HMS Indefatigable (1909)

Coordinates: 56°51′N 5°39′E / 56.850°N 5.650°E / 56.850; 5.650
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Indefatigable.

HMS Indefatigable
History
United Kingdom
NameIndefatigable
Ordered1908–1909 Naval Programme
BuilderHM Dockyard, Devonport
Laid down23 February 1909
Launched28 October 1909
Commissioned24 February 1911
FateSunk during the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916
General characteristics
Class and typeIndefatigable-class battlecruiser
Displacement
  • 18,500 long tons (18,800 t)
  • 22,130 long tons (22,485 t) at
    deep load
Length590 ft (179.8 m)
Beam80 ft (24.4 m)
Draught29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) (deep load)
Installed power
  • 31 ×
    Babcock & Wilcox boilers
  • 43,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range6,690 nmi (12,390 km; 7,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement800
Armament
  • 4 × twin
    BL 12 in (305 mm) Mk X guns
  • 16 × single
    BL 4 in (0 m) Mk VII guns
  • 2 × submerged
    17.72 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour

HMS Indefatigable was the

German Imperial Navy as they fled toward the Ottoman Empire. The ship bombarded Ottoman fortifications defending the Dardanelles
on 3 November 1914, then, following a refit in Malta, returned to the United Kingdom in February where she rejoined the 2nd BCS.

Indefatigable was sunk on 31 May 1916 during the

Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet, she was hit several times in the first minutes of the "Run to the South", the opening phase of the battlecruiser action. Shells from the German battlecruiser Von der Tann
caused an explosion ripping a hole in her hull, and a second explosion hurled large pieces of the ship 200 feet (60 m) in the air. Only three of the crew of 1,019 survived.

Design and description

Main article: Indefatigable-class battlecruiser

No battlecruisers were ordered after the three

amidships to allow her two middle turrets to fire on either broadside, was approved in November 1908. A larger design with more armour and better underwater protection was rejected as too expensive.[1]

Starboard elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1915. Note: plan is of Invincible-class battlecruisers; the Indefatigable-class had a third superstructure element with 'P' & 'Q' turrets more widely spaced.

Indefatigable had an overall length of 590 feet (179.8 m), a

deep load. The ship normally displaced 18,500 long tons (18,800 t) and 22,130 long tons (22,490 t) at deep load. She had a crew of 737 officers and ratings.[2]

The ship was powered by two sets of

kW) and were intended to give the ship a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). During her sea trials on 10 April 1911, Indefatigable reached a top speed of 26.89 knots (49.8 km/h; 30.9 mph) from 55,140 shp (41,120 kW) after her propellers were replaced.[3] She carried enough coal and fuel oil to give her a range of 6,330 nautical miles (11,720 km; 7,280 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[4]

The Indefatigable class had a

BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mark VII guns positioned in the superstructure.[5] They mounted two 17.72-inch (450 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, one on each side aft of 'X' barbette, and twelve torpedoes were carried.[6]

The Indefatigables were protected by a

armoured belt that extended between and covered the end barbettes. Their armoured deck ranged in thickness between 1.5 and 2.5 inches (38 and 64 mm) with the thickest portions protecting the steering gear in the stern. The turret faces were 7 inches (178 mm) thick, and the turrets were supported by barbettes of the same thickness.[7]

Indefatigable was unique among British battlecruisers in having an armoured spotting and signal tower behind the

rangefinder was added to the rear of the 'A' turret roof, and this turret was equipped to control the entire main armament as an emergency backup for the normal fire-control positions.[9]

Wartime modifications

Indefatigable received a single

QF 3-inch 20 cwt[Note 1] anti-aircraft gun on a high-angle Mark II mount in March 1915. It was provided with 500 rounds. All of her 4-inch guns were enclosed in casemates and given gun shields during a refit in November 1915 to better protect the gun crews from weather and enemy action, although two aft guns were removed at the same time.[10]

She received a fire-control director between mid-1915 and May 1916 that centralised fire control under the director officer who now fired the guns. The turret crewmen merely had to follow pointers transmitted from the director to align their guns on the target. This greatly increased accuracy since the ship's roll no longer dispersed the shells as each turret fired on its own; also, the fire-control director could more easily spot the fall of the shells.[11]

Service

Indefatigable putting to sea in 1916

Early career

Indefatigable was laid down at the

2nd Battlecruiser Squadron.[14]

Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau

Main article: Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau

Indefatigable, accompanied by the battlecruiser

Philippeville. Britain and Germany were not yet at war, so Milne turned to shadow the Germans as they headed back to Messina to re-coal. All three battlecruisers had problems with their boilers, but Goeben and Breslau were able to break contact and reached Messina by the morning of the 5th. By this time, Germany had invaded Belgium and war had been declared, but an Admiralty order to respect Italian neutrality and stay more than 6 nautical miles (11 km) from the Italian coast precluded entering the Strait of Messina, from which they could have observed the port directly. Therefore, Milne stationed Inflexible and Indefatigable at the northern exit of the strait, expecting the Germans to break out to the west where they could attack French troop transports. He stationed the light cruiser Gloucester at the southern exit, and sent Indomitable to coal at Bizerte, where she was ready for action in the Western Mediterranean.[15]

The Germans

Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon to turn west, kept the battlecruisers at Malta until shortly after midnight on 8 August when he set sail at a leisurely 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) for Cape Matapan, where Goeben had been spotted eight hours earlier. At 14:30,[Note 2] he received an incorrect message from the Admiralty stating that Britain was at war with Austria-Hungary. War would not actually be declared until 12 August, and the order was countermanded four hours later, but Milne gave up the hunt for Goeben, following his standing orders to guard the Adriatic against an Austrian break-out attempt. On 9 August, Milne was given clear orders to "chase Goeben which had passed Cape Matapan on the 7th steering north-east."[16] Milne still did not believe that Souchon was heading for the Dardanelles, and so he resolved to guard the exit from the Aegean, unaware that the Goeben did not intend to come out.[16]

On 3 November 1914, Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, ordered the first British attack on the Dardanelles following the commencement of hostilities between Ottoman Turkey and Russia. The attack was carried out by Indomitable and Indefatigable, as well as the French pre-dreadnought battleships Suffren and Vérité. The intention of the attack was to test the fortifications and measure the Turkish response. The results were deceptively encouraging. In a twenty-minute bombardment, a single shell struck the magazine of the fort at Sedd el Bahr at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, displacing (but not destroying) 10 guns and killing 86 Turkish soldiers. The most significant consequence was that the attention of the Turks was drawn to strengthening their defences, and they set about expanding the mine field.[17] This attack actually took place before Britain's formal declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire on 6 November. Indefatigable remained in the Mediterranean until she was relieved by Inflexible on 24 January 1915 and proceeded to Malta for a refit; she then sailed to England on 14 February and joined the 2nd BCS upon her arrival. The ship conducted uneventful patrols of the North Sea for the next year and a half. She was the temporary flagship of the 2nd BCS during April–May 1916, while her half-sister HMAS Australia was under repair after colliding with Indefatigable's other half-sister New Zealand.[18]

Battle of Jutland

Main article: Battle of Jutland
Diagram of the Battle of Jutland showing the major movements

On 31 May 1916, the 2nd BCS consisted of New Zealand (

astern of the 1st BCS. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and to reduce speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, then about 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) behind him. Around this time Beatty altered course to the east as it was quickly apparent that he was still too far north to cut off Hipper.[20]

This began what was to be called the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east south-east at 15:45, paralleling Hipper's course, now that the range closed to under 18,000 yards (16,000 m). The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships,

points
to starboard to open up the range at 15:57.

Indefatigable sinking after being struck by shells from Von der Tann
HMS Indefatigable blowing up after being struck by shells from Von der Tann

Around 16:00, Indefatigable was hit around the rear turret by two or three shells from Von der Tann. She fell out of formation to starboard and started sinking towards the stern and

Able Seaman Frederick Arthur Gordon Elliott and Leading Signalman Charles Farmer, found Indefatigable's captain, C.F. Sowerby, who was badly wounded. Elliott and Farmer were later rescued by the German torpedo boat S16, but by then Sowerby had died of his injuries.[24] A third survivor, Signalman John Bowyer, was picked up by another unknown German ship. He was incorrectly reported as a crew member from Nestor in The Times on 24 June 1916.[25]

Indefatigable today

Indefatigable, along with the other Jutland wrecks, was belatedly declared a protected place under the

foundered. The two halves of the wreck are separated on the seabed by a linear distance of over 500 m (1,600 ft). The stern portion had not previously been discovered.[23]

Notes

  1. ^ "cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
  2. ^ The times used in this article are in UT, which is one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works.

Citations

  1. ^ Roberts, pp. 26–28.
  2. ^ Roberts, pp. 29, 43–44.
  3. ^ Roberts, pp. 76–77, 80.
  4. ^ Preston, p. 26.
  5. ^ Roberts, pp. 81–84.
  6. ^ Campbell (1978), p. 14.
  7. ^ Roberts, p. 112.
  8. ^ Brooks, pp. 42–43.
  9. ^ Roberts, pp. 90–91.
  10. ^ Campbell (1978), p. 13.
  11. ^ Roberts, pp. 92–93.
  12. ^ Roberts, p. 41.
  13. ^ "Charles FitzGerald Sowerby - the Dreadnought Project". Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  14. ^ Roberts, p. 122.
  15. ^ Massie, p. 39.
  16. ^ a b Massie, pp. 45–46.
  17. ^ Carlyon, p. 47.
  18. ^ Burt, p. 103.
  19. ^ Burt, p. 104.
  20. ^ Tarrant, pp. 69, 71, 75.
  21. ^ Tarrant, pp. 80–85.
  22. ^ Roberts, p. 116.
  23. ^ a b McCartney (2017b), pp. 317–329
  24. ^ Campbell (1986), p. 61.
  25. ^ "John Bowyer – WW1 memorial and Life Story". Imperial War Museum & D C Thompson. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  26. ^ "Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 2616 The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2006". Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  27. ISBN 978-0-8020-8293-0
    .
  28. ^ McCartney (2017a), pp. 196–204

References

External links

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56°51′N 5°39′E / 56.850°N 5.650°E / 56.850; 5.650

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