turret crewmen merely had to follow pointers transmitted from the director to align their guns on the target. This greatly increased accuracy since the ship's roll no longer dispersed the shells as each turret fired on its own; also, the fire-control director could more easily spot the fall of the shells. Service Early career Indefatigable was laid down at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth on 23 February 1909. She was launched on 28 October 1909 and was completed on 24 February 1911. Upon commissioning, Indefatigable served in the 1st Cruiser Squadron, which in January 1913 was renamed the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS). C. F. Sowerby was appointed captain on 24 February 1913. In December of the same year, she transferred to the Mediterranean, where she joined the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron. Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau Indefatigable, accompanied by the battlecruiser and under the command of Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne, encountered the German battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau on the morning of 4 August 1914, which were headed east after a cursory bombardment of the French Algerian port of Philippeville. Britain and Germany were not yet at war, so Milne turned to shadow the Germans as they headed back to Messina to re-coal. All three battlecruisers had problems with their boilers, but Goeben and Breslau were able to break contact and reached Messina by the morning of the 5th. By this time, Germany had invaded Belgium and war had been declared, but an Admiralty order to respect Italian neutrality and stay more than from the Italian coast precluded entering the Strait of Messina, from which they could have observed the port directly. Therefore, Milne stationed and Indefatigable at the northern exit of the strait, expecting the Germans to break out to the west where they could attack French troop transports. He stationed the light cruiser at the southern exit, and sent Indomitable to coal at Bizerte, where she was ready for action in the Western Mediterranean. The Germans sortied from Messina on 6 August and headed east, toward Constantinople, trailed by Gloucester. Milne, still expecting Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon to turn west, kept the battlecruisers at Malta until shortly after midnight on 8 August when he set sail at a leisurely for Cape Matapan, where Goeben had been spotted eight hours earlier. At 14:30, he received an incorrect message from the Admiralty stating that Britain was at war with Austria-Hungary. War