Indefatigable class battlecruiser

The "Indefatigable" class battlecruisers were a series of three battlecruisers which served in the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy during the First World War.

"Indefatigable" was the chronological successor to the "Invincible" class dreadnought armoured cruisers. A number of options for large cruisers were considered for the 1906 programme, including the X4 of 22,500 tons with convert|11|in|mm|sing=on armour and convert|25|kn|km/h|0 speed, but in the end this programme consisted only of three ships of the HMS|Dreadnought|1906|2 type. A number of options were considered for the 1907-8 programme, ranging from 18,100 tons to 21,400 tons, but in the end battleships were again favoured and no battlecruisers were ordered until the subsequent programme year.

The HMS|Indefatigable|1909|2 was ordered as the lone battlecruiser of the 1908-9 programme. Her outline design was prepared in March 1908, and the final design was approved in November 1908. This design was essentially an improved HMS|Invincible|1908|6, slightly increased in size, and with revised arrangements of protection and main armament.

At the time the final design of Indefatigable was approved, the Admiralty was already moving on, Fisher writing in September 1908 "I've got Sir Philip Watts into a new "Indomitable" that will make your mouth water when you see it", a design that was to eventually emerge as the "Lion". In August 1909 the self governing dominions met at the 1909 Imperial Conference, and in discussion of Imperial defence, the Admiralty proposed the creation of indigenous fleet units, each to consist of one "Invincible" class battlecruiser, three light cruisers of the "Bristol" class, and six destroyers. These were to be based in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa in attempt to secure the naval defence of the dominions while the Royal Navy concentrated in home waters to meet the German threat. While the scheme was rejected by Canada and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand subscribed, each ordering a modified version of the Indefatigable, rather than the originally proposed "Invincible" class. The "Australia", became a ship of the newly formed Royal Australian Navy, while the HMS|New Zealand|1911|2 became a ship of the Royal Navy. Eventually, only one fleet unit was formed, the Australian squadron in 1913. "New Zealand" was retained in European waters as a wholly RN unit.

Two, the "Indefatigable" and "New Zealand", served with the Royal Navy, notably forming part of the Battlecruiser Squadron at the battle of Jutland in 1916. The third served with the Royal Australian Navy and after operations aimed at securing the German pacific colonies and searching for the German Pacific Fleet spent the rest of World War I in the North Sea as part of the British Grand Fleet, missing Jutland as the result of a collision with her sister ship in fog.

Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the "Indefatigable" class. Whilst standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores, for some reason the cost quoted in The Naval Annual for "Indefatigable" includes the armament.

* = estimated cost, including guns

Ships in class

*HMS|Indefatigable|1909|6
** Builder:
** Laid down: 23 February 1909
** Launched: 28 October 1909
** Commissioned: February 1911
** Operations: Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau, Battle of Jutland
** Fate: Destroyed and sunk by magazine explosions caused by hits from SMS "Von der Tann" on 31 May 1916 at Jutland

*HMS|New Zealand|1911|6
** Builder: Fairfield Shipping and Engineering in Scotland
** Laid down: June 1910
** Launched: 1 July 1911
** Commissioned: November 1912
** Operations: Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, and Jutland
** Fate: Decommissioned in 1922 and scrapped

*HMAS "Australia"
** Builder: John Brown and Company, Clydebank
** Laid down: 26 June 1910
** Launched: 25 October 1911
** Commissioned: 21 June 1913
** Operations:
** Fate: Decommissioned 12 December 1921 and scuttled near Sydney

References

* Hythe, Viscount (ed) The Naval Annual 1914
* Cowman, Ian "The Vision Splendid: Australian Maritime Strategy, 1911-23" from "In Search of a Maritime Strategy", Australian National University, 1997.
* Gardiner, Robert and Gray, Randal (ed) "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906 - 1921", Conway Maritime Press, London, 1982. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
* Parkes, Oscar "British Battleships", first published Seeley Service & Co, 1957, published United States Naval Institute Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55750-075-4
* Roberts, John "Battlecruisers", Chatham Publishing, London, 1997.

Notes

See also

* List of battleship classes
* List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy
* Lists of ship launches in: 1909, 1911
* Lists of ship commissionings in: 1911, 1912, 1913
* Lists of ship decommissionings in: 1921, 1922
* Lists of shipwrecks in: 1916, 1924