Editing Invincible-class battlecruiser (section)

{{Short description|Royal Navy ships}}
{{Good article}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Invincible (1907) British Battleship.jpg
|Ship caption=An early photograph of ''Invincible'', before her [[torpedo nets]] were removed
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Invincible''-class battlecruiser
|Builders=
*[[Armstrong Whitworth]]
*[[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering|Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng.]]
*[[John Brown and Company|John Brown & Co.]]
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}}
|Class before=None
|Class after={{sclass|Indefatigable|battlecruiser|4}}
|Cost=[[pound sterling|£]]1.7 m
|Built range=1906–1909
|In service range=1908–1921
|Total ships completed=3
|Total ships lost=1
|Total ships scrapped=2
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type=[[Battlecruiser]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|17250|LT|MT|lk=on}} (normal)
*{{convert|20420|LT|MT}} ([[deep load]])
|Ship length= {{convert|567|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} ([[o/a]])
|Ship beam={{convert|78|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}}
|Ship draught={{convert|30|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} (deep load)
|Ship propulsion=4 shafts; 2 direct-drive [[steam turbine]] sets 
|Ship speed= {{convert|25|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|3090|nmi|km|abbr=on|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}}
|Ship power=*31 [[water-tube boiler]]s
*{{convert|41000|shp|abbr=on|lk=on}}
|Ship complement= 784
|Ship armament=*4 × twin [[BL 12 inch Mk X naval gun|{{cvt|12|in|mm|0}} guns]]
*16 × single [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk I - III|4 in (102&nbsp;mm) guns]]
*5 × single [[British 18 inch torpedo|18 in (450&nbsp;mm) torpedo]] tubes
|Ship armour=*[[Belt armor|Belt]]: {{convert|4|-|6|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Deck (ship)|Deck]]s: {{convert|1.5|-|2.5|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Barbette]]s: {{convert|7|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Gun turret|Turrets]]: {{convert|7|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Conning tower]]: {{convert|6|-|10|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Torpedo bulkhead]]s: {{convert|2.5|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
The three '''''Invincible''-class battlecruisers''' were built for the [[Royal Navy]] and entered service in 1908 as the world's first [[battlecruiser]]s.<ref>Osborne, p. 206</ref> They were the brainchild of [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher|Admiral Sir John ("Jacky") Fisher]], the man who had sponsored the construction of the world's first "all-big-gun" warship, {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}}. He visualised a new breed of warship, somewhere between the [[armoured cruiser]] and [[battleship]]; it would have the armament of the latter, but the high speed of the former. This combination would allow it to chase down most ships, while allowing it to run from more powerful designs.

This design philosophy would prove to be most successful when the ''Invincible''s were able to use their speed to run down smaller and weaker ships. The classic example was during [[World War I]] at the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]], where {{HMS|Invincible|1907|2}} and {{HMS|Inflexible|1907|2}} sank the German armoured cruisers {{SMS|Scharnhorst}} and {{SMS|Gneisenau}}; despite numerous hits by the German ships, ''Inflexible'' and ''Invincible'' incurred very few casualties among their crews. They were least successful when standing in the main line of battle, where they faced enemy [[capital ship]]s. An example is the loss of ''Invincible'' to a magazine explosion during the [[Battle of Jutland]] about eighteen months after her success in the Falklands, although this explosion owed more to flaws in British ammunition-handling practices &ndash; that exposed numerous [[cordite]] charges to a fire in one of her gun turrets &ndash; than any flaws in the design of the ship.<ref name=b67>Brown, pp. 165–167</ref>

After the loss of ''Invincible'', the two surviving ships had an uneventful time for the rest of the war conducting patrols of the [[North Sea]], as the [[High Seas Fleet]] was forbidden to risk any more losses. They were put into [[Reserve fleet|reserve]] in early 1919 and sold for [[ship breaking|scrap]] in 1921.