User:The Land/Armoured Cruiser



The armored cruiser was a type of large, fast, armoured warship developed in the 1870s and last used in the First World War. The first armored cruisers were long-ranged ironclad warships designed for commerce raiding and protection duties.

Around 1905 the armored cruiser evolved into the larger and more heavily-armedbattle cruiser, though armored cruisers played a significant role alongside their larger cousins during World War I.

The armored cruiser fulfilled a number of missions, including long-range commerce raiding and trade protection duties, as well as forming a heavy scouting force and supporting the battleships in action.

Genesis in the 1870s
The armoured cruiser first developed in the 1870s as an attempt to combine the virtues of the armoured ironclad warship and the fast and long-ranged, but unarmoured, cruisers of the time. The first ocean-going ironclads had been launched around 1860, and both French and British navies had built classes of relatively small ironclad warships, designed for long-range colonial service and using both sail and steam propulsion. Examples of this kind of "station ironclad" include the British Audacious and French Belliqueuse classes. However, these ships were too slow to raid enemy commerce or hunt down enemy ships trying to do the same. These missions of commerce raiding and commerce protection were filled by frigates or corvettes, also powered by both sail and steam. Without the additional weight of armour, these ships could reach speeds of up to 16 or 17 knots. Examples of the most powerful of these armoured cruisers of the 1860s included the British Inconstant, the U.S. Navy's Wampanoag and the French Duquesne.

The Russian navy was the first to produce an armoured warship intended for the commerce-raiding role, with the General Admiral, begun in 1870 and launched in 1873, often referred to as the first armoured cruiser. With her sister Gerzog Edinburgski, she represented a new threat to British commerce in the event of war. The British responded with Shannon, begun in 1873 and launched in 1875, and followed by two ships of the Nelson class.

These early armoured cruisers were similar in appearance to cut-down versions of the ironclads of the time. Since sail propulsion was still vital for a long-ranged ship, the armoured cruisers were required to carry a full sailing rig. As sailing ships required a high freeboard and a large amount of stability, this in turn ruled out the use of armoured turrets, as were used on monitors an some battleships at the time, because a turret was a very heavy weight high in the ship. Thus armoured cruisers retained a more traditional broadside arrangement. Their armour was distributed in a thick belt around the waterline along most of their length; the gun positions on deck were not necessarily armoured at all. They were typically powered by double-expansion steam engines fed by boilers which generated steam at perhaps 60 or 70 psi pressure, which gave relatively poor efficiency, and a relatively short range under steam. Their short steaming range could have been improved if less weight had been devoted to masts and rigging, but not to so far that they would ever reach the desired range under coal.

The British navy was never very happy with these early armoured cruisers. They were too slow to deal with fast cruisers, Shannon making 12.25 knots and Nelson 14 knots, and not well-armoured enough to take on a first-class battleship. At this stage, it was still novel to distinguish between the concepts of armoured cruiser and second-class battleship, and the designer of the British ships felt they fulfilled both roles.

A battle in May 1877 between the British unarmoured cruiser Shah and the Peruvian monitor Huáscar demonstrated the need for more and better-protected cruisers. Shah and the smaller wooden corvette Amethyst hit Huáscar more than 50 times without causing significant damage. The Peruvian ship had an inexperienced crew unused to its cumbersome machinery, and managed to fire off only six rounds, none of which hit. The engagement demonstrated the value of cruisers with armour protection, and was part of the reason for the construction of the British Imperieuse class.

However, at the same time, an alternative armour concept was being developed. In the 1870s, the increasing power of armour-piercing guns made armouring the sides of a ship more and more difficult, as very thick, heavy armour plates were required. Even if armour dominated the design of the ship, it was likely that the next generation of guns would be able to pierce it. The alternative was to leave the sides of the ship vulnerable, but to armour a deck just below the waterline. Since this deck would only be struck very obliquely by shells, it could be rather less thick and heavy than belt armour. The ship could be designed so that under the armoured deck were the engines, boilers and magazines, and enough displacement to keep the ship afloat and stable even in the event of damage.

Shannon was the first warship with an armoured deck; hers stretched forward from the armoured citadel to the bows. However, by the end of the 1870s ships could be found with full-length armoured decks an little or no side armour. The Italian Italia class of very fast battleships had armoured decks and guns but no side armour. The British used a full-length armoured deck in their Comus class of corvettes started in 1878. For many years in the 1880s and early 1890s, the protected cruiser

It should be noted that the British Royal Navy classified both armored cruisers and protected cruisers of equivalent size and armament as 'first class cruisers'. Thus, the first class cruisers built between the Orlando class (1886) and the Cressy class (1897) were—strictly speaking—protected cruisers, as they lacked an armored belt.

Examples
Early armored cruisers generally displaced 6,000–12,000 tons with a speed of 18–20 knots (33–37 km/h). The type reached its zenith in 1906–1908 with displacements of 14,000–16,000 tons and speeds of 22–23 knots (41–43 km/h). Typical armament was two or four large-caliber guns at the ends of the ship, usually between 7.5–10 inches (190–254 mm), and some dozen guns of 6 in (152 mm) caliber or similar along the sides.

For example, the first Russian Rurik (1892) had four 8-in (203 mm) guns, sixteen 6-in (152 mm) guns and six 4.7-in (120 mm) guns; the French Victor Hugo (1904) had four 7.6-in (194 mm) guns and sixteen 6.5-in (164 mm) guns. The numerous British Monmouth class (1901) was an exception, the design of these ships giving emphasis to the class's trade protection role over fleet duties, with a uniform armament of fourteen 6-in (152 mm) guns. Later armored cruisers had increased armaments, for example the British HMS Warrior (1905) with six 9.2-in (234 mm) guns and four 7.5-in (190 mm) guns; the German SMS Blücher (1909) with twelve 210-mm (8.2 in) guns and eight 150-mm (5.9 in) guns; and the second Russian Rurik (1906, built by Vickers) with four 10-in (254 mm) guns, eight 8-in (203 mm) guns, and twenty 4.7-in (120 mm) guns.

Armored cruisers in the United States Navy
The first armored cruiser of the United States Navy was the USS Maine, whose explosion in 1898 triggered the Spanish-American War. Launched in 1889, she had 7 to 12 inches (178 to 305 mm) of armor around the sides ('belt armor'), and 1 to 4 inches (25 to 102 mm) on the decks. She was redesignated as a 'second class battleship' in 1894, an awkward compromise reflecting slowness compared to other cruisers, and weakness versus the first-line battleships of the time.

New York, launched in 1895, was less well protected than Maine, with 3 inches (76 mm) of belt armor, and 3 to 6 inches (76 to 152 mm) of deck armor. The Brooklyn was an improved version of the New York and Olympia designs.

Shortly after the Spanish-American War, the Navy built six Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers, almost immediately followed by four of the Tennessee class. Collectively these ten ships were referred to as the 'big ten'.

The Battle of Tsushima
Armored cruisers were used with success in the line of battle by the Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Of the battle damage received by the Japanese, the armored cruiser Nisshin received the second-most hits after the battleship Mikasa. Nisshin was hit 13 times, including one 9 in and six 12 in hits. Nisshin managed to stay in line throughout the battle, validating the hopes of the designer: a cruiser able to stand in the line of battle. The performance of the Japanese armored cruisers during the Battle of Tsushima, and that of Nisshin in particular, likely led to a boom in the construction of armored cruisers in the world's navies.

Obsolescence
Armored cruisers were abruptly considered obsolete by 1907, when the Royal Navy introduced the Invincible-class battlecruisers. The previous year, the British had launched the revolutionary 'all big gun' HMS Dreadnought. The Invincibles also had a main battery of all uniform large caliber guns, trading off armor for higher speed compared to the Dreadnought. Just as Dreadnought had rendered all previous battleships (which were renamed pre-dreadnoughts) obsolete, the Invincibles compared favorably in firepower, speed, and protection to armored cruisers.

Among the last armored cruisers built was the German SMS Blücher. Though it was perhaps the best of that type of ship, it was not up to par with the new battlecruisers. She was considered to be an intermediate stage toward the future German battlecruiser, being larger and more heavily armed than all preceding armored cruisers, though smaller than subsequent battlecruisers. Blücher was completed in part because the British had misled the Germans on the Invincibles' specifications, and Blücher was too far in her construction once the actual design of the British battlecruisers was known.

World War I
The Battle of Coronel, which had occurred shortly before the Falkland Islands engagement, was one of the last battles involving armored cruisers as the chief adversaries; all subsequent engagements were dominated by dreadnought-era battleships and battlecruisers. Unlike pre-dreadnoughts, armored cruisers still played an active role in World War I due to their high speeds, and were often used against dreadnought-type vessels where they fared poorly.

For instance, at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sunk by the battlecruisers HMS Invincible and Inflexible. The German commander Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee had already considered the Royal Australian Navy flagship HMAS Australia superior to his force of armored and light cruisers. At the Falkland Islands encounter, while the German gunnery was mostly accurate, they failed to inflict serious damage on the British battlecruisers, which turned the tide of battle once they started hitting von Spee's ships.

During the Battle of Dogger Bank, the SMS Blücher was crippled by a shell from a British battlecruiser, which dropped her speed to 17 knots. This forced Admiral Hipper to make the decision to sacrifice the armored cruiser (which was sunk with great loss of life) and let his more modern and valuable battlecruisers escape.

HMS Warrior, Defence and Black Prince were lost at the Battle of Jutland when they inadvertently came into sight and range of the German Navy's battle line, which included several battlecruisers and dreadnought battleships.

End of the armored cruiser
The London Naval Treaty of 1930 essentially abolished the term 'armored cruiser', and adopted the terms heavy cruiser and light cruiser. After this, the symbol 'CA' was used to designate 'heavy cruiser'.

One late-design armored cruiser still exists: Georgios Averof, constructed in 1909–1911, is preserved as a museum in Greece.