the death of the Indefatigable should be attributed entirely to the lack of its armor protection, and especially in the area of the artillery magazines.
The series of articles brought to your attention is entitled “Mistakes of British shipbuilding”, and now, summing up, we will list the main mistakes of the British Admiralty made during the design and construction of battlecruisers of the Invincible class:
The first mistake made by the British was that they missed the moment when their armored cruisers, due to their protection, ceased to satisfy the task assigned to them of participating in squadron battle. Instead, the British chose to increase artillery and speed: the defense was dominated by an unfounded tendency to “and so will do.”
Their second mistake was that, when designing the Invincible, they did not realize that they were creating a ship of a new class and did not bother at all with defining the range of tasks for it, or determining the necessary tactical and technical characteristics to meet these tasks. To put it simply, instead of answering the question: “What do we want from a new cruiser?” and after that: “What should the new cruiser be like to give us what we want from it?” the position prevailed: “Let’s create the same armored cruiser as we built before, only with more powerful guns, so that it corresponds not to the old battleships, but to the newest Dreadnought.”
The consequence of this mistake was that the British not only duplicated the shortcomings of their armored cruisers in ships of the Invincible type, but also added new ones. Of course, neither the Duke of Edinburgh, nor the Warrior, nor even the Minotaur were suitable for squadron combat, where they could come under fire from the 280-305 mm artillery of battleships. But the British armored cruisers were quite capable of fighting against their “classmates.” The German Scharnhorst, the French Waldeck Russo, the American Tennessee, and the Russian Rurik II did not have any decisive advantage over the British ships, even the best of them were approximately equivalent to the British armored cruisers.
Thus, British armored cruisers could fight against ships of their class, but the first British battlecruisers could not. And what’s interesting is that such a mistake could be understood (but not excused) if the British were sure that the opponents of their battlecruisers, as before, would carry 194-254 mm artillery, the shells of which could still be protected by the Invincibles. then resist. But the era of 305-mm cruisers was opened not by the British with their Invincibles, but by the Japanese with their Tsukuba. The British were not pioneers here; they were, in fact, pushed to introduce twelve-inch guns on large cruisers. Accordingly, it was not at all a revelation for the British that the Invincibles would have to face enemy cruisers armed with heavy guns, which the defense “like the Minotaur” obviously could not withstand.
The third mistake of the British is an attempt to put a “good face on a bad game.” The fact is that, in the open press of those years, the Invincibles looked like much more balanced and better protected ships than they really were. As Muzhenikov writes:
“...naval reference books, even in 1914, attributed to the Invincible-class battlecruisers armor protection along the entire waterline of the ship with a 178-mm main armor belt, and gun turrets with 254-mm armor plates.”
And this led to the fact that the admirals and designers of Germany, the main enemy of Great Britain at sea, selected the performance characteristics for their battlecruisers so as to withstand not real, but ships invented by the British. Oddly enough, perhaps the British should have stopped the exaggerations in the bud and made public the true characteristics of their cruisers. In this case, there was a small, but still non-zero, probability that the Germans would become “monkeys” and, following the British, also began to build “eggshells armed with hammers.” This would not, of course, strengthen the defense of the British, but at least equalize the chances in the confrontation with the German battlecruisers.
In essence, it was the inability of the British battlecruisers of the first series to fight on equal terms with ships of their class that should be considered the key mistake of the Invincible project. The weakness of their defenses made ships of this type a dead-end branch of naval evolution.
When creating the first battlecruisers, other, less noticeable mistakes were made, which could be corrected if desired. For example, the main caliber of the Invincibles received a small elevation angle, as a result of which the range of the 305 mm guns was artificially reduced. As a result, the Invincibles were inferior in terms of firing range even to the turret-mounted 210-mm guns of the latest German armored cruisers. To determine the distance, even in the First World War, relatively weak, “9-foot” rangefinders were used, which did not cope very well with their “duties” at a distance of 6-7 miles and beyond. The attempt to “electrify” the 305-mm towers of the lead “Invincible” turned out to be a mistake - at that time this technology was too tough for the British.
In addition, it should be noted the weakness of British shells, although this is not a disadvantage exclusively of the Invincibles - it was inherent in the entire Royal Navy. English shells were filled with either liddite (i.e. the same shimosa) or black (not even smokeless!) gunpowder. As a matter of fact, the Russo-Japanese War showed that gunpowder as an explosive for shells had clearly exhausted its usefulness, while at the same time shimosa turned out to be overly unreliable and prone to detonation. The British managed to bring the liddite to an acceptable state, avoiding problems with shell explosions in the barrels and spontaneous detonation in the cellars, but still the liddite was of little use for armor-piercing shells.
The German and Russian fleets found a way out by filling the shells with trinitrotoluene, which showed high reliability and ease of operation, and in its qualities was not much inferior to the famous “shimosa”. As a result of this, by 1914 the Kaiserlichmarin had excellent armor-piercing shells for their 280 mm and 305 mm guns, but the British had good “armor-piercing shells” after the war. But, we repeat, the poor destructive quality of British shells was then a general problem for the entire British fleet, and not an “exclusive” design flaw of ships of the Invincible class.
Of course, it would be wrong to assume that the first English battlecruisers consisted only of shortcomings. The Invincibles also had advantages, the main of which was a super-powerful for its time, but quite reliable power plant, which gave the Invincibles previously unimaginable speed. Or recall the high “three-legged” mast, which made it possible to place a command and rangefinder post at a very high altitude. But still, their advantages did not make the Invincible-class battlecruisers successful ships.
What was happening at that time on the opposite shore of the North Sea?
Thank you for your attention!
Previous articles in the series:
Mistakes of British shipbuilding. Battlecruiser "Invincible"
Mistakes of British shipbuilding. Battlecruiser "Invincible". Part 2
Mistakes of British shipbuilding. Battlecruiser "Invincible". Part 3
List of used literature
1. Muzhenikov V.B. Battlecruisers of England. Part 1.
2. Parks O. Battleships of the British Empire. Part 6. Firepower and speed.
3. Parks O. Battleships of the British Empire Part 5. At the turn of the century.
4. Ropp T. Creation of a modern fleet: French naval policy 1871-1904.
5. Fetter A.Yu. Invincible-class battlecruisers.
6. Materials from the site http://wunderwaffe.narod.ru.
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Battlecruiser "Invincible"
From the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle newspaper of April 13, 1907. “In the presence of at least a thousand spectators, the christening ceremony of the cruiser was performed by Lady Allendale. Eminent guests and the shipyard management sat on the stands, installed in large numbers along the entire ship, from which an excellent view of the the new cruiser. The stands were completely filled with cheerful companies consisting of ladies and gentlemen. At the same time, hundreds of ordinary people crowded into the areas of the shipyard from which the ship could be seen. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Lady Allendale broke a bottle of champagne decorated with flowers on the ship's stem. , which immediately smoothly descended onto the water.
As Invincible moved down the launch path to the accompaniment of loud cheers, the orchestra played "Royal Britain" followed by the national anthem." The cruiser's recorded launch weight was 7889 g, of which the hull weighed 6022 tons. At the time of launch, the draft was 3. 48 m bow and 4.77 m stern."
The battle cruiser "Invincible" was built according to the program of the 1905-06 fiscal year. The construction order was issued on November 21, 1905.
Invincible was laid down on April 2, 1906 at the private shipyard Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. in Elswick on the River Tyne; the power plant was manufactured by Humphrey and Tennant.
The ship was launched on April 13, 1907 and put into operation on March 20, 1909. The ship's slipway construction period was just over 12 months, and completion afloat took another 23 months. In total, construction lasted 35 months. The subsequent completion of Invincible at the Swan Hunter and William Richardson shipyard at the mouth of the River Tyne near Newcastle was interrupted by strikes, which delayed the cruiser's entry into service by three months. In addition, on December 28, 1907, the Oden coal miner servicing the cruiser pushed through five sheets of plating and bent the hull frames. In September 1908, before leaving for testing, the cruiser left her home shipyard and moved to Pelau, where work on it was almost completely completed.
Conway lists a true normal displacement of 17,373 tons and a fully laden displacement of 20,078 tons. According to Campbell, the Invincible's true normal displacement was 17,330 tons with a draft of 7.49 m bow and 8.23 m stern, a true displacement fully laden (without fuel oil) 19,940 tons. According to Burt and Brown, 17,420 tons and 20,135 tons, respectively. The cost of building the Invincible was 1,677,515 pounds sterling (16,775,000 rubles in gold) or 97.24 pounds sterling per ton of normal displacement.
In 1906, the Invincible's crew numbered 755 people; according to the list as of February 11, 1911 729; in 1914 799 (according to Breuere 784); in the Battle of Jutland, as a flagship, 1032.
At the end of 1908, during testing, Invincible was assigned to the Norsk reserve. The date of completion of the extensive sea trials and other tests that were usually carried out after the construction of each new type of ship was considered the date of final entry into the navy. Its distinctive feature was the presence of a white mark on each chimney.
On October 22, 1908, a 30-hour sea trial of the Invincible was conducted at the measuring mile off Chasel Beach in calm sea conditions. The cruiser's draft before leaving the mouth of the River Tyne was 8.18 m bow and 8.26 m stern. The ship made six runs at 20% power of the power plant, developing 9695 hp, which, with an average propeller shaft rotation speed of 174.3 rpm, provided the ship with a speed of 16.24 knots. November 3, 1908 at a measured mile A 13-hour sea trial was carried out at Polperro off the Cornwall peninsula. "Invincible" made six runs at 70% of the power of the power plant, developing 34,124 hp, which, with an average rotation speed of the propeller shafts of 269.5 rpm, provided the ship with a speed of 24.26 knots, November 7, 1908 in the same place In rough sea conditions and force 9 winds, we conducted sea trials of the Invincible at the full power of the power plant. The cruiser made six runs and turned out to be the fastest, developing a boosted turbine power of 46,500 hp. (an increase of 13.4%), which, with an average propeller shaft rotation speed of 295.2 rpm, a draft of 7.67 m at the bow and 8.16 m at the stern, provided the ship with a speed of 26.64 knots.
Then sea trials were carried out at the lowest, average and maximum cruising power of the power plant, during which the ship developed 3845 hp, respectively. (9.4%), 13291 hp (32.4%) and 21266 hp. (51.9%), which, with propeller shaft rotation speeds averaging 112.5 rpm, 196.3 rpm, and 225.6 rpm, provided the ship with a speed of 11.55 knots, 18.2 knot and 20.81 knots. The tests were completed in March 1909.
In the first week of March 1909, just before entering service, Invincible left her usual moorings at the shipyard at the mouth of the River Tyne to conduct regular artillery firing with her main battery off the Cromarty Firth. After the shooting, he returned to his usual place.
On March 18, 1909, the cruiser finally left the shipyard on the River Tyne and moved to Portsmouth, where she arrived on March 20. From that day on, Invincible became part of the British fleet and was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron, part of the 1st Division of the Home Fleet. In June, "Invincible" took part in a review at the Spithead roadstead, and in June-July in the annual fleet maneuvers. From 17 to 24 July he was present at Southen at the meeting of the Atlantic Fleet and the Home Fleet, and on 31 July he took part in the Royal Review of both fleets at Spithead Roadstead.
Defects in the electrical drive of Invincible's gun turrets appeared immediately during the first tests of the guns, carried out near the Isle of Wight in October 1908. First one or another of the hundreds of contacts in each turret failed. Each problem delayed or completely stopped either the operation of the turrets or the loading of the guns. The strong shaking of the tower, which took place with each shot of huge and powerful guns, led to disruption of the complex electrical circuit due to the opening and closing of contacts, breaks in the complex labyrinth of wires connecting them and damage to electrical devices. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the fault was extremely difficult to find.
The defects were initially corrected, but were replaced by even more complex problems due to failures in the horizontal and vertical guidance mechanisms during the second round of tests of artillery installations carried out at Cromarty Firth in March 1909. Following an examination carried out by Admiralty officials and representatives of both firms decided to carry out numerous improvements. However, during the summer of 1909, defects were again discovered, and if at that moment the ship needed to go into battle, four of the eight 305-mm guns could operate, and then only with a rate of fire significantly lower than the calculated one. This state of affairs was clearly unsatisfactory.
In August 1909, the ship was transferred to the Portsmouth Government Dockyard for further modifications, with the expectation that by the third week of November she would be ready for testing. The cruiser was in a two-week state of readiness when it was discovered that the drive still did not meet the requirements. In this regard, we decided to make additional corrections.
From August to December 1909, at the Portsmouth Government Dockyard, Invincible was again and again troubleshooting the gun turret aiming system. But even after all these works and improvements, the electrical equipment of the towers turned out to be unreliable. As a result, Invincible was unable to fire its main caliber until February 22, 1910, when almost a year later, for the second time after the tests at Cromarty Firth, the ship fired 305 mm guns. At this time, on the foremast site, a distance indicator to enemy ships was installed.
But even in February 1910, the test results were not satisfactory, and the electrical equipment of the artillery installations continued to work unreliably. The last attempt to correct the current situation was made at the expense of the companies that created the installations.
On March 27, 1910, Invincible returned to Portsmouth Government Dockyard for a three-month refit. And again, the adjustments and alterations made to eliminate malfunctions did not meet the sailors’ expectations. The Admiralty finally came to the conclusion that the experiment was a failure. I had to admit that “the design of the electrical equipment for the operation of artillery installations on this ship suffers from many defects and it is unlikely that it will ever work satisfactorily without redesign and replacement.”
Thus, electrically powered artillery mounts/turrets were not successful. Aiming the guns was slower than that of hydraulically driven turrets (and it was not smooth) and was not popular with the turret crews. In addition, it was discovered that the electric motor of the horizontal guidance drive with a power of 10 hp. it took a relatively long time to create the required torque. The worm gear design was also not suitable for an electric drive. The Americans, who had extensive experience in using electric drives and, in particular, electric drives for pointing large-caliber guns, encountered this problem much earlier, even on the battleship Connecticut. Representatives of the British who visited this ship privately noted that the worm gears there had a more complex design.
In April 1910, off the coast of Scotland, Invincible took part in joint maneuvers of the Atlantic Fleet and the Home Fleet, and in July in the annual joint maneuvers (including a visit to Torbay) of the Atlantic Fleet, the Home Fleet and part of the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1911, the cruiser was reclassified from armored to battleship. In January 1911, off the northwestern coast of Spain, Invincible took part in joint maneuvers involving the same three fleets. In March, in Portland, her crew was reduced to a minimum during another repair that lasted until May. At this time, on the front side of the mainmast mars platform, a second indicator of the distance to enemy ships was installed. On May 16, after repairs, Invincible was again assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron. Together with the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Home Fleet, he visited Dublin.
On June 24, the battlecruiser took part in the parade on the Spithead roadstead on the occasion of the coronation of King George V. In June-July, she took part in the annual maneuvers of the Home Fleet in the Channel and the North Sea. On July 9, 1912, Invincible took part in the Parliamentary Review at Spithead Roadstead. After this, the battlecruiser took part in the annual naval maneuvers, during which the ships visited Tor Bay. In the autumn of the same year, as part of a formation of ships, he visited Norway and Denmark. In 1912, during another renovation, an additional 914 mm searchlight was installed in the corner of the front superstructure.
Since the electric drive for pointing gun turrets did not show stable operation and a noticeable advantage over the hydraulic drive, on March 20, 1912, at a meeting at the Admiralty, they finally decided to abandon the unsuccessful experiment and install a reliable and proven hydraulic drive during the next repair. According to the head of the artillery department, Henry Moore, the alteration could last six months and end in May 1913. The cost of the alteration was 150,000 pounds sterling. The ship's docking was scheduled for October 1912, but it was canceled due to the need to transfer the Invincible to the Mediterranean Sea.
In January 1913, Invincible was again assigned to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron. On March 17, the cruiser collided with the S-34 submarine, which resulted in minor damage to both ships. In July, Invincible took part in the annual fleet maneuvers. At the end of the next routine repair in August 1913, she was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea and enlisted in the 2nd (Mediterranean) squadron of battle cruisers, where she remained until December 1913 in a non-combat-ready state, almost completely deprived of her firepower.
In November 1913, joint exercises of the Mediterranean Fleet with part of the Metropolitan Fleet took place. At the end of the maneuvers in December, Invincible returned to the Metropolis and arrived in Portsmouth on December 13, 1913, where she immediately transferred to the government shipyard for repairs, which now lasted a full eight months until August 1914. During this period, she underwent extensive general repair and replacement of experimental electric drives for aiming towers with standard hydraulic drives.
At the same time, four 102-mm guns were removed from turrets “A” and “Y” and moved (covered with shields) to casemates in the bow superstructure. Two 102 mm guns were installed on the hanging deck between the front and middle smokestacks, and the other two on a platform on the side of the forward conning tower. A cap was installed on the roof of turret “A” for the officer in charge of the shooting. We installed a new fore-mars with a narrowed front part, equipped with a rangefinder of the Argo system with a base of 2.74 m.
The distance indicators to the enemy were removed from the ship. The signal spotlight with a mirror diameter of 610 mm, standing on a special platform under the fore-mars, was moved to the roof of a small superstructure behind the front chimney. On the bow superstructure at the level of the navigation bridge, the searchlight platforms were expanded and two searchlights with a mirror diameter of 914 mm were added, placing them on the sides of the front chimney at the level of the boat deck. Another 914 mm searchlight was additionally installed in the rear corner of the bow superstructure. The topmasts were shortened, and special reflective screens were mounted on the foremast to interfere with enemy rangefinders in determining the distance.
On August 3, 1914, Invincible returned to the operational fleet, but up to 2,000 workers still remained on board, bringing the cruiser into combat-ready condition. Finally, the electric drives for aiming the turrets' artillery mounts were converted to hydraulic ones, and on August 5 the ship was finally prepared for sailing.
On August 4, 1914, Great Britain entered the First World War. On August 6, after repairs were completed, Invincible was sent to Kingstown to protect communications from attack by German naval forces, but already on August 19, the cruiser departed from Kingstown to the Humber, where, as the flagship ship, together with New Zealand, they formed 2 th squadron of battlecruisers.
After repairs, the artillery tests were observed by specialists from the naval artillery school from the famous artillery training ship "Excellent". Each 305mm gun was fire tested until the artillery experts were satisfied that the newly installed hydraulic drive was working properly. Finally, experts verified the reliability of its operation, but Lieutenant Commander Barry Bingham, who served on the Invincible as an artilleryman, was far from delighted. “Accidents occur,” he wrote, “with fans and pipelines that leak and continue to leak continuously. At my post in tower “A”, each of the crew received two sets of special outerwear, which had to be used. The set included overalls for protection against dirt and a mac as a means of protection against water from the valves, from which, as soon as pressure is applied, a constant stream gushing out, comparable only to an endless shower."
The next tests of the main caliber guns were carried out on the morning of August 25 near the Humber with practical shells with incomplete (75%) charges. According to the artilleryman of the "A" tower, junior lieutenant Stivart, who was in charge of loading the guns: "... everything that could not work from the hydraulic system did not work as it should." So the good old hydraulics, especially after a hasty and probably poor-quality installation, were also not without shortcomings.
On August 28, 1914, in the first battle in Heligoland Bight, a detachment of battlecruisers "K" consisting of "Invincible" and "New Zealand" under the command of Rear Admiral Archibald Moore supported their light cruisers, from which they received a request for help.
At 1130 hours, a German submarine attacked the British battle cruisers from the stern heading angles to no avail. At 1210 hours, the British light cruiser Firless (1912, 3500 tons, 10 102 mm, 25 kts) and destroyers came under fire from German light cruisers. In turn, they were fired upon by British battlecruisers approaching in the fog, and the German cruisers had to urgently retreat to the island of Heligoland. On the way back from Heligoland Bight, Invincible fired at the light cruiser Cologne (1911, 4915 tons, 12 105 mm, 25.5 knots), already damaged by Lyon, and at 1325 hours. With several salvos of his guns he sank it. After this, the British task force began to retreat to the base from Heligoland Bight.
On August 31, 1914, Invincible and New Zealand moved to a new home base in the Firth of Forth, but this base was not yet fully equipped and protected from penetration by German submarines. On September 2, 1914, at 22:30, while trying to penetrate a guarded base, they discovered the German submarine U-21. The battlecruiser teams were alerted and spent several anxious night hours. On September 10-11, as part of the Grand Fleet, Invincible took part in a new raid into the Heligoland Bight, but this time there was no battle. After the campaign, he received an order to move to Scapa Flow to load coal, but already in mid-September the cruiser was transferred to the 1st squadron of battlecruisers of the Grand Fleet, based at Rosyth.
On September 14-17, Invincible and Inflexible, together with the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron, participated in a patrol in the area north of Faro Island to search for German ships in the North Sea. At the end of September 1914, Invincible and Inflexible were again patrolling in the North Sea north of Faro Island. On September 29, at sea they linked up with the 1st squadron of battlecruisers.
In early October 1914, during the reorganization of the Grand Fleet, Invincible was again transferred to the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron. On October 3-10, 1914, Invincible, together with Inflexible, participated in patrols between Shetland and the Faroe Islands, covering the transfer of the first contingent of Canadian troops to England across the Atlantic Ocean. On October 18-25, Invincible and Inflexible took part in a raid to cover and support a seaplane raid on the German balloon base in Cuxhaven, but the raid was unsuccessful.
The defeat in the battle of the Coronel Islands on November 1, 1914 dealt a severe blow to the prestige of England. It was one of the reasons for the replacement of the first sea lord, Prince of Battenberg, by Admiral Fisher. Fisher immediately replaced the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee, with Rear Admiral Oliver. Vice Admiral Sturdee had been appointed by Secretary of the Navy Churchill to head the General Naval Staff before the war. Sturdy was unusually stubborn and capricious; he perceived any professional advice that went against his opinion as a personal insult. Sturdy was primarily responsible for the sinking of the armored cruisers Hog, Aboukir and Cressy by the German submarine U-9. for which he was removed from this position. Now he was given the opportunity to correct the mistakes he made as chief of the general naval staff.
To avoid a renewal of the old enmity that was weakening the British fleet, Fisher decided to send Sturdee at the head of the Special Squadron to continue combat operations against Spee and give him two battlecruisers of the same type - Invincible and Inflexible. An order to these cruisers to prepare for a trip to the South Atlantic to the Falkland Islands to search for and destroy the German cruising squadron consisting of the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (1906, 12985 tons, 8 210 mm, 6 150 mm, 22, 5 knots) and the light cruisers Dresden, Leipzig and Nuremberg under the command of Admiral Count von Spee were sent to the Grand Fleet on November 4, 1914.
Invincible was appointed flagship. On November 5 at noon, the flag of the commander of the 2nd squadron of battlecruisers was lowered on it and transferred to New Zealand. To prepare for the long passage, Invincible and Inflexible moved from Cromarty to Devonport. The transition began just six hours after receiving news of the death of the British armored cruisers of Rear Admiral Cradock in the battle of the Coronel Islands. Just after midnight, both battlecruisers left Cromarty and headed along the west coast of Ireland to Devonport, where they arrived on 8 November. An examination of the Invincible's hull at the government-owned Devonport Dockyard revealed that the ship was in need of dock repairs and that it could not be completed before Friday 13 November. Until this date, workers will not have time to finish laying refractory brick lintels between the Invincible boilers.
Old sea wolf Fisher could not allow the cruisers to go to sea on the 13th, and on a Friday at that. The order of the first sea lord scheduled the departure of the cruisers to the Falkland Islands no later than Wednesday, November 11. In this regard, the shipyard workers were ordered to remain on board the cruiser until the completion of work, if necessary.
On November 11, 1914, all work on the ships was completed and at 16:45 the Invincible and Inflexible left England, heading to the South Atlantic to get even with the squadron of the German Admiral Spee for the disaster at the Coronel Islands. On November 17, they replenished their coal supply at St. Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands. On November 26, at a designated location near the Abrols Islands, 30 miles off the coast of Brazil between Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, the battlecruisers met with the cruisers Cornwall that survived the battle off the Coronel Islands (1902, 9950 tons, 14,152 mm, 23.5 knots), "Carnarvon" (1903, 11,000 tons, 4,190 mm, 6,152 mm, 23.3 knots), "Kent" (1901, 9,950 tons, 14,152 mm, 24.1 kt.), "Bristol" (1910, 5300 t, 2 152 mm, 10 102 mm, 26.8 kt.) and "Glasgow" (1910, 5300 t, 2 152 mm , 10 102 mm, 25.8 knots) under the command of Rear Admiral Stoddart. On November 26-28, Vice Admiral Sturdee's united squadron was based off the Abrols Islands.
Here Sturdee received orders to immediately go to the Falkland Islands and prepare to search for the enemy off the Chilean coast. Some delay occurred due to the transfer of the long-distance radio station from the cruiser Defense to Invincible so that the Admiralty could maintain radio contact with Sturdy through the rehearsal ship Vindictive. On November 28, the squadron left the Abrols Islands and went at full speed to the Falkland Islands, where the obsolete pre-dreadnought Canopus (1897, 13150 tons, 4,305 mm, 12,152 mm, 18 knots) remained alone to guard the harbor and port, hourly expecting the appearance of the German squadron. But the next day I was delayed again because of Invincible. During shooting practice, he wound a tow rope around his propeller. Because of this failure we lost a whole day.
On December 1, 1914, the squadron deviated from the route to check a distress signal from a merchant ship, but the fears were not confirmed. Stubborn Sturdee did not consider it necessary to exactly carry out the order of the Admiralty: “Proceed to the Falkland Islands with all possible haste.” Instead of December 3, according to the calculations of the sea lords, the cruisers arrived at the port of Stanley on the Falkland Islands at 10:30 on December 7. The transition lasted 26 days. Before starting the search for the German squadron, the battlecruisers had to urgently replenish their fuel reserves.
On December 8, at 4:00 am in the port of Stanley, a coal miner arrived aboard the Invincible, and the crew began loading coal. Following him, Inflexible began loading coal. At 7:50 am, the Gneisenau and Nuremberg, sent to land troops and destroy the British base, appeared in sight of the harbor, and their appearance was detected from the port signal station. Taken by surprise, the British immediately stopped loading coal and urgently began to raise steam. In turn, at 10:00 the Germans, based on characteristic signs - tripod masts moving in the harbor towards the sea, determined the presence of British battle cruisers in the harbor and began to leave.
At 1010 hours both battlecruisers had already left the harbor. The visibility was amazing; the sea is calm and dazzlingly blue; A light northwest wind was blowing.
At 1020 hours, Vice Admiral Sturdee ordered to pursue von Spee's ships and the "general pursuit" signal was raised, meaning that the ships were given freedom of action. The best cruiser, the cruiser Glasgow, was ordered to maintain contact with the Germans, since Spee's squadron was 19 miles from the British and it would take time to catch up with them.
Both battlecruisers burned oil in boilers along with coal. Moreover, on the Invincible they did this rather ineptly, and the direction of the wind was so unfortunate that thick black smoke from its chimneys covered the Inflexible all the time. At 1050 hours the battlecruisers had to reduce speed to 24 knots. to reduce smoke, and at 1110 hours the speed was further reduced to 20 knots to allow the light cruisers to catch up with the battle cruisers.
During this break, the teams of both squadrons had lunch, and the British changed from dirty coal clothes to clean ones. Finally, at 1220 hours, the light cruisers of the British squadron pulled up, and at 1250 hours, the battlecruisers increased their speed again, bringing it to 25 knots. "Invincible" raised the signal to open fire at 12:55. At 12:58, from a distance of 14,500 m (79 cables), "Invincible" opened fire on the light cruiser "Leipzig" (1905). , 3250 t, 10 105 mm, 23 knots). Together with Inflexible, they fired about 20 shells at him.
At 1320 hours, the German light cruisers received orders to disperse, turned to the southwest and began to leave, pursued by the cruisers Cornwall, Kent and Glasgow. "Invincible" and "Inflexible" first of all tried to force the battle on "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau".
After a two-hour chase, at 1302 hours Invincible finally opened fire from long range on the German flagship Scharnhorst, and at 1325 hours Scharnhorst and Gneisenau returned fire. at the British battlecruisers, and when the distance decreased to 11,000 m (59 cab.), the Germans brought into action the 150-mm guns and at the same time turned east, apparently wanting to distract the British from their light cruisers.
The maximum firing range of British 305 mm guns was 15000-15500 m (81-84 cab.), the actual fire distance was 11000-13000 m (59-70 cab.). On both German cruisers, 210 mm guns had a maximum range of 15,000 m (81 guns), 150 mm casemate guns had a maximum range of 13,750 m (74 guns). The Germans at all distances were vulnerable to the 305 mm guns of the British, while the British battlecruisers had armor that was impenetrable to 210 mm shells at a distance of 13,000 m (70 cables), and at a shorter distance to 150 mm guns.
Already at 1345 hours, from the third salvo, Invincible received several hits from 210 mm shells and, in order to throw off the zeroing, turned two points to the left to increase the distance. At 1410 hours, Scharnhorst stopped firing as Invincible moved out of range of its guns. Sturdee decided not to immediately approach the distance of a decisive battle, at which the consumption of ammunition would be the least and which would ensure a quick victory. The reasons were the desire to avoid even the slightest damage to their battlecruisers and the high training of the German gunners. In a battle at extreme range, there was no risk of damage to his ships at all, but the ammunition consumption would almost certainly have been enormous.
In the first phase of the battle, the British shooting turned out to be exceptionally poor. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau received only two hits each, and neither of them was seriously damaged. The destructive power of British 305-mm shells turned out to be much less than might have been expected. After about half an hour, the British again began to approach. When at 1448 hours the distance between them decreased again to 15,200 m (82 cabs), the British flagship again opened fire on the Scharnhorst, and at 1515 hours fired on the Gneisenau for five minutes when the Germans the ships swapped places. The German ships received significant damage, but continued to stubbornly resist.
The battle became hot, the distance decreased to 11,000 m (59 cab.), and Sturdy did not allow the distance to be further reduced in order to prevent the Germans from effectively using the 150-mm guns. The British shooting would have been more accurate if Sturdee had not kept the Inflexible in the thick smoke of the flagship. Both British battlecruisers burned oil and coal in their furnaces during the period of pursuit of Admiral Spee's cruisers. At the same time, thick black smoke from the Invincible's chimneys prevented their own and Inflexible's artillery from firing, and they wasted their valuable shells.
During the battle, the rotation speed of the Invincible's propellers reached an average of 298 rpm. and in one period reached 308 rpm. Her draft was 8.53 m bow and 9.14 m stern, and since the cruiser's bottom had been cleaned in drydock before leaving England, she could easily make 26 kts.
At about 16:00 it became clear that the Scharnhorst was coming to an end. He sank heavily and his stern was engulfed in flames. Nevertheless, the German flag flew on it, and the ship continued to fire vigorously with its surviving artillery. Only one of the Scharnhorst's four funnels survived; it had a large and increasing list to starboard. At 1610 hours, having fired the last salvo from the bow turret, it began to slowly capsize, lay on board for about 7 minutes with rotating propellers, and finally at 1617 hours it disappeared under the water, nose first, carrying the commander of the German squadron to the bottom Admiral von Spee and the entire crew of the armored cruiser in the amount of 860 people. The coordinates of the place of death of the armored cruiser are 52°40" S, 55°51" W. As the battle continued, the British cruisers were unable to provide assistance to the Scharnhorst crew. No one was saved, since the water was very cold at that time of year, and the opponents sought first of all to destroy each other, and only then start saving people.
In turn, Inflexible suppressed the fire of Gneisenau, when it was all on fire from bow to stern. Now the British were conducting calm, measured shooting, reminiscent of aimed fire at a target.
At 17:20, the Gneisenau, heavily damaged, without a front funnel, but with a waving flag, turned towards the British and at 17:25 fired a torpedo. At 1730 hours the Gneisenau was still floating on the water in the form of a broken skeleton, all guns except one were out of action, fires were raging on the deck. Then the ship suddenly stopped, with a strong list to starboard. He scored another hit on the Invincible and at 1802 hours he also capsized to starboard and sank. From the sunken Gneisenau, 7 officers and 101 sailors out of a total of 187 rescued were lifted from the icy water cooled by icebergs to the Invincible by boats. Of the Gneisenau crew, 598 people died. The coordinates of the place of death of the cruiser are 52°46" S, 56°04" W.
At the very beginning of the battle, the light cruisers of the German squadron were ordered to disperse, and the British cruisers, each choosing a specific victim, went into pursuit. The British sank the German light cruisers Leipzig and Nuremberg, only Dresden left this time to find its end in March 1915. The obsolete Kent (24.1 kts) in the process of its pursuit of Nuremberg (23 knots), in order to achieve a speed higher than the design one, he increased his engine team at the expense of combat troops. The crew made superhuman efforts. To intensify the combustion in the boiler furnaces, even the furniture from the wardroom was burned, but the Nuremberg was caught up and sank on December 9 at about 7 a.m. Thus Rear Admiral Cradock and his squadron were avenged.
In the destruction of the German squadron in the battle off the Falkland Islands, the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible played a decisive role, and Invincible was subjected to the most intense and concentrated fire from enemy armored cruisers. During the battle, the Invincible was hit by 22 shells (according to Brewer, 23 hits), among them twelve 210 mm, six 150 mm, and the caliber of the other four could not be determined. Eleven hits were on the deck, four on the side armor, and three on the unarmored side. Two shells struck below the waterline, one in the "A" turret and one in the foremast. However, they did not cause serious damage, only slightly wounding two sailors.
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was the first squadron battle in which battlecruisers took part. But it was a battle between ships of unequal class and therefore was not of great interest from a tactical point of view. Its outcome was decided from beginning to end by naval artillery. The British had overwhelming superiority in speed, artillery and displacement. Sending battlecruisers to the Southern Hemisphere was, without a doubt, one of the right decisions and the only bold and timely maneuver taken by Admiral Fisher during the entire war. The British battlecruisers in the battle near the Falkland Islands, despite the high consumption of main caliber ammunition, undoubtedly did their job, and “their campaign was completely justified.
The British battlecruisers, significantly superior in armament, sank both German armored cruisers in an unequal, stubborn battle, which was fought at a distance of 14,600-7,300 m (79-39 units), but mainly at a distance of 11,000 m (59 units). British 305-mm shells, which had an impact angle of 17° on the target at a distance of 12,800 m (69 cables), and 24° at a distance of 15,000 m (81 cables), caused great damage to German cruisers. The total number of hits on both German ships is unknown, but there were probably at least 40 hits each. At the same time, the ammunition consumption of British battlecruisers was very significant. "Invincible" fired 513 305-mm shells (58.3% of ammunition), of which 128 armor-piercing, 259 semi-armor-piercing and 39 high-explosive, "Inflexible" even more - 661 (75.1% of ammunition), while the armored cruiser " Carnarvon also fired 85 190mm shells and 60 152mm shells.
It should be noted that the total number of 305-mm shells fired by Admiral Togo's four battleships in the Battle of Tsushima was only 446. None of the British battlecruisers at that moment had a fully installed center-fire artillery fire control system, since its installation had not yet been completed . Despite this circumstance, the percentage of hits on German armored cruisers turned out to be quite high (6-8% of shells fired). As far as can be judged, the main damage to the German ships was caused by shells that hit below the waterline and exploded on the slopes of the 25 mm thick armored deck, as well as on the roofs of the towers. However, it should be noted that not a single ammunition explosion occurred on any of the German ships, which happened on Cradock's ships.
After the battle off the Falkland Islands on December 8-10, 1914, in the area of Cape Horn, Invincible and Inflexible conducted a joint search for the escaped Dresden. On December 11 they returned to the port of Stanley. On December 16, Invincible left the Falkland Islands for Metropolis. He made the transition on his own, since Inflexible was still searching for the escaped German ships and vessels for some time.
On December 20, on the way home, Invincible paid a visit to Montevideo, and from December 26-31 was in Pernambuco. In January 1915 she loaded coal at St. Vincent. Upon arrival at Gibraltar, Invincible was lowered to the flag of Vice Admiral Sturdee and underwent five weeks of repairs, during which damage sustained in the battle was repaired. In order to eliminate smoke from the fore-mars, in order to somehow get rid of smoke on it, the last of the first-generation battlecruisers, the front chimney was extended by 2 m.
After returning to the mother country, Invincible was assigned as the flagship to the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, but she joined it only in March 1915, when she was relocated to Rosyth.
During the First World War, the main base for British battlecruisers was Rosyth, chosen mainly because it was closer to naval operations than more northern bases. In addition, he also had the advantage of being located not far from Edinburgh, where squadron officers were allowed to visit if the fleet was not ready to quickly raise steam. Rosyth's docks were always stocked and ready to receive and repair damaged ships. There were also spacious barracks for sailors.
On January 1, 1915, Invincible was docked for a two-month repair, during which the range-detecting deflectors installed before the operation to destroy the Spee squadron were removed from her masts. After leaving repairs and joining Indomitable in March and Inflexible in June, all three first-generation cruisers formed the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, based at Rosyth. In the second half of February 1915, Invincible, as part of the 3rd squadron, arrived in Scapa Flow, where the squadron conducted firing exercises and engaged in combat training.
Vickers engineers had been on board the Invincible since it entered the fleet in August 1914. Their tasks included helping to install the complex electrical cable system for the central fire control system, as well as adjusting the operation of the system itself. Unfortunately, as on other battlecruisers, this system could not be put into operation before the battle of the Falkland Islands. On the Invincible, the installation of the instruments of this system on the foremast top was completed only at the beginning of 1915, and on the other two cruisers, the central fire control system was installed in the same year, but later.
The “central fire” firing system meant that all of the ship’s 305mm guns were aimed from one high-mounted control station and fired simultaneously. All the ship's guns were aimed by only one artillery officer, who used the sighting device for this - a special optical device electrically connected to the sight of each gun. The same officer pressed a button to fire a volley of all guns. This method helped to significantly increase the efficiency and accuracy of shooting.
During the main-caliber artillery training exercises that began in February 1915, carried out on the Invincible to test the newly established central aiming system, it turned out that during the battle near the Falkland Islands, four barrels of 305-mm guns had “worn out” and needed to be replaced. In particular, they discovered that the inner tube of the left gun of turret “A”, from which 109 shots were fired in this battle, protruded 12 mm from the muzzle. In April, Invincible underwent repairs at a shipyard at the mouth of the River Tyne. On April 25, at Walker's Yard in Newcastle, several barrels of main caliber guns were replaced.
On May 26, 1915, the new commander of the 3rd battlecruiser squadron, Rear Admiral Horatio Hood, raised his flag on the Invincible. At the end of May, the battlecruisers moved to Scapa Flow to conduct gunnery training. The 3rd Squadron was assigned to the 5th Battleship Squadron of the Grand Fleet and was based at Scapa Flow, where it frequently conducted exercises.
On May 30, 1916, the Invincible, under the flag of Rear Admiral Hood, at the head of the 3rd squadron of battle cruisers as part of the Grand Fleet, entered the North Sea on its last military campaign.
During the Battle of Jutland on 31 May/1 June 1916, three first-generation British battlecruisers took part in the battle together as part of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron ( Events in time are indicated in Greenwich, which is 1 hour less than Central European Time, and in Berlin longitude by 2 hours.). This was the first battle in which the advantages of projectiles with a head radius of four calibers were to be revealed at long distances. At the final stage of the battle, the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was approximately 25 miles east of Grand Fleet and was heading southwest, approaching the battlefield from a northeast direction.
According to the order of the commander of the Grand Fleet, Admiral Jellicoe, issued at 1606 hours, the 3rd Squadron was urgently sent to support the 1st and 2nd battlecruiser squadrons of Vice Admiral Beatty. In the morning, Beatty's battle cruisers left Rosyth and at 1548 hours they entered into battle with the German battle cruisers, marking the beginning of the Battle of Jutland. The squadrons of British battlecruisers failed to connect before Beatty's cruisers approached the Grand Fleet, but the appearance of Rear Admiral Hood's 3rd squadron from the northeast, despite the low combat capabilities of the three first-generation British battlecruisers, came as a complete surprise to the Germans.
On May 31 at 1430 hours, even before receiving Vice Admiral Beatty's message about the start of the battle with the German battle cruisers, Rear Admiral Hood gave the order to his ships to sharply increase speed and headed for the battlefield. Three battle cruisers, ahead of which at that time were the light cruisers Chester (1916, 5845 tons, 10 140 mm, 10 102 mm, 26.5 knots), Canterbury (1916, 4799 t, 2 152 mm, 8 102 mm, 28.5 knots) and four destroyers in the wake column were located 21 miles from the battle site. At 1530 hours, Rear Admiral Hood ordered an increase in speed to 25 knots and, according to the orders of the commander of the Grand Fleet, Admiral Jellicoe, the 3rd Squadron headed to join the cruisers of Vice Admiral Beatty.
The sea was covered in fog. After 1740 hours, gunfire began to be heard to the southwest of Rear Admiral Hood's 3rd Squadron, as the squadron was heading slightly to the east. The battlecruisers of the 3rd squadron changed course in the direction of the shots. At 17:46 they spotted the cruiser "Chester" coming at full speed towards them and being showered with shells from four German light cruisers "Frankfurt" (1915, 6601 tons, 8 150 mm, 2 88 mm, 27.5 knots), "Wiesbaden" (1915, 6601 tons, 8 150 mm, 2 88 mm, 27.5 knots), "Pillau" (1914, 5252 tons, 8 150 mm , 2 88 mm, 27.5 knots) and "Elbing" (Pillau type).
At 1750 hours, from a distance of 9100 m (49 cables), Invincible and Inflexible were the first to open fire on the German light cruisers of the 2nd reconnaissance group, Wiesbaden and Pillau, seriously damaging both. They immediately turned away, covered by a torpedo attack from German destroyers. However, on the German light cruiser Wiesbaden, well-aimed salvoes from the Invincible, successfully corrected by the senior artillery officer Danreuther, consistently disabled both of its vehicles, and it temporarily lost speed, and the Frankfurt and Pillau were damaged . At 1805 hours, Rear Admiral Hood ordered his cruisers to turn to starboard to avoid being hit by torpedoes from German destroyers.
At 1810 hours, Hood's cruisers spotted Vice Admiral Beatty's 1st and 2nd battlecruiser squadrons moving in a north-easterly direction, and at 1821 hours Admiral Hood with the 3rd battlecruiser squadron entered the battle line ahead of the lead "Lion" heading to the southwest.
At 18:40, the 3rd squadron of battlecruisers, from a distance of 7700-10000 m (42-54 cab.), which was gradually decreasing, suddenly opened fire on the German battlecruisers of the 1st reconnaissance group "Luttsov" (1916. , 30,700 t, 8,305 mm, 12,150 mm, 26.5 kt.) and the Derflinger of the same type. In conditions when the Germans, due to the conditions of light, smoke and fog, were virtually unable to see anything and the distance to the enemy varied from 5000 m (27 cables) to 6300 m (34 cables), the German battlecruisers received a number of serious damages. During the battle, Invincible fired 110 305-mm shells (12.5% of ammunition).
According to the source: “The ominous red flashes that appeared from the port side belonged to the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, now sailing at the head of Vice Admiral Beatty’s fleet of battlecruisers, which, being invisible to us in the conditions of darkness and fog, came within effective fire range. It is very likely that the Lützow received a fatal shell from this squadron, the full effect of which we felt a little later.”
This was the period of greatest success for the British during the entire Battle of Jutland, as a result of which the German battlecruiser Lützow received serious damage, which later led to its death. The damage was caused by two large-caliber shells from British battle cruisers, which hit it below the waterline in the area of the bow torpedo tube compartment, and as a result of the flooding of the torpedo compartment room, and then the ammunition magazines of the bow turret, the Lüttsov had to be put out of action. But before that happened, visibility suddenly improved. Almost instantly, the dissipation of the darkness allowed the Germans to clearly see the sunlit Invincible and concentrate targeted fire on it.
Von Haase: “At 1824 hours I fired at enemy battleships in the direction of the northeast. The distances were very short - 6000 - 7000 m (30-40 cables), and despite this, the ships disappeared in the fog , which slowly stretched out interspersed with gunpowder smoke and smoke from chimneys.
Observing the fall of the shells was almost impossible. In general, only undershoots were visible. The enemy saw us much better than we saw him. I switched to rangefinder shooting, but because of the darkness it didn’t help much. Thus began an unequal, stubborn battle. Several large shells hit us and exploded inside the cruiser. The entire ship was bursting at the seams and broke down several times to escape the covers. It was not easy to shoot under such circumstances. This continued until 18:29.
At that moment, a strip of fog rose above us like a theater curtain. In front of us, in a fog-free part of the horizon, clearly emerging, was a huge ship, with two pipes between the masts and a third pipe, close to the tripod foremast. It was moving at full speed parallel to our course. His guns were aimed at us, and just at that moment the explosion of the volley that covered us was heard. “Sight 9000 m (49 cables), salvo,” I commanded and with feverish impatience I awaited the fall of our shells.
The observer officer told me from Mars: “Overflight, two hits.” After 30 seconds the next salvo is fired from our guns. I saw two undershoots and two hits. Now every 20 seconds we fired a salvo. At 1831 hours we fired our last salvo at this ship, and at that moment the terrible picture that we observed during the death of the Queen Mary and Defense played out in front of us for the third time.
Just as then, several successive terrible explosions occurred on the enemy ship. Masts collapsed, parts of the hull flew into the air, a huge black cloud of smoke rose to the skies, and coal dust flew out of the breaking ship in all directions. The flame ran across it, new explosions followed, and it disappeared from our eyes behind a black wall. Subsequently, it turned out that the ship we sunk was the battle cruiser Invincible, on which Rear Admiral Hood, who died along with the cruiser, held his flag. According to the "record of shooting", we fired until 1833 hours. At 1835 hours we turned sharply to the west. After the loss of their flagship cruiser, the enemy 3rd squadron of battlecruisers no longer dared to approach us."
According to Wilson: “At 1830 hours, Admiral Hood’s flagship battle cruiser Invincible came under fire from Derflinger and Lutzow at a distance of 9300 m (50 cables). First, German shells hit the stern, then at 18 hours 33 m. salvo hit near the "Q" tower, in a very vulnerable place in the middle of the British battle cruisers. The roof of the "Q" tower was completely demolished, followed by powerful explosions, the same as on the "Indefatigable" and "Queen". Mary."
It was likely that the bow turret was also hit, since a column of flame also erupted from it. The ship broke in half and, when the flames and smoke disappeared, only 6 people remained in place, floating on the raft. Admiral Hood died along with the ship. Both ends of the battle cruiser rose above the surface of the water for some time."
Derflinger almost immediately scored four hits on Invincible. The same type "Lutzow" and the battleship "Konig" (1915, 29,200 tons, 10,305 mm, 14,150 mm, 21 knots) from the vanguard of the main forces of the High Seas Fleet joined the shelling. After these four hits on the Invincible from the Derflinger, which caused minor damage, at 1833 hours a 305-mm shell from the Lützow hit the middle of the Q turret, knocked off the roof and set fire to the charges of nitroglycerin powder (cordite). Other ships also noticed shells hitting the Invincible's damaged turret and directly next to it.
Fires and explosions of charges prepared for firing were observed in the tower. The flame of the ignited charges quickly reached the charging cellar, and at 18:34 a huge explosion occurred, breaking the Invincible in two. The column of flame and smoke rose to a height of 120 m, and when twenty minutes later the smoke cleared, only the bow and stern ends were visible, slowly plunging into the water.
They remained afloat for some time in a vertical position, rising above the water like two cliffs - a kind of monument for the dead 1026 sailors and officers of his team, and sank at night, when no one saw it anymore. Torn into pieces by the explosion, the middle of the ship's hull rested on the bottom. At 1855 hours, the flagship battleship Iron Duke passed the remains of the Invincible, near which the destroyer Badger was staying. Of the crew, along with Rear Admiral Horatio Hood, 61 officers, 960 sailors and 5 civilians were killed - a total of 1026 people. Only two officers and four sailors, picked up by the destroyer Badger, were rescued. The senior artillery officer Danreuther turned out to be senior in rank, who was in the central fire control post during the explosion of the foremast on Mars. “I just waited for the water to come to me,” he later recalled, “and then swam. The water turned out to be quite warm; I did not experience a shortage of debris to hold on to.” Charles Freemantle, commander of the destroyer Badger, which picked up Danreuther, noted that the senior gunnery officer of the Invincible, with true British equanimity, climbed onto the deck of his ship and greeted those around him as if nothing had happened.
"Invincible"
“Invincible” (“Invincible” - “Invincible”) was built according to the 1905/1906 program. The ship was launched on April 13, 1907. Here is how it was described in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle: “In the presence of thousands of people, the ceremony was performed by Lady Allendale. The management had at their disposal many stands installed almost along the entire length of the ship, and from them an excellent view of the new cruiser was opened. were completely filled with cheerful companies consisting of ladies and gentlemen, at the same time hundreds of people crowded into every part of the shipyard from which the new ship could be better seen. At three o'clock Lady Ellendale broke a bottle of champagne, decorated with flowers, on the bow of the ship, which was without. The slightest delay slid gracefully into the water. As "Invincible" moved along the launch paths to the accompaniment of loud cheers, the orchestra played "Royal Britannia", followed by the national anthem.
The subsequent completion of Invincible on Tyne was accompanied by strikes, which delayed its entry into service by three months. In addition, on December 28, the Oden coal miner, who supplied the cruiser, pushed through five sheets of plating and bent the hull frames. In September 1908, before being sent for testing, the ship left the shipyard and went to Pelau, where the work was almost completely completed.
At the end of 1908, during testing, the cruiser was assigned to the Norsk reserve.
In the first week of March 1909, Invincible left her moorings on the Tyne, when she was close to entering service, to carry out gunnery exercises at Cromarty Firth. After finishing the tests he returned to Tyne.
March 18, 1909 - The cruiser left the Tyne for Portsmouth, where she arrived on March 20. In Portsmouth he entered service with the British fleet and was enlisted in the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the 1st Division of the Home Fleet.
June-July 1909 - Took part in the annual fleet maneuvers.
July 17-24, 1909 - Was present at the meeting in Southend of the Atlantic and Home fleets, and on July 31 in Spithead he participated in the Royal Review of the Fleet.
August-December 1909 - Elimination of defects in artillery weapons at the shipyard in Portsmouth.
April 1910 - The cruiser participated in joint exercises in Scottish waters between the Home Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet.
January 1911 - 'Invincible' took part in joint maneuvers off the northwestern coast of Spain with the participation of the same three fleets.
May 16, 1911 - Invincible was re-enlisted in the 1st Cruiser Squadron. Visited Dublin with the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Home Fleet.
June-July 1911 - Participated in the annual maneuvers in the Channel and North Sea.
July 9, 1912 - The cruiser went to Spithead for the Parliamentary Review. After this, he took part in the annual fleet maneuvers, during which the ships visited Torbay. In the autumn of the same year, the cruiser visited Norway and Denmark as part of the formation.
July 1913 - The cruiser took part in the annual maneuvers. In August, at the end of the maneuvers, he was transferred to the Mediterranean squadron and enlisted in the newly formed 2nd (Mediterranean) battlecruiser squadron.
November 1913 - Joint exercises with part of the Home Fleet. After the end of the maneuvers, in December, “Invincible” returned to the metropolis.
March 1914 - The cruiser arrived at Portsmouth to undergo extensive general repairs and replace the experimental electric drive of the turrets with a standard hydraulic drive.
August 6, 1914 - Due to the outbreak of war, after repairs were completed, the cruiser departed for Kingstown to protect communications from German raiders. But already on August 19 he left Kingstown for the Humber. The cruiser was assigned as a flagship to the newly formed 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron (with “New Zealand”).
August 28, 1914 - Battle of Heligoland Bight. Together with New Zealand, the cruiser Invincible supported Harwich's light forces when the battlecruisers received orders from the west to cover their withdrawal. At 11.30 the cruisers were unsuccessfully attacked by a submarine passing along the stern. At 12.10, during the Harwich forces, the cruiser Tearless came under fire from several German light cruisers. But in turn, the Germans were fired upon by British battlecruisers and quickly retreated. “Invincible” fired at the German cruiser “Koln” and apparently sank it at 12.35. Soon the order to withdraw was received and this was the end of “Invincible”’s participation in the battle.
31 August 1914 - Invincible and 'New Zealand' transferred to Firth of Forth, but this base was not yet equipped and protected in accordance with wartime. 2 September at 22.30, due to the discovery of a German submarine ' U-21" attempted to penetrate the guarded base, the crews of the British ships were alerted and spent several anxious hours.
September 10-11, 1914 - As part of the Grand Fleet, Invincible took part in a new raid on Heligoland Bight. After the campaign, he received an order to relocate to Scapa Flow, but already in mid-September the cruiser was transferred to the 1st Grand Fleet battlecruiser squadron based at Rosyth.
September 14-17, 1914 - Invincible” and “Inflexible”, together with the 3rd squadron of battleships, went to the area north of the island. Faro to support cruising operations to search for German ships in the North Sea.
End of September 1914 - “Invincible” and Inflexible were patrolling in the North Sea, in the area north of the island. Faro. On September 29, at sea they linked up with the 1st squadron of battlecruisers.
Early October 1914 - During the reorganization of the Grand Fleet, Invincible is transferred to the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron.
October 3-10, 1914 - The cruiser, together with Inflexible and Sapho, went on patrol in the Shetland Islands during the transfer of the first Canadian contingent of troops across the ocean.
October 18-25, 1914 - Invincible and Inflexible took part in covering up an unsuccessful air raid on the Zeppelin base in Cuxhaven.
November 4, 1914 - Invincible and Inflexible were sent as a special squadron to intercept the cruisers of Admiral Spee. Invincible was the flagship. Both ships were sent from Cromarty to Devonport to prepare for a long passage. The departure took place just six hours after news of the disaster of the Royal fleet at Coronel. On November 5, at noon, the flag of the commander of the 2nd battlecruiser squadron was lowered on the Invincible, which was transferred to New Zealand. Both cruisers immediately left Cromarty and headed to Devonport via the west coast of Ireland. arrived in Devonport. An examination of the Invincible showed that the cruiser needed repairs with dry docking, but it could not be completed before the 13th. And the Admiralty order set a departure to the Falklands no later than November 11. In connection with this, the workers were ordered to stay on if necessary. on board the cruiser.
November 11, 1914 - The work was completed and both cruisers set sail for the South Atlantic at 16:45. On November 18–19, they replenished coal supplies in St. Vincent and the Cape Verde Islands. On November 26, both battlecruisers, accompanied by the joining cruisers Cornwall' Kent, Glasgow, Carnarvon and Bristol, left Ebrolhos Rocks in the direction of the Falklands. On December 1, the squadron was diverted to check a distress signal from a merchant ship, which was subsequently unconfirmed . On December 7 at 10.30 all cruisers arrived in (Port William on the Falkland Islands.
December 8, 1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands. At 4.00 "Invincible" began loading coal. At 7.50 German cruisers appeared in the visibility range of the Ostrov signal station. At 10.20 a general order to pursue followed. At 10.50 an order was given to reduce the speed to 24 knots to reduce smoke, and at 11.10 the speed decreased again to allow the remaining cruisers to catch up with the battle cruisers. At 12.20, when the squadrons got close enough, the speed was increased again and at 12.58 “Invincible” opened fire from a distance of 14.5 km in German. the cruiser "Leipzig". At 13.20 the enemy light cruisers turned to the southwest, pursued by the cruisers "Kent", 'Cornwall' and 'Glasgow'. At 13.02 Invincible opened fire on the German flagship "Scharnhorst", and at 13.25 “Scharnhorst” and “Gneisenau” opened fire on the British ships. Already at 13.45 “Invincible” received hits from several 210-mm shells and turned two points to the right to increase the distance. At 14.10 shooting from “Scharnhorst”. ” ceased as “Invincible” left the range of its guns. At 14.48 the British flagship opened fire on the Scharnhorst again, and from 15.15 fired on the Gneisenau for five minutes. At 16.10 the German flagship capsized and sank 7 minutes later. “Gneisenau”, which was heavily damaged and without a forward funnel, turned towards the British and then suddenly stopped, having a strong list to starboard. She scored another hit on Invincible”, but at 18.02 she also capsized and sank. Invincible” picked up 7 officers and 24 sailors from the water.
In this battle, “Invincible” and “Inflexible” played a decisive role, so it will be interesting to give some statistical results in this battle, which was successful for the British. During the battle, of all the British ships, Invincible was subjected to the most concentrated fire from the Germans and received 22 hits, of which 12 were 210 mm, 5 150 mm. and 5 of unknown caliber. 11 hits were on the deck, 4 on the side armor, 2 below the waterline, 1 on turret “A” and 1 on the foremast. There were no serious injuries, however, and only one person was slightly injured. “Inflexible” was hit by only three shells, causing slight damage to the 102mm. guns on turrets “A” and “X”. On it, 1 person was killed and 3 were wounded.
Both German cruisers were sunk in an unequal battle at distances from 14.6 to 7.2 km, and most of the battle the distance exceeded 10 km. At a distance of 12.8 km. 305 mm. British shells had an angle of incidence of 17.5 degrees, and at a distance of 15.0 km. - 24 degrees. The number of hits on German ships is unknown, but probably at least 40 each. The British's expenditure of shells was very high. Even before the decisive artillery duel, the British battle cruisers fired about 40 shells at the German light cruiser Leipzig. The rest were intended for German armored cruisers. "Invincible" expended 513 305-mm shells (128 armor-piercing, 259 semi-armor-piercing, 30 high-explosive), and "Inflexible" 661 505-mm shells (157 armor-piercing, 343 semi-armor-piercing, 161 high-explosive), while the armored cruiser "Carnarvon" ” (armed with four 190 mm and six 152 mm guns) also fired 85 195 mm and 60 152 mm shells - Almost all of them in the Gneisenau. It is also interesting to note for comparison that the total number of shells fired by all four Togo squadron battleships in the Battle of Tsushima was only 446. Not a single ship had a central gunnery control device, the installation of which on the Invincible had not yet been completed. As far as can be established, the most severe damage to the German ships was caused by shells that hit them below the waterline and also on the roofs of the towers.
December 8-10, 1914 - After the Falklands Battle, ‘Invincible’ and ‘Inflexible’ conducted a joint search in the Cape Horn area for the escaped German cruisers ‘Nurnberg’ and ‘Dresden’. On December 11 they returned to Port William. On December 16, "Invincible" departed from the Falkland Islands for the mother country. He returned on his own, since ‘Inflexible’ had been searching for German cruisers for some time. On December 20, Invincible called at Montevideo, and from December 26–31 was in Pernambuco. In January he bunkered in St. Vincent. On arrival at Gibraltar, Invincible lowered Admiral Sturdee's flag and underwent five weeks of repairs, during which the damage was repaired and the forward funnel was lengthened. In the second half of February, Invincible arrived in Scapa Flow and was engaged in live firing and combat training.
After returning to the metropolis, Invincible was assigned as a flagship to the 3rd squadron of battlecruisers, but joined it only in March, having relocated to Rosyth.
In April 1915, Invincible underwent repairs on the River Tyne, during which several main gun barrels were replaced.
May 26, 1915 - On the Invincible, the flag was raised by Rear Admiral Horace Hood, appointed commander of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron.
At the end of May 1916, the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron temporarily moved to Scapa Flow to conduct joint artillery firing.
May 30, 1916 - Invincible", under the flag of Admiral Hood, as part of the 3rd squadron of battlecruisers of the Grand Fleet, entered the North Sea on its last voyage. On May 31, the 3rd squadron was sailing in the order of the Grand Fleet. When Beatty's message was received that he was engaged in a battle with German ships, Hood ordered the cruiser "Chester" and "Canterbury" with four destroyers at that time to be 21 miles ahead. At 15.30 to connect with Beatty's squadron, the speed was increased to 25 knots. The sea was covered in fog. After 5 p.m., gunfire was heard to the northwest. The battlecruisers changed course in this direction. At 17.46, “Chester” was spotted, coming towards the 3rd squadron and showered with shells from four German light cruisers. At 17.50, “Invincible” and “Inflexible” opened fire on the German cruisers, which immediately turned away, covering themselves with a torpedo attack by destroyers. Nevertheless, “Wiesbaden” was hit and lost speed, and Trankfurt and “Pillau” were damaged. At 18.10, Admiral Hood was forced to deviate to the right to avoid the torpedoes of German destroyers. At 18.20, the 1st and 1st were spotted from the ships. Beatty's 2nd battlecruiser squadron heading north. Admiral Hood joined the battle column ahead of them. At 1830, along with Beatty's other cruisers, Invincible opened fire on the German Lutzow and Derflinger and scored several hits. “Invincible” itself received a hit in the middle “Q” tower, but without serious consequences. Almost simultaneously, the dissipation of the darkness allowed the Germans to clearly see the sunlit Invincible and concentrate targeted fire on it. ‘Derfflinger’ achieved coverage almost immediately. He was supported by “Lutzow” and “Konig” from the vanguard of the main forces of the High Seas Fleet. From other ships in “Invincible” hits were seen in and around the damaged tower, explosions of charges prepared in it for firing were observed, which apparently reached the main artillery magazines With a terrible roar, the ship exploded, the flames rose to a height of about 120 meters, and when twenty minutes later the smoke cleared, only the bow and stern stems were visible, slowly plunging into the water, the middle part, torn into pieces, was already at the bottom, along with the ship. The ship carried 61 officers, 960 sailors and 5 civilians. Only two officers and four sailors, picked up by the destroyer Badger, survived.
"Inflexible"
“Inflexible” (“Inflexible” - “Inflexible”) was built according to the 1905/1906 program. On June 26, 1907, the cruiser was launched.
October 20, 1908 - “Inflexible” was commissioned into the British fleet at Chatham. She was assigned to the Norsk Division of the Home Fleet, replacing the withdrawn pre-dreadnought Jupiter. Before the end of the year, the cruiser managed to make a trip to the Mediterranean Sea.
March 1909 - During the reorganization of the Home Fleet, “Inflexible” was transferred to the 1st (and somewhat later to the 5th) cruiser squadron;
June 1909 - The cruiser participated in the Spithead parade and was presented to the delegates at the Royal Press Conference.
17-24 July 1909 - Inflexible visited Southend with part of the Atlantic and Home fleets. On 31 July he took part in the Royal Review of these fleets at Spithead.
September 1909 - “Inflexible” enlisted in the Special Squadron, representing Great Britain at the Hudson-Fulton festivities in New York. The cruiser raised the flag of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Seymour. On September 16, the cruiser departed New York and arrived at Sound Hook by September 24. Then the cruiser returned to New York and departed for the metropolis on October 9. On October 19, 1909 he returned to Portsmouth.
April 1910 - Maneuvers in Scottish waters together with the Atlantic and Home fleets.
July 1910 - Took part in the annual maneuvers (including a visit to Torbay), together with the Atlantic Fleet, the Home Fleet and part of the Mediterranean Fleet.
January 1911 - Joint exercises off the northwestern coast of Spain with the same fleets.
Spring 1911 - ‘Inflexible’ was sent to Dublin Bay as part of the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet in connection with the upcoming visit to Ireland of the King and Queen of Great Britain.
May 26, 1911 - At Portland, Inflexible collided with the battleship Bellerophon. The cruiser received minor damage to the bow and stem.
24 June 1911 - The cruiser took part in the parade in Spithead on the occasion of the coronation of King George V.
June-July 1911 - annual maneuvers near the south
west coast and in the North Sea. At the end of the maneuvers, on July 9, a Parliamentary review took place in Spithead.
From November 18, 1911 to May 8, 1912, Inflexible temporarily replaced Indomitable, which was undergoing repairs, as the flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet.
July 9, 1912 - Inflexible” participated in the Parliamentary Review at Spithead, after which it went on maneuvers. After the exercises, he went to Torbay with other ships.
Autumn 1912 - As part of the formation, the cruiser went on a visit to Norway and Denmark.
In November 1912, Inflexible was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron as the flagship of the squadron commander, replacing Good Nore. On November 5, he arrived in Chatham to prepare for the campaign.
July 1913 - The cruiser took part in the annual maneuvers. In August, at the end of the maneuvers, he was transferred to the Mediterranean squadron and enlisted in the formed 2nd squadron (Mediterranean) battlecruisers. On July 19, the cruiser went on a visit to Piraeus.
November 1913 - Joint exercises in the Mediterranean with part of the Home Fleet.
July 1914 - Inflexible” went on a visit to Constantinople.
July 27, 1914 - Due to the complicated political situation, “Inflexible”, “Indefatigable”, “Warrior”, “Black Prince”, “Chatam”, “Dublin”, “Weimouth”, “Gloucester” to fourteen destroyers are concentrated in Alexandria. On the eve of the war, “Inflexible” moved to Malta. The beginning of the war “Inflexible” met as the flagship of the commander of the British forces in the Mediterranean, Admiral A. B. Miln.
3 August 1914 - “Inflexible” left Malta and on 5–6 August, joining up with “Indomitable” and “Indefatigable”, they patrolled the Pantelleria area. On August 7 at noon they arrived in Malta for bunkering.
August 8, 1914 - “Inflexible” left Malta at 00.30 along with “Indomitable”, “Indefatigable” and “Weirrlouth”, heading in search of “Goeben” and “Bresldu”. On August 10 at 4.00 the squadron rounded the Greek cape of Malea. And on August 10-11, she searched in the area of the Aegean Islands, while simultaneously observing the entrance to the Dardanelles. The cruisers were unable to intercept the German ships and, after their passage to the Dardanelles, went to Malta.
August 18, 1914 - “Inflexible” departed Malta for the Metropolis. At the end of August 1914 he joined the 2nd Grand Fleet Battlecruiser Squadron at Rosyth.
September 10-11, 1914 - As part of the Grand Fleet, “Inflexible” took part in a campaign in Heligoland Bight, then, together with Invincible, moved to Scapa Flow.
September 14-17, 1914 - “Inflexible” together with “Invincible” and the 3rd squadron of battleships patrolled in the area north of the island. Faro, providing cruising operations to search for German ships in the North Sea.
End of September 1914 - “Inflexible” and “Invincible” patrolled in the North Sea, in the area north of the island. Faro. On September 29, at sea they linked up with the 1st squadron of battlecruisers.
October 2, 1914 - “Inflexible” left Scapa Flow. Until September 10, together with 'Invincible', 'Sapho' and three minelayers, they carried out patrols between Shetland and the Faroe Islands during the transfer of Canadian units to England.
“Invincible” took part in covering up an unsuccessful air raid on the Zeppelin base in Cuxhaven.
November 4, 1914 - “Invincible” and “Inflexible” are sent as a special squadron to intercept the cruisers of Admiral Spee. 5–6 November – They moved from Cromarty to Devonport where they were equipped for passage to the South Atlantic. This campaign led to the destruction of the German cruiser squadron Spee off the Falkland Islands (see “Invincible”). In the battle, “Inflexible” fired mostly at “Gneisenau” (in battle it fired 661 305-mm shells), but itself was practically not under fire - only three shells hit it, causing slight damage to the 102-mm. guns on turrets “A” and “X”. One sailor was killed and two were wounded. After the battle, the cruiser picked up 10 officers and 52 sailors from the sunken German Gneisenau.
December 8-10, 1914 - After the Falklands Battle, “Invincible” and “Ihflexible” conducted a joint search in the Cape Horn area for the escaped German cruisers “Nurnberg” and “Dresden”. On December 11 they returned to Port William.
December 13, 1914 - At 8.30 "Inflexible" left Port Stanley to check rumors that the German cruiser 'Dresden' had taken refuge in Punta Arenas. The search was supposed to be carried out together with the cruiser Glasgow.
December 17, 1914 - “Inflexible” rounded Cape Horn and crossed to the Pacific Ocean. In Penas Bay he met "Glasgow" and "Bristol". There he received an order to immediately return to the Metropolis, where he immediately went after bunkering in Port Stanley.
January 24, 1915 - After completion of repairs, “Inflexible” moved to the Dardanelles, where it replaced “Indefatigable” as the flagship of the commander of the British squadron in the Straits, Vice Admiral Carden. In February, the cruiser was based at Mudroya and was preparing to move to the Metropolis (after replacement his battleship "Agamemnon", but due to the damage to "Quenn Elisabeth" these plans had to be changed. "Inflexible" was left at the disposal of Carden to participate in the Dardanelles operation, although its use in combat operations of this kind did not suit its purpose to the greatest extent. provided for by the project.
On February 19, Inflexible took part in the first bombardment of the outer forts of the Dardanelles. The British pre-dreadnoughts Albion, Cornwallis (flagship), Triumph and the French Bouvet, Suffren and Gaulois, plus the cruiser Amethyst, began their bombardment at 9.51. Inflexible's target was Fort Sadd- el-Bahr, the ship approached the shortest distance at 15.00 and began shelling the fort. At 17.50 he transferred fire to Fort Orkanie, to help the pre-dreadnought Vengeance. B17. 50 ceased fire. In total, the cruiser fired 47 semi-armor-piercing (AP) shells.
February 25, 1915 - second bombardment of the outer forts. “Inflexible” was about 10 km away. to NW from Cape Helles, adjusting the fire of the battleship “Quenn Elisabeth”, whose 381-mm. the guns are believed to have caused significant damage to the forts. “Agamemnon” also took part in the shelling of the shore. “Inflexible” also fired 10 shells at coastal targets (1 was a premature shot).
March 4, 1915 - “Inflexible” supported the bombing; the forts of Dardans and Messoudié and covered the landing of the Marines who attacked the forts of Helles and Orkanie.
March 5, 1915 - “Inflexible” together with “Prince George” supported “Quenn Elisabeth” during the long-range bombardment of the Rumilli Mejidiye and Hamidiye forts from the Gulf of Saros. At 14.40 “Inflexible” together with “Prince George” suppressed the “field battery guns that fired at Queen Elisabeth.
March 10-11, 1915 - “Inflexible” left for Malta to replace two 305 mm. the guns of turret "A", which fired a total of 213 and 183 rounds. On March 17, he went to the Dardanelles, so he was supposed to be involved in a large attack on the inner forts.
On March 18 at 8.30 “Inflexible” arrived at Tenedos. At 11.30 he was joined by Queen Elisabeth, Agamemnon and Lord Nelson. In this operation, these four ships were assigned to bombard the main forts of Hamidiye (Fort 16) and Namazieh (Fort 17) from a long range. For “Inflexible” it was 12.5-14.8 km. It was closer to the Asian coast than other ships. It's hard to imagine a less suitable use for a lightly armored battlecruiser. The Turkish guns that could threaten these ships included four 356 mm/35 cal., thirteen 240 mm/35 cal., three 152 mm/45 cal., five 150 mm/40 cal. . guns and thirty-two 150 mm. mobile howitzers. With projectiles with a radius, 4-caliber heads came to life, of which there were about 25 per barrel, each 356 mm. the gun could fire at a range of up to 17.4 km. and 240 mm. guns - up to 14.4 km. Despite all its inability to handle such actions, the Inflexible fought better than any other ship. Having released 182 305 mm. shells (most, if not all, were semi-armor-piercing, although they could include several high-explosive shells), the cruiser disabled two 356-mm shells in a day. guns on Rumeli Hamidieh before they had even fired a single shot, damaging the loading cock on one and the turning mechanism on the other. In addition to these, the ships were able to disable only one 240 mm gun from the operating guns. Inflexible himself came under severe fire from Eren Keui. At 12.20 he received a hit in the area of the foremast and bridge, which caused a fire. In total, by 12.23 he received seven hits. At 13.25 the cruiser went out of action to fight the fire and provide assistance to the wounded. At 14.35 he entered the battle again and withstood heavy fire from the forts. At 15.45 I was hit again, but not seriously. At 16.10, while turning to Eren Keui Bay, it hit a mine, the explosion of which occurred in the bow on the starboard side. The bow torpedo compartment was completely flooded, and 39 people drowned in the water. At 18:00 the cruiser reached Tenedos, taking on 2,000 tons of water. The cofferdams were quickly flooded through a hole whose size reached 9 square meters. meters. The damage received by the cruiser is listed below.
1. 356 mm. the shell exploded close to the hull on the port side in the stern, displacing the plating sheets inward for 10 meters along the line of the armored deck and approximately 1.8 meters below the waterline. Several compartments, including the port side storeroom, were flooded, resulting in a slight list to port.
2. 240 mm. the shell exploded at the side above the armor, making a hole with a diameter of about 0.6 meters in diameter.
3. Hit by 240 mm. A shell hit the foremast at the level of the hanging bridge caused a fire that destroyed the bow artillery fire control surface.
4. Hit by 150 mm. howitzer shell into the left gun of the "R" turret. The gun was disabled due to cracks appearing at a distance of approximately 5 meters from the muzzle.
5. A howitzer shell, presumably 102 mm, hit the signal yard and exploded - on the roof of the fore-mars, almost all the equipment that was there was lost.
6. One small shell hit and three shrapnel hits caused minor damage.
Another heavy shell sank the steam launch "Inflexible".
The mine on which the cruiser was blown up was one of 26 pyroxylin mines (charge 79.8 kg), laid by a small Turkish minelayer “Nusret” on the morning of March 8th. At this barrier, in addition to the damage to the Inflexible, the battleships Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet sank on March 18. A mine exploded on the starboard side of the Inflexible just ahead of turret “A” at the level of the deck platform, creating a hole measuring 4.6x4.6 meters. The hull was damaged over 11 meters. Inflexible was the only British battlecruiser to be damaged by an underwater mine or torpedo in the First World War.
April 6, 1915 - "Inflexible" after preliminary repairs left Mudros for Malta, accompanied by the old pre-dreadnought "Canopus" and the cruiser Talbot. On April 10, the ships, despite bad weather, reached Malta, where the cruiser began repairs.
9 June 1915 - After repairs, Inflexible arrived at Gibraltar, and on 19 June returned to the Metropolis and was assigned to the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. The cruiser's further service until the summer of 1916 was associated with the activities of the 3rd squadron of battle cruisers of the Grand Fleet.
May 1916 - The 3rd Squadron was transferred to Scapa Flow to conduct artillery firing.
May 30, 1916 - The 3rd squadron of battlecruisers as part of the Grand Fleet entered the North Sea. This campaign led to the Battle of Jutland on May 31 (see “Invincible”). After the death of Invincible,” the column of battlecruisers until 18.54 was led by Inflexible.” Later, he and Indefatigable reduced speed to 18 knots, giving way to the cruiser New Zealand at the head of the column. At 19.14 the battlecruisers again entered the battle at a distance of about 14.0 km. At 19.25 they repelled an enemy torpedo attack. Subsequently, until the morning of June 1, the battlecruisers did not open fire with their main guns. During the entire battle, “Inflexible” fired more intensely. He himself had no casualties or injuries.
June 5, 1916 - The Grand Fleet was reorganized. The 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was disbanded. Inflexible” was transferred to the 2nd squadron.
August 19, 1916 - During the Grand Fleet's departure to intercept the German fleet, passing Blyth, at 19.55 "Inflexible" was subjected to a torpedo attack by the German submarine TJ-65. Both torpedoes fired by the boat passed behind the stern of the cruiser without causing damage.
January 31, 1918 - During the fleet's exit from the Firth of Forth, at approximately 18.00, the Inflexible collided with the submarine K-14, causing it a glancing blow. After this, the K-14, which had lost control, collided with the K-22 boat.
April 22, 1918 - The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron and the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron covered the Scandinavian convoy from Methil. In view of reports of the concentration of large enemy forces and their possible actions, the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, reinforced by the battleships Hercules and Agincourt, was ordered to leave Scapa Flow to support the escort.
November 21, 1918 - as part of the 2nd squadron, “Inflexible” met the German High Seas Fleet at Fort of Forth, en route to Scapa for internment.
January 1919 - “Inflexible” was put into reserve.
May 1919 - After the disbandment of the Grand Fleet, the cruiser was appointed flagship of the Norsk reserve fleet.
July 1919 - “Inflexible” is included in the list of ships to be sold for scrapping.
March 31, 1920 - The cruiser was included in the updated list for the sale of ships of the Norsk reserve. For some time, the issue of transferring the cruiser to Chile was considered as compensation for the Chilean ships under construction, borrowed at the beginning of the war. Beginning in April 1921, the ship was prepared for sale at Chatham and then transferred to Sheerness.
End of June 1921 - After the transfer to Chile was refused, it was decided to convert the cruiser into the training ship “Impregnable”. She was transferred from Sheerness to Devonport, but due to the perceived high cost of the conversion the project was abandoned and the ship was returned to the list for sale in Devonport.
December 1, 1921 - “Inflexible” was sold for scrapping to the Stanley Shipbreaking Company in Dover. But it was not until April 8, 1922 that he departed from Devonport for Dover, driven by the Dutch push tugs Zwartzee and Wittezee. In the same month, the cruiser was resold for breaking up in Germany, where it was dismantled in 1923.
"Indomitable"
The battle cruiser “Indomitable” (“Indomitable” - “Indomitable”) was built according to the 1905/1906 program. The order for its construction was issued on November 21, 1905. On March 16, 1907, the cruiser was safely launched.
June 20, 1908 - Even before the completion of construction, the cruiser in Portsmouth was enlisted in the British fleet and seconded to accompany Prince George to Canada, going there in connection with the celebration of Quebec's tercentenary. On July 15, the cruiser left Portsmouth for Quebec, accompanied by the cruiser Minotaur. After the ceremony, the Indomitable left Quebec on July 29 and arrived in Cowes (Isle of Wight) on August 3, breaking the three-year-old speed record of the cruiser Drake on its return to Europe.
After returning to Chatham on August 10, the cruiser was handed over to the construction plant. The work was completed in the same month, and in the fall the ship was assigned to the Norsk reserve.
March 1909 - During the reorganization of the Home Fleet, “Indomitable” was transferred to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron.
June 1909 - The cruiser participated in the Spithead parade and was presented to the delegates at the Imperial Press Conference.
June-July 1909 - The cruiser participated in the joint maneuvers of the Metropolitan, Mediterranean and Atlantic fleets.
17-24 July 1909 - visited Southend with parts of the Atlantic and Home fleets. On July 24, Indomitable replaced the cruiser Drake as the flagship of the 1st squadron. On July 31, at the end of the maneuvers, he took part in the Royal Review of the Atlantic and Home Fleets at Spithead.
April 1910 - Maneuvers off the coast of Scotland together with the Atlantic and Home fleets.
July 1910 - Took part in the annual maneuvers (including a visit to Torbay), together with the Atlantic Fleet, the Home Fleet and part of the Mediterranean Fleet.
August 9, 1910 - Indomitable" transferred to Chatham for service as flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet.
January 1911 - Joint exercises off the northwestern coast of Spain with the Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets.
Spring 1911 - Indomitable”, as part of the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet, was sent to Dublin Bay in connection with the upcoming visit to Ireland of the King and Queen of Great Britain. Visits to various points including Abyrystwyth at Caernarvon where the ship took the Prince of Wales.
24 June 1911 - The cruiser took part in the parade in Spithead on the occasion of the coronation of King George V.
June-July 1911 - Annual maneuvers off the southwest coast of England (Channel) and in the North Sea.
November 1911 - February 1912 - Repair of the cruiser. The squadron commander's flag has been moved to “Inflexible”. Before repairs, the crew size was reduced to normal.
February 21, 1912 - Indomitable entered service after repair as the flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, replacing Shannon.
July 9, 1912 - “Inflexible” participated in the Parliamentary Review of the Home Fleet at Spithead, after which it went on maneuvers.
Autumn 1912 - The cruiser made a trip to the Baltic.
December 11, 1912 - temporarily transferred to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, the flag of the commander of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron was again raised on the Shannon.
17 March 1913 - The cruiser had a collision with a minelayer 'C-4' in Stokes Bay, causing minor damage to the stem.
During 1912–1913, the Admiralty decided to withdraw all battleships from the Mediterranean Sea, replacing them with a powerful cruising squadron, which included: Indomitable”, Invincible”, Inflexible”, Indefatigable”, “Defence”, “Black Prince”, “Warrior” ” and “Duke of Edibburgh”. In addition to them, it was planned to have a squadron of light cruisers and a flotilla of destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea.
July 1913 - The cruiser took part in the annual maneuvers. After their completion on August 27, Indomitable was transferred to the 2nd squadron of battlecruisers of the Mediterranean squadron, and in its place New Zealand was assigned to the 1st squadron.
November 1913 - Annual maneuvers in the Mediterranean with part of the Home Fleet and the 3rd Cruiser Squadron.
February 1914 - “Indomitable” was assigned to the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron.
August 2, 1914 - “Indomitable” received orders to go to sea. At 21.00, a formation consisting of “Indomitable”, “Indefatigable”, “Defence”, “Duke of Edinburgh”, “Warrior” and “Gloucester”, accompanied by eight destroyers, began patrolling the entrance to the Adriatic.
August 3, 1914 - “Indomitable” and “Indefatigable” at 15.15 were sent to search for “Goeben” and ’Breslau” between Cape Bon and Cape Spartivento. At 20.00 they were both hastily redirected to Gibraltar to prevent the breakthrough of German cruisers into the Adriatic.
August 4, 1914 - At 10.35 a formation 50 miles W of Galita Island discovered “Breslau”, and soon “Goeben”, which were returning from the bombardment of Philippeville and Beaune. Indomitable” and Indefatigable” turned around and pursued, keeping their distance. From 14.30 to 19.00, the English cruisers, which were later joined by the Dublin, pursued the enemy ships. After 19.00 the enemy was lost from sight, and a little later an order was received to turn west. August 5, 1914 - Indomitable and Indefatigable met with Invincible at Panteleria. Later, “Indomitable” went to Bizerte for bunkering. On August 6 at 19.00 he left Bizerte to meet with the flagship (Inflexible) west of Milazzo. 7 August 1914 - Indomitable” arrived in Malta at 14.00.
8 August 1914 - “Indomitable”, “Indefatigable”, “Inflexible” and “Weimouth” left Malta for Matapan. On August 10–11, the ships, rounding Cape Malea, searched for the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau. On August 11–19, the search continued in the group of Aegean islands. At the same time, the entrance to the Dardanelles was observed. The cruisers were unable to intercept the German ships and, after their passage to the Dardanelles, left the area. On August 19, the ships received orders to sail to Gibraltar. The question of why such a strong and numerous squadron was not able to intercept two German ships has not yet been fully explained. If we do not move on to discussing political aspects (the most popular opinion is the deliberate passage of German cruisers to Turkey to create a real threat to the Russian Black Sea Fleet), but only touch on technical data, then we can cite the following facts cited by the British:
The British battlecruisers individually were considered weaker than the Goeben.
The Goeben's hull had not been cleared of fouling, which is quite intense in these southern waters, for ten months, and it also suffered from problems with the boiler pipes. Therefore, “Goeben” could not reach a speed of more than 24 knots and was able to maintain a long course of only 22.5 knots. However, this was quite enough to get away from two British cruisers, since Indomitable was even slower.
Indomitable” has not docked since March 1913 (that is, more than 15 months). In addition, due to the impending war, he had to interrupt a long-required 4-month repair in Malta shortly after it began. Therefore, the cruiser was in a very neglected state, and although in May 1914, during 6-hour tests, she showed an average of 268 rpm at full speed, during the pursuit of “Goeben”, she did not achieve more than 240–249 rpm . When contact was lost, the Indomitable had 2,130 tons of coal on board, and the speed of 22 knots usually attributed to it in this episode seems somewhat optimistic.
The light cruiser Chatam maintained contact with the German cruisers almost continuously, but the British did not take advantage of the opportunity to regroup their cruisers, which could have been done if they knew the exact location of the German ships.
November 3, 1914 - at dawn, Indefatigable and Indomitable, together with the French battleships Suffren and Verite, fired at the outer forts of the Dardanelles. The British ships, staying out of range of the heavy Turkish guns, bombarded the fort of Sedd el Bahr, while the French ships fired at Qom Qala and the fort of Orkanieh. It was pure demonstration. Both British ships fired 46,305mm. shells from a distance of 11.2-12.8 km, but only “Indefatigable” achieved noteworthy results by blowing up the powder magazines of the Sedd el Bahr fort.
November 1914 - “Indomitable” returned to the Metropolis.
December 23, 1914 - “Indomitable” received orders to meet the Grand Fleet in the area between Scotland and Norway. On December 26, during a storm, she joined the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, almost coming under fire from the New Zealand, which did not immediately recognize the Indomitable's 'Distorting' camouflage and its topmasts in a stationary position.
In January 1915, Indomitable became part of the formed 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron, the flagship of which was New Zealand.
January 24, 1915 - Battle of Dogger Bank. The British battlecruisers did not set out to intercept the German ships. The enemy was discovered by the cruiser “Aurora” at about 7.20. He was heading for SOst, 14 miles on the left bow. By order of the general pursuit, 'Indomitable' developed maximum speed, but nevertheless, it, together with 'New Zealand', began to lag behind the faster cruisers of the 1st squadron. Therefore, 'Indomitable' took part in this battle at about 10.45 - only 113 minutes after the flagship “Lion”, - opening fire from a distance of 14.9 km at the armored cruiser “Blucher”. During the hour of battle, Indomitable fired 40 armor-piercing shells, 15 semi-armor-piercing shells from a distance of 5.5 km. 79 high-explosive shells (2 more shrapnel shells were fired at the airship "L-5") It is impossible to identify the damage caused by it because in the last phase of the battle "Tiger", "Princess Royal" and "New Zealand" were also fired at. "Indomitable" was hit by only one ricocheted shell, which caused minor damage. At 15.38 "Indomitable" was ordered to take "Lion" into tow, which was done. At 17.00 the ships began to move to the Firth of Forth. accompanied by sixty destroyers. Only at noon on January 26, Indomitable brought the Lion to its anchorage.
January-February 1915 - “Indomitable” underwent restoration after a fire caused by a short circuit.
11 March 1915 - While sailing from Scapa Flow to Rosyth, Indomitable was unsuccessfully attacked by a German submarine.
May 1916 - The 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron moved to Scapa Flow for practical shooting.
May 31, 1916 - Battle of Jutland (see other two ships for details). Indomitable” was third in Admiral Hood’s squadron. The ship did not receive any damage and had no losses. On June 1, he left the battle area with units of the 3rd cruiser squadron and on the way fired at a zeppelin, which had accompanied the fleet for some time.
June 5, 1916 - During the reorganization of the Grand Fleet, Indomitable was transferred to the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron.
In August 1916, the cruiser was under repair.
April 22, 1918 - With the 2nd battle squadron and the 7th squadron of light cruisers “indomitable” participated in ensuring the passage of the Scandinavian convoy of 39 ships. The next day, April 23, he covered the convoy from Methil.
November 21, 1918 - as part of the 2nd Indomitable Squadron, met the German High Seas Fleet at the Fort of Forth, en route to Scapa Flow for internment.
February 1919 - Indomitable” was transferred to the reserve, and in March it was transferred to the Norsk reserve.
July 1919 - A decision was made to quickly sell the ship for scrapping.
30 August 1922 - The ship's hull was towed to Dover for dismantling and by April 1923 she had been cut into metal.