Big cruiser
The term was fixed by the naval laws . In 1898, the First Naval Law provided for a number of twelve large cruisers, three of which were to be used abroad and three were assigned to the reserve. The planned number of large cruisers increased to 20 by the last pre-war amendment to the law in 1912.
The Imperial Navy had to categorize its existing ships accordingly. At first, this included very different ships. The King Wilhelm, which was laid on keel for the Turkish Navy at the Thames Iron Works in England in 1865, was bought by Prussia during the construction work in 1867 and launched as an armored frigate in 1868 after a final conversion into a large cruiser in 1897. For this purpose, the two tank frigates of the Kaiser class from 1874, Kaiser and Germany , also built in England, were reclassified as large cruisers.
Ultimately, this category consisted of protected cruisers , such as the Empress Augusta and the five cruisers of the Victoria Louise class ( Victoria Louise , Hertha , Hansa , Freya , Vineta ) as well as the nine German armored cruisers , of which the Prinz Heinrich was the first under the provisions of the Fleet Act arose:
| Surname | Launch | Shipyard | Construction displacement | Construction designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Bismarck | 1897 | KW Kiel | 10,690 t | Replacement Leipzig |
| Prince Heinrich | 1900 | KW Kiel | 8,887 t | New building A |
| Prince Adalbert | 1901 | KW Kiel | 9,087 t | New building B |
| Friedrich Carl | 1902 | Blohm & Voss | 9,087 t | Replacement King Wilhelm |
| Roon | 1903 | KW Kiel | 9,533 t | Replacement emperor |
| Yorck | 1904 | Blohm & Voss | 9,533 t | Replacement Germany |
| Scharnhorst | 1906 | Blohm & Voss | 11,616 t | New building D |
| Gneisenau | 1906 | AG Weser | 11,616 t | New building C |
| Blucher | 1908 | KW Kiel | 15,842 t | New building E |
In Germany, the Blücher was the last armored cruiser, the Von der Tann was the first full-fledged battle cruiser . Nevertheless, in the German Imperial Navy, this ship and its six completed successors were always officially referred to as " Great Cruisers ".
| Surname | Launch | Shipyard | Construction displacement | Construction designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From the Tann | 1909 | Blohm & Voss | 19,370 t | New building F |
| Moltke | 1910 | Blohm & Voss | 22,979 t | New building G |
| Goeben | 1911 | Blohm & Voss | 22,979 t | New building H |
| Seydlitz | 1912 | Blohm & Voss | 24,988 t | New building J |
| Derfflinger | 1913 | Blohm & Voss | 26,600 t | New building K |
| Lützow | 1913 | Schichau | 26,741 t | Replacement Empress Augusta |
| Hindenburg | 1915 | KW Wilhelmshaven | 26,947 t | Replacement Hertha |
| Mackensen | 1917 | Blohm & Voss | 31,000 t | Substitute for Victoria Luise |
| Count Spee | 1917 | Schichau | 31,000 t | Replacement Blücher |
The main reason for this designation handling was budgetary nature, since the navy could build the capital ships from the cruiser budget of the adopted naval laws . It was also possible to counter the efforts of some parties to save funds by converting to the construction of a "union type" consisting of a ship of the line and a battle cruiser while reducing the number of units.
Unofficially, the term “battle cruiser” was also used during the First World War , because they were also used as such: summarized in the I. Reconnaissance Group, they formed the rapid reconnaissance and attack wing of the battle fleet, for example in the sea battle off the Skagerrak ( English Battle of Jutland ).
Towards the end of World War II, the US Navy had the battlecruisers built like Alaska-class ships that were classified as Large Cruisers (CB) .
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford.
- NJM Campbell, Battlecruisers. Conway Maritime Press, London 1978.