The battle cruiser 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.

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.

Germany had few of these ships as it has less in terms of resources, both material and monetary. In the end, only seven German battlecruisers were built, all of them having relatively short life spans.

The author divides the book into the four different builds of these ships. The first section is on the Von Der Tann, Germany's first battle cruiser. Then it is on to the Moltke and Goeben, the Seydlitz, and finally the Derfflinger, Lutzow and Hindenburg.  These last three were the finest battlecruisers built by any nation, but they all succumbed to battle or scuttling at the end of the war.

Each ship has sections on the armor, armament, machinery, sea-keeping, and a service record. There are also superb period photos of these ships and the artwork of Tony Bryan provides an excellent look at what these ships were like.

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.

August  2006

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