Battlecruisers

Battlecruisers were a type of capital ship from the first half of the 20^th century. Although similar in role, displacement, size, and armament to contemporary battleships they differed in several important areas. Namely, armour, which tended to be weaker than similar battleships, and speed, which was generally faster on account of having less armour and/or weaker armament. They were also often longer and narrower than battleships to improve their speed and, in some cases, were bigger than their battleship counterparts (such as HMS Hood). Battlecruisers were developed off the backs of the armoured and protected cruisers of the late 1800s and early 1900s and replaced the former in their role at roughly the same time that HMS Dreadnought made all pre-dreadnought-era battleships obsolete.

Battlecruisers served with the United Kingdom, Germany, Ottoman Empire, Australia, and Japan during the First World War, with several other navies also having considered building them, including the United States and France. They saw major action during the war as they were considered frontline ships and many took part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, as well as the Battle of the Falkland Islands. By the end of the war, battlecruisers were beginning to fall out of favour, regarded as too-thinly armoured and as technology improved, battleships became faster and were able to retain heavy armament and armour, rendering the battlecruiser type largely obsolete.

However, several further types were designed and seriously considered, including the Amagi-class for the Imperial Japanese Navy, as well as the G3-type for the Royal Navy, amongst others. There were also several large cruiser designs developed in the Second World War, with some seeing service. These are more accurately described as large heavy cruisers, so have been listed as such on this website. Finally, although there are no more battlecruisers in the world’s modern navies, there is one that could be considered as such. The Russian Kirov-class is an enormous type of guided missile cruiser that many consider being the modern embodiment of a battlecruiser and has been included here.