The Inflexible class were a series of British battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy entering service in 1908. They were the first type of true battlecruisers built anywhere in the world. They were the brainchild of Admiral Sir John (Jackie) Fisher, the man who had sponsored the construction of the world's first all big gun warship, HMS Dreadnought. 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.

Each carried twelve 12 inch guns in four twin turrets, with two mounted fore and aft and another four on the centreline port and starboard. These guns were equivalent to those mounted in the most modern battleships. However, the armour protection given to the ships was light - the armoured belt measured 6 inches amidships and 4 inches at the bow, with the deck armour in some places only 3/4 of an inch thick. This compared with an armoured belt of 11 inches on Dreadnought. But, it was Admiral Fisher's assertion that the ships' speed would be their protection, as they were designed for 25 knots. However they turned out to be‘eggshells armed with hammers’, as many in the Royal Navy later said in the Global War.

All three ships entered service in the first half of 1908. By 1913 they were part of the Mediterranean Fleet but were send to the Far East to reinforce the fleet based in Singapore in late June 1913. There they participated in the destruction of the Dutch colonial fleet near Java on August 11th 1913.

They were reassigned to the Home Fleet during the 1920's and received an extensive upgrade during the late 1920's. They were transfered to the Far East Fleet in 1931. They were still attached to that fleet when the Global War started and they faced battle in 1934 versus the Japanese in the Battle of the South China Sea, were the three ships met their fate by being sunk by the end of the day.

HMS Inflexible

HMS Indomitable

HMS Invincible

Displacement: 17,300 tons Length: 570 feet Beam: 78.5 feet Draft: 26 feet Speed: 25.5 knots Armament: twelve 12-inch(6×2), 16 four-inch, five 18-inch torpedo tubes.