British Battleships of World War One. R. A. Burt
781 (1914)
Invincible: 755 (1906 Estimate); 729 (11 Feb 1909); 799 (1914); 1,032 as flagship (1916).
Cost
Estimate: £1,621,015
Revised Navy estimate: £1,634,316
Final estimate: £1,625,120
Actual cost: Inflexible £1,630,739; Indomitable £1,662,337; Invincible £1,677,515, guns £90,000.
INVINCIBLE
Body plan, inboard profile and sections, as fitted, 1908-9
INVINCIBLE
Outboard profile, as fitted February 1915
Indomitable at Weymouth 1911/12.
Funnel arrangements had varied greatly throughout the designs, and although no record is available of the Fisher-Gard layout, the second, third and fourth designs provided for four tall, thin, evenly spaced and slightly raked funnels. The fifth and sixth were much the same except that the after funnel was placed well back so as to clear the echeloned turret amidships. This spacing was retained in the final layout, but the first three funnels were combined into two larger funnels, and were not raked.
General Notes
As in Dreadnought, the traditional accommodation plan of officers aft and ratings forward was reversed. Although proving unsatisfactory and very unpopular, it was not rectified until the building of the battlecruiser Queen Mary and the battleships of the King George V class.
INDOMITABLE: LAUNCH FIGURES, 16 MARCH 1907
| tons | |
| Displacement: | 7,461 |
| Armour: | 1,097½ |
| Men and ballast: | 460 |
| Machinery: | 170 |
| Recorded weight of hull: | 5,744 |
Length: 530ft 1¾in pp
Beam: 78ft 7¾in
Beam as moulded: 78ft 4¼in
Depth of keel from flying deck: 48ft 2¾in
Length of boiler rooms: 153ft 10½in
Length of engine rooms: 75ft 11⅝in
Draught at launch: 11ft 5in forward, 15ft 8in aft
Breakage at launch:
longitudinal in a distance of 406ft = 1½in hog
transverse in a distance of 73ft 8in = nil
Invincible launch weight: 7,889 tons (hull: 6,022 tons)
Inflexible launch weight: 7,592 tons (hull: 5,810 tons).
Invincible. Port bow view showing her general layout in 1909. Seen here shortly after her trials period when her funnels bands were painted up.
Appearance Changes
General appearance of the class was unlike that of any preceding class of armoured cruisers. Outstanding features were:
1. Long forecastle.
2. Three short, flat-sided funnels of equal height, unevenly spaced and without rake. Third funnel placed well abaft second and close to mainmast.
3. Navigating platform raised high over bridge and extended prominently forward.
4. High superstructure aft.
5. Full tripod masts main legs raked forward.
As completed, they were rated the best-looking warships in the navy. They were very hard to tell apart being practically identical except for the following.
Invincible: Second yard on foremast well above control top. Solid siren brackets abaft fore funnel.
Inflexible: Straight slope to edges of starfish on mainmast. Open brackets for sirens.
Indomitable: Angled slope to lower edge of starfish on mainmast. Solid brackets for sirens.
1909 Range indicators fitted to faces of control tops in Indomitable and Inflexible, but only to forward control top in Invincible. Standard funnel bands painted: Invincible 1 white on each funnel; Indomitable 1 white on 3rd funnel; Inflexible 1 white on fore funnel.
1911 Range indicator fitted to face of after control top in Invincible. 24in signalling searchlights removed from foremast in all. Remounted on superstructure abaft forward funnel in Inflexible and Invincible. Extra yard fitted to head of foretopmast in all.
1912–13 Forward control top in Indomitable and Inflexible modified with narrow faces. Range indicators removed in all. Blast screens fitted abaft 4in guns on ‘A’ and ‘Y’ turrets. Extra 36in searchlight added at end corner of forward superstructure in Invincible.
1913–14 Blast screens removed from 4in guns as vessels were refitted. Forward superstructure searchlight remounted on bridge in Indomitable, 24in SL removed in Inflexible. Torpedo nets removed in all.
1914 Indomitable: 4in guns removed from ‘A’ and ‘Y’ turrets. Two remounted (P+S) over forward pair in forward superstructure and two on same level abaft (see 1915 drawing).
Forward guns plated in, affording some protection for crews. Invincible: As refitted in 1914. Director control top fitted for main armament, this being placed on new platform just below foretop. The 24in SL and its platform were removed. Fore control top modified with narrow face. Turret electrical gear replaced by hydraulic (see notes). 4in guns removed from ‘A’ and ‘Y’ turrets and fitted as in Indomitable. New SL platform added to forward superstructure, 36in lamps placed in position.
On outbreak of war anti-torpedo nets replaced while in home waters, although not carried in Mediterranean, and removed from Inflexible and Invincible before they left for South Atlantic in December 1914 shortly before the Battle of Falkland Islands. Topgallants removed in Inflexible, Invincible and Indomitable with anti-rangefinder spirals fitted to Invincible’s masts during the Falkland battle period. Funnel bands painted out. Indomitable painted in experimental two-tone camouflage while serving in the eastern Mediterranean in late 1914; painted out after her return in December 1914.
1915–16 Director control for main armament fitted in Inflexible and Indomitable (1915). 4in guns removed from turrets of Inflexible during her refit in Malta, March 1915. Remounted in forward superstructure as in other two. No 4in guns remaining on any of the turrets from this date. 3in AA gun added on platform on aft superstructure during mid-1915. AA armament later altered to 2 × 3in AA on platforms abeam second funnel. Uncertain if this modification was ever made to Invincible. Torpedo nets no longer carried.
Fore funnel of Invincible raised while under refit at Gibraltar in February 1915. (Inflexible 1911, Indomitable 1910). Extra upper wing added to bridge in Indomitable.