HMS Inflexible

The fifth “INFLEXIBLE� is a 24-gun turbine battle cruiser, launched at Clydebank in 1907. She is of 17,250 tons, 41,000 horse-power, and 26 knots speed. Her length, beam, and draught were 539ft., 78ft.,and 26ft. On September 1st, 1909, the “Inflexible,� while commanded by Captain Henry H. Torlesse, hoisted the Union Flag Admiral of the fleet Sir Edward Hobart Seymour. She thus became the first steam man-of-war to carry the Union of an Admiral of the fleet. The last occasion of a union being hoisted at sea was when H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence (afterwards H.M. King William IV.) did so in 1814, to receive the allied squadrons at Spithead, on the occasion of Napoleon going to Elba. On the day that the “Inflexible� left Portsmouth the unusual sight was witnessed of a ship with two Union Flags flying. That at the fore was the usual signal for a man-of-war leaving harbour, while the union flag of the Admiral of the fleet was being displayed at the main. The battle cruiser proceeded to New York where the cruisers “Drake,� which was flying the flag of Rear-Admiral F.T. Hamilton, “Duke of Edinburgh,� and “Argyll� joined the union. The Admiral of the fleet was the representative of the British Nation at the Hudson-Fulton centenary celebrations, instituted by the state of New York in honour of the tercentenary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the River Hudson and the practical centenary (really 102 years) of Robert Fulton’s launching the first steamer on that river. The Admiral of the fleet, returning to England in the “Inflexible,� struck his Union flag on October 19th, 1909.

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HMS Inflexible Artwork Collection
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