Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large warships of the first half of the 20th century. They evolved from armored cruisers and in terms of ship classification they occupy a grey area between cruisers and battleships. Different nations built to widely different designs. Some battlecruisers were smaller than heavy cruisers while others were larger than contemporaneous battleships. The chief similarity was the role specification. They were supposed to hunt down and outgun smaller warships (or merchant ships in the case of the pocket battleships), and outrun larger warships that they could not outgun. Originally, to achieve this, they deviated from the standard practice of providing a ship with sufficient armour to protect against its own guns. The weight saving from the reduced armour allowed more powerful engines to be fitted. This idea was mainly conceived by British Admiral Jackie Fisher who believed "speed is the best protection". However, as technology developed design philosophy changed and led to the creation of more heavily armoured ships with less powerful guns. They were given different labels, but essentially performed the same task.

Second World War

Commerce raiding

In the early years of the war the German ships each had a measure of success hunting merchant ships in the Atlantic. The pocket battleships were deployed alone and sank a number of vessels, causing disruption to the trade routes which supplied the UK. They were pursued by the Royal Navy and on one occasion, at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939, the hunter became the hunted. Allied battlecruisers such as Renown, Repulse, Dunkerque and Strasbourg were employed on operations to hunt down the commerce raiding German battlecruisers, but they rarely got close to their targets. The exception was when the Bismarck was sent out as a raider and was intercepted by HMS Hood in May 1941. However, the modern German battleship was not suitable prey for the elderly British battlecruiser and the Bismarck?s 15 inch shells caused a magazine explosion reminiscent of the Battle of Jutland. Only three men survived.

Related Topics:
Atlantic - Pocket battleships - UK - Royal Navy - Battle of the River Plate - ''Renown'' - ''Repulse'' - ''Dunkerque'' - ''Strasbourg'' - ''Bismarck'' - HMS ''Hood'' - 1941 - Battle of Jutland

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The Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst hunted together and were initially successful at commerce raiding, sinking the British armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi in 1939. Following repairs from damage during the Norwegian campaign, the two battlecruisers set out commerce raiding once again in 1941 and sank 22 merchant ships. They returned to Brest in northern France but found this port was vulnerable to Royal Air Force attacks and were obliged to return to Germany. They did so in the Channel Dash, a daring and successful run up the English Channel. However, they were both damaged and although Scharnhorst was repaired, Gneisenau was damaged again in RAF bombing raids and was eventually disarmed and sunk as a blockship. Scharnhorst was employed once more to attack commerce and attempted to raid the Arctic convoys in December 1943. However, she was cornered by the battleship HMS Duke of York at the Battle of North Cape and sunk on 26 December 1943.

Related Topics:
''Gneisenau'' - ''Scharnhorst'' - Norwegian campaign - Brest - France - Royal Air Force - Germany - Channel Dash - English Channel - RAF - Arctic convoys - HMS ''Duke of York'' - Battle of North Cape - 26 December - 1943

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The use of battlecruisers as commerce raiders was curtailed following an attack by the Admiral Scheer on a convoy guarded by the HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser. It persuaded the British Admiralty that convoys had to be guarded by battleships (or battlecruisers) and subsequently the smaller German ships were forced away from their quarry. Additionally, the air gap over the North Atlantic closed, Huff-Duff (radio triangulation equipment) improved, airborne centimetric radar was introduced and convoys received escort carrier protection. The results of some of these developments were illustrated by the successful defence of convoys at the Battle of the Barents Sea and the Battle of the North Cape.

Related Topics:
''Admiral Scheer'' - HMS ''Jervis Bay'' - Admiralty - Huff-Duff - Centimetric radar - Escort carrier - Battle of the Barents Sea - Battle of the North Cape

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Norwegian campaign

The Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine both deployed battlecruisers during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940. The Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst both engaged HMS Renown and although they had stronger armour than their counterpart, the British ship could hit them harder and at a longer range. They disengaged after Gneisenau sustained damage.

Related Topics:
Royal Navy - Kriegsmarine - Norwegian Campaign - 1940 - ''Gneisenau'' - ''Scharnhorst'' - HMS ''Renown''

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Later in the campaign they returned and sunk the light aircraft carrier HMS Glorious (a converted battlecruiser herself) and her destroyer escort. One of the destroyers succeeded in damaging the Scharnhorst with a torpedo, and later a submarine did the same to Gneisenau, forcing both ships to spend several months in repair. The pocket battleship Lutzow was similarly damaged by HMS Spearfish during the campaign.

Related Topics:
Aircraft carrier - HMS ''Glorious'' - Pocket battleship - ''Lutzow'' - HMS ''Spearfish''

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Mediterranean

The French battlecruisers had fled to North Africa following the fall of France. In July 1940 Force H under Admiral James Somerville was ordered to force their surrender or destroy them. The Dunkerque was damaged by shells from HMS Hood at Mers-el-Kebir but escaped to join the Strasbourg at Toulon. Both ships were scuttled on 27 November 1942, although Strasbourg was raised and used by the Italian navy before being sunk again in an air attack on 18 August 1944.

Related Topics:
Fall of France - July - 1940 - Force H - James Somerville - ''Dunkerque'' - HMS ''Hood'' - Mers-el-Kebir - ''Strasbourg'' - Toulon - 27 November - 1942 - 18 August - 1944

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Pacific War

The first battlecruiser to see action in the Pacific War was Repulse when she was sunk near Singapore on December 10 1941 whilst in company with HMS Prince of Wales. She had not been modified between the wars, and, despite her agility, without aerial protection she was unable to dodge the continuous waves of Japanese torpedo bombers indefinitely.

Related Topics:
''Repulse'' - Singapore - December 10 - 1941 - HMS ''Prince of Wales''

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The Japanese Kongo-class "fast battleships" were used extensively as carrier escorts for most of their wartime career. However, in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 12 November the Hiei was sent out to bombard US positions. She was badly damaged by gunfire from US cruisers and destroyers. She was attacked by US aircraft from Guadacanal?s American held airfield the next day and left to sink north of Savo Island. A few days later on 15 November 1942 Kirishima, engaged the U.S. battleships South Dakota and Washington, and was scuttled following damage from 75 hits inflicted by the Washington. In contrast South Dakota survived 42 hits and was back in operation four months later. The Kongo survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but was eventually sunk on 21 November 1944 in the Formosa Strait by three torpedoes from the U.S. submarine Sealion. Haruna was involved in bombardment operations at Guadacanal, the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was attacked by American carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 and B-24 bombers of the United States Army Air Forces while at Kure on 28 July 1945 and sank at her moorings.

Related Topics:
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - 12 November - ''Hiei'' - Savo Island - 15 November - 1942 - ''Kirishima'' - ''South Dakota'' - ''Washington'' - ''Kongo'' - Battle of Leyte Gulf - 21 November - 1944 - Formosa Strait - Torpedo - Submarine - ''Sealion'' - ''Haruna'' - Battle of the Philippine Sea - Task Force 38 - B-24 - United States Army Air Forces - Kure - 28 July - 1945

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New US designs

Part way through the war the US built the two Alaska class "large cruisers", Alaska and Guam. They were designed to hunt down the Japanese heavy cruisers. Like the German and French designs they were balanced ships, being armed with and armoured against 12 in guns. As with the never-completed Lexington-class battlecruisers, the Alaska-class ships were an outgrowth of contemporary American cruiser design, rather than a modification of contemporary American battleships.

Related Topics:
''Alaska'' class - ''Alaska'' - ''Guam'' - Heavy cruiser - ''Lexington''-class battlecruisers

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Like the contemporary Iowa-class battleships, their speed made them ultimately more useful as carrier escorts and bombardment ships than as the sea combatants they were developed to be (as well as the early and ignominious defeat of the fleets of Japanese heavy cruisers that were their raison d'être). A planned additional four ships of the Alaska class were cancelled after the war.

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Along with Renown, the two Alaskas were the only "battlecruisers" to survive the war.

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