H.M.S. Invincible at the Battle of the Falkland Islands
Damage
Enclosure C to Letter No.A1/4 of 19th December 1914.
DAMAGE CAUSED TO H.M.S. "INVINCIBLE" BY GUN FIRE, IN THE ACTION OF 8th DECEMBER 1914, WITH REMARKS AS TO GERMAN PROJECTILES.
(1) Armour plating on starboard bow from stem to No. 10 station at water line fractured and distorted ; framing and plating behind armour fractured and bent inwards ; stem casting fractured ; No. 10 bulkhead buckled, compartment above lower deck flooded - Caused by 8.2 inch shell bursting on armour at No. 4 station.
(2) Port bow at station No. 17 armour plate dented, rivets and margin angle of No. 17 bulkhead shorn off and bulkhead buckled girder rivets shorn off, by shell bursting on armour belt.
(3) Top plate of armour struck by (?) shell at 68 station, starboard, tearing off part of covering plate.
(4) Bulkhead margin angle rivets shorn off at station No. 81, starboard, above lower deck in wake of side armour, due to shell bursting on armour belt.
(5) Starboard side plating at middle of Ward Room holed by 8.2 inch shell which burst, completely wrecking and destroying everything in Ward Room, bursting up deck above, and holing deck under, also all bulkheads, coal shoots, stanchions, and funnel casings near, and bulging ship's side.
Shell burst two feet inside skin plating, no fire caused, but devastation extraordinary.
(6) Side plating and frame blown in at station 89 - 90 main deck, starboard side, starboard side, by 8.2 inch shell burst, which also wrecked mess gear in stokers' messes, and holed casing to boiler room.
(7) Side plating immediately below armour belt holed, about 4 feet by 2 feet at top streak, having fracture extending through adjacent plate under. Frame behind blown away at station 115 to 117 port side. Bulkhead No. 115 buckled and dented ; caused by 8.2 inch shell exploding just inside plating, flooding no. 5 lower bunker.
The fragments of shell are large, and rather present the aspect of a partial rather than a complete burst or detonation. The coal was washed out of the hole by the sea, until its level came well below the hole.
(8) Forecastle deck holed by 5.9 inch shell bursting at Fore Dynamo Hatch, destroying hatch coaming, deck plating, and girder under, also splintering mushroom top and tearing away ventilating trunk beneath.
(9) "A" turret apron holed by blast from detonating 5.9 inch shell which struck turret armour between guns.
(10) No. 1 boiler room ash hoist holed by 5.9 inch shell which entered through forecastle deck starboard side and on bursting in Admiral's lobby holed mast, strut, spiral ladder, and upper deck, plating, and all adjacent bulkheads.
(11) Ward room pantry, No. 8 cabin, and adjacent screen bulkheads wrecked by 5.9 inch shell which burst on entering through forecastle deck. Upper deck plating under also holed.
(12) Forecastle deck and ship's side holed by 5.9 inch projectile which entered through deck before "P" turret, port side, in No. 7 cabin and passed out without bursting.
