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List of battlecruisers of World War I

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This is a list of battlecruisers of World War I. A battlecruiser, or battle cruiser, was a capital ship built in the first half of the 20th century. They were similar in size, cost, and carried similar armament to battleships, but they generally carried less armour to obtain faster speeds. The first battlecruisers were designed in the United Kingdom, in the first decade of the century, as a development of the armoured cruiser, at the same time as the dreadnought succeeded the pre-dreadnought battleship. The original aim of the battlecruiser was to hunt down slower, older armoured cruisers and destroy them with heavy gunfire. However, as more and more battlecruisers were built, they increasingly became used alongside the better-protected battleships.

Battlecruisers served in the navies of Britain, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Australia and Japan during World War I, most notably at the Battle of the Falkland Islands and in the several raids and skirmishes in the North Sea which culminated in a pitched fleet battle, the Battle of Jutland. British battlecruisers, in particular, suffered heavy losses at Jutland, which modern research has revealed was due to dangerous ammunition handling practises rather than the weak armour usually attributed as the weakness.[1] By the end of the war, capital ship design had developed with battleships becoming faster and battlecruisers becoming more heavily armoured, blurring the distinction between a battlecruiser and a fast battleship. The Washington Naval Treaty, which limited capital ship construction from 1922 onwards, treated battleships and battlecruisers identically, and the new generation of battlecruisers planned was scrapped under the terms of the treaty.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the immediate aftermath, inclusive of localized ongoing combat operations, garrison surrenders, post-surrender occupation, colony re-occupation, troop and prisoner repatriation. Some uncompleted battlecruisers are included, out of historic interest.

List of battlecruisers of World War I
Ship Operator Class Displacement (tonnes) First commissioned End of service Fate
Australia  Royal Australian Navy Indefatigable 18,800 21 June 1913 12 December 1921 Scuttled 12 April 1924
Borodino  Imperial Russian Navy Borodino 33,000 Launched 31 July 1915, sold for scrap 21 August 1923
Courageous  Royal Navy Courageous 19,490 28 October 1916 17 September 1939 Converted to aircraft carrier 1924–1928, sunk by submarine 17 September 1939
Derfflinger  Imperial German Navy Derfflinger 26,600 1 September 1914 10 May 1917 Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 1939, scrapped 1946–1948
Ersatz Yorck Ersatz Yorck 33,500 Laid down July 1916, broken up 1918
Fürst Bismarck Mackensen 31,000 Laid down 3 November 1915, broken up 1922
Furious  Royal Navy Courageous 19,826 26 June 1917 15 September 1944 Converted to aircraft carrier 1921–1925, paid off April 1945, broken up 1948–1954
Glorious 19,490 14 October 1916 8 June 1940 Converted to aircraft carrier 1924–1930, sunk 8 June 1940
Graf Spee  Imperial German Navy Mackensen 31,000 Launched 15 September 1917, stricken 17 November 1919, sold for scrap 28 October 1921
Haruna  Imperial Japanese Navy Kongō 27,384 19 April 1915 28 July 1945 Sunk 28 July 1945, refloated and scrapped 1946
Hiei 27,384 4 August 1914 13 November 1942 Sunk 13 November 1942
Hindenburg  Imperial German Navy Derfflinger 26,947 10 May 1917 21 June 1919 Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 23 July 1930, scrapped 1930–1932
Ibuki  Imperial Japanese Navy Ibuki 14,871 1 November 1909 20 September 1923 Sold for scrap 20 September 1923
Ikoma Tsukuba 13,970 24 March 1908 20 September 1923 Stricken 20 September 1923 and scrapped
Indefatigable  Royal Navy Indefatigable 18,800 24 February 1911 31 May 1916 Sunk 31 May 1916
Indomitable Invincible 17,530 25 June 1908 31 March 1920 Sold for scrap 1 December 1921
Inflexible 17,530 20 October 1908 31 March 1920 Sold for scrap 1 December 1921
Invincible 17,530 20 March 1909 31 May 1916 Sunk 31 May 1916
Izmail  Imperial Russian Navy Borodino 33,000 Launched 22 June 1915, broken up 1931
Kinburn 33,000 Launched 30 October 1915, sold for scrap 21 August 1923
Kirishima  Imperial Japanese Navy Kongō 27,384 19 April 1915 15 November 1942 Sunk 15 November 1942
Kongō 27,384 16 August 1913 21 November 1944 Sunk by submarine 21 November 1944
Kurama Ibuki 14,871 28 February 1911 20 September 1923 Sold for scrap 20 September 1923
Lion  Royal Navy Lion 26,690 4 June 1912 30 May 1922 Sold for scrap 31 January 1924
Lützow  Imperial German Navy Derfflinger 26,600 8 August 1915 1 June 1916 Scuttled 1 June 1916
Mackensen Mackensen 31,000 Launched 21 April 1917, stricken 17 November 1919, broken up 1922
Moltke Moltke 22,979 30 August 1911 21 June 1919 Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 1927, scrapped 1929
Navarin  Imperial Russian Navy Borodino 33,000 Launched 9 November 1916, sold for scrap 21 August 1923
New Zealand  Royal Navy Indefatigable 18,800 19 November 1912 19 December 1922 Sold for scrap 22 January 1923
Princess Royal Lion 26,690 14 November 1912 19 December 1922 Sold for scrap 22 January 1923
Prinz Eitel Friedrich  Imperial German Navy Mackensen 31,000 Laid down 1 May 1915, launched 13 March 1920, broken up 1921
Queen Mary  Royal Navy 27,200 4 September 1913 31 May 1916 Sunk 31 May 1916
Renown Renown 32,740 20 September 1916 21 January 1948 Scrapped, 3 August 1948
Repulse 32,740 18 August 1916 10 December 1941 Sunk during the Naval Battle of Malaya, 10 December 1941
Seydlitz  Imperial German Navy 24,988 22 May 1913 21 June 1919 Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 2 November 1928, scrapped 1930
Tiger  Royal Navy 29,000 3 October 1914 15 May 1931 Sold for scrap February 1932
Tsukuba  Imperial Japanese Navy Tsukuba 13,970 14 January 1907 14 January 1917 Sunk by magazine explosion 14 January 1917
Von der Tann  Imperial German Navy 19,370 1 September 1910 21 June 1919 Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 7 December 1930, scrapped 1931
Yavuz Sultan Selim  Ottoman Navy Moltke 23,100 2 July 1912 14 November 1954 Scrapped, 7 June 1973

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lambert (1998), pp. 54–55.
  2. ^ Sondhaus (2001).
  3. ^ Roberts (1997).
  4. ^ "Hulls Listed by Name". Naval Vessel Register. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007.
  5. ^ "US Navy Inactive Classification Symbols". Naval Vessel Register. NAVSEA Shipbuilding Support Office. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Index". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
  7. ^ "Royal Navy operations in the Second World War". The National Archives. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

Bibliography

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