The battlecruiser was supposed to be a ship designed to take on enemy cruisers, as such, they were provided with larger guns, often the equivalent of a battleship's armament, yet had higher speed than a battleship. All of this came at a price, which was usually less armor or fewer guns. However, though it was commonly thought that this lack of armor was the demise of the battlecruiser, the author and others postulate that, at least for the British, it was a lack of safety and common sense that resulted in their calamitous destruction during Jutland.

Designs of battlecruisers were quite different  when comparing the two major powers that built these ships. The British went for the heavier armament and higher speeds, while the Germans put a greater amount of armor in their ships. Though this is a bit of a simplistic comparison, it is pretty much the way the design teams worked.

In fact, it was the British who basically came up with the battlecruiser as part of England's power projection. Far better to have a fast ship that can go to a crisis area than to maintain a plethora of overseas bases for slower ships.

Despite the usual slowdowns from lack of funds and recalcitrant politicians/admirals (We don't need any new-fangled contraptions in MY navy), the Royal Navy had built up a goodly number of battlecruisers. This includes the rather odd 18 inch gun HMS Furious, which eventually became the world's first aircraft carrier.

Overall, this is a superb book on the type and an excellent primer for those who want to get the basics on these most interesting ships.

October 2006

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