List of Battlecruisers of The Royal Navy - Indefatigable Class

Indefatigable Class

The design of the Indefatigable class represented a modest reworking of the preceding Invincible class battlecruiser, featuring increased endurance and an improved cross-deck arc of fire for their midships wing turrets achieved by lengthening the hull. Like its predecessor, the design resembled the contemporary dreadnought, but sacrificed armour protection and one turret from the main battery for a 4-knot speed advantage. Originally Indefatigable was the only ship of the class, but HMAS Australia and HMS New Zealand were later built as part of a scheme to improve the defense of the Dominions by having each Dominion purchase a "fleet unit" of one battlecruiser, three light cruisers, and six destroyers. New Zealand agreed to fund one battlecruiser and chose a modified Indefatigable design rather than the Lion-class battlecruiser then being built for the Royal Navy.

They spent most of the war patrolling the North Sea and participated in most of the battles there. Of the three, only New Zealand was in the United Kingdom when the war began. Indefatigable was in the Mediterranean, where she unsuccessfully pursued the German warships Goeben and Breslau as they sailed towards Turkey. New Zealand participated in some of the early actions in the North Sea, including the Battle of Heligoland Bight and the inconclusive Scarborough Raid. Indefatigable and New Zealand participated in the Battle of Jutland, where the former was destroyed by a magazine explosion after numerous hits from the battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann. New Zealand patrolled uneventfully after Jutland, watching for the next appearance of the High Seas Fleet. She conducted Admiral Jellicoe on his tour of India and the Dominions after the war. New Zealand was sold for scrap in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty.