HMS Invincible

## Badge

The HMS Invincible was the Admiral-class battlecruiser HMS Anson. With the Washington Treaty coming into effect in 1927, and with many nations disgruntled over the completeion of the St Andrew-class Battleship, and the Warrior class battlecruiser, plans were set aside for the Admiral class and cancelled (excluding the 72% completed Hood).

The Anson and Howe sat in dry dock, officially cancelled for 2 years, with more efforts being made to maintain the hulls then to scrap them.

In 1924, the only british carriers were the Glorious, and Argus, both of which were lightly armored. Due to several other nations also moving forward with aircraft carriers, the admiralty decided to move forward with the incomplete hulls and repurpose them into "battlecarriers".

The newly rechristened Invincible and Indomitable (to partially hide their origin from foreign media), were to have their front guns remain, while the rear guns and most of the superstructure replaced to make room for hangers and a flight deck. These would make them the first "battle-carriers", since the Glorious had been fully converted into a full length carrier.

Anson (now Invincible) had been cancelled at 50% completion, leaving her 4 barbettes ready for turrets. The rear of the ship had to be completely revamped to allow for the hangers.

Her rear 2 turrets, completed before the cancellation, were set in storage and would later be found on the *HMS Beagle*

Upon conversion, Invincible was the first carrier to have a superstructure set to the port side, with a elongated funnel.

While initially intended to be a front line fleet carrier, in effect, she was essentially a maintenance carrier, with a minimal air compliment of only 30 planes (all of which were fighters), and most hanger space being filled with spare parts for aircraft.

## Inter-War

While launched a year earlier then the deadline, many nations were disgruntled over the re purposing of the Anson and Howe. While this indirectly led to other nations preforming conversions, the Invincible redesign was based off experience learned on the Glorious.

She was completed with a 600ft long flight deck, that ended just aft of the forward turrets. She had the hanger space to accompany 30 aircraft, with a single elevator at the stern (later refitted to have 2). Invincible was completed as a flat top, with the bridge located underneath the flight deck. Her funnels redirected to the starboard side, and were angled downward.

Due to her flight deck being located higher up, and her having a superfiring turret, the Invicible was a relatively unstable ship in rough seas. In anything higher then a 10ft sea, flight operations would have to be suspended.

Invincible was launched in 1928, one year after the Washington Treaty had taken affect. This greatly angered several nations, but due to her being classed as a battlecarrier, no definitive sections had set tonnage limits for the type. However, to alleviate foreign pressure, the admiralty responded by selling off the Agincourt (later Sydney) to Australia, and the Iron Duke (later Olympus) to Greece. This still did little to alleviate the pressures on Britain, but still put Britain within the battleship tonnage limits.

In 1935, with war starting to loom on the horizon, plans were set to heavily refit the Invincible. With no major refit since launch, this refit was long overdue. Going into drydock at the end of 1935, she was heavily modernized. Her engines were replaced, and a second elevator was added. Her guns were also modernized to Mark 2 standards, and she was refit with a rangefinder.

Her bridge was relocated to a tower on the starboard side, much like the Indomitable, and her entire flight deck was lowered 5m. The 2 downward facing funnels were replaced, and incorporated into the superstructure, leaving her with an elongated dorsal funnel, not unlike the Indomitable after her refit in 1937.

Her AA complement was also heavily revamped, with it being nearly doubled in comparison to before.

After recommissioning in spring of 1938, she was quickly deployed to sea trials. Her handling was found to be greatly improved, with a much more stable platform due to a lower center of gravity. She was able to operate aircraft in rougher seas, much more in line with foreign ships. Additionally. her gun accuracy was also greatly improved, and due to mark 2 specifications of her 15in guns, her range was increased to 18500 yards.

Invincible was deployed to cruise the Mediterranean in summer of 1939. However, during routine flight operations, a Hawker Hurricane crashed on deck leading to a fire breaking out. While suppressed, she was recalled to undergo repair.

## WW2

The Invincible served a short but fierce life. While in drydock getting a minor repair after a flight operations accident at the outbreak of war, she was deployed to the home waters of Britain, providing support for British carriers. She would be pivotal in the Evacuation of Dunkirk, where her squadron of fighters was the most successful in downing Luftwaffe attacks.

During early 1941, she was deployed the Mediterranean theater. Her fighter aircraft were replaced with bombers, and she was deployed to support the African campaign. Able to shell shore targets, while launching strike aircraft, the idea of battle carriers was very much proven in the arena of shore support.

Resupplying at Malta in July 1941, she was torpedoed 4 times on her port side on her bow by U-44 at approximately 2:00 am. Listing to her side, salvage efforts were quickly made. Due to her superstructure being set to starboard, the combined weight of water quickly overwhelmed the port side ballasts and she capsized.

The torpedo had blown open the fuel reserves, filling the water with fuel-oil, which was quickly set aflame.

The burning flames quickly reached the hanger section of the Invincible. Due to her being re-equipped, a loose rack of 500 lb bombs was set off, demolishing the rear section of the ship.

Rescue operations pulled less then 200 men from the flaming wreckage. Rescue operations were greatly hampered by the raging fire, and the explosions of the hanger.

Her wreckage sat in the port of Malta from 1941, until the completion of the European war in 1949.