List of battlecruisers of World War I

The Royal Navy's HMS Invincible (1907), who sank at the Battle of Jutland

Germany's SMS Moltke in 1912, prior to her scuttling at Scapa Flow

HMAS Australia in 1914, operated by her namesake country

During the first years of the 20th century, many navies constructed or planned to build battlecruisers: large capital ships with greater speed but less armor than dreadnought battleships. The first battlecruisers, the Invincible class, were championed by the British First Sea Lord John Fisher and appeared in 1908, two years after the revolutionary battleship HMS Dreadnought. ^[1] In the same year, Germany responded with its own battlecruiser, SMS Von der Tann. ^[2] Over the next decade, Britain and Germany built an additional twelve and six battlecruisers, respectively. ^[3] Other nations joined them: HMAS Australia entered service for the Royal Australian Navy in 1913, ^[4] Japan constructed four ships of the Kongō class from 1911 through 1915, ^[5] and in late 1912 Russia laid down the four Borodino-class battlecruisers, though they were never completed. ^[6] Two countries considered acquiring battlecruisers in this time, but chose not to: France looked at several battlecruiser design studies in 1913 and 1914, ^[7] and the United States ordered six Lexington-class battlecruisers in 1916 that were never built. ^[8]

The British and German battlecruisers were used extensively during World War I between 1914 and 1918, including in the Battles of Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank, and most famously in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916, where one German and three British battlecruisers were sunk. ^[9] The Japanese battlecruisers did not see action during the war, as the German naval presence in the Pacific was destroyed by the British in the early months of the war. Britain and Germany attempted to build additional battlecruisers during the war—the Admiral class for the former, and the Mackensen and Ersatz Yorck classes for the latter—but changing priorities in favor of smaller warships prevented their completion. ^[10] At the end of the war, the German High Seas Fleet was interned and subsequently scuttled in Scapa Flow. ^[11]

Key

The list of World War I-era battlecruiser classes includes all battlecruisers listed in chronological order by commission. Classes which did not enter service are listed by the date of cancellation or last work on the project. ^{[N 1]}

Main guns	The number and type of the main battery guns
Armor	The maximum thickness of the belt armor
Displacement	Ship displacement at full combat load
Propulsion	Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated
Service	The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate
Laid down	The date the keel began to be assembled
Commissioned	The date the ship was commissioned [N 2]

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

• List of battlecruisers
• List of battlecruisers of World War II
• List of battleships of World War I

References

1. Roberts, pp. 19–25
2. Herwig, p. 60
3. Gardiner & Gray, pp. 24–41, 151–155
4. "HMAS Australia (I)". Ship histories. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
6. McLaughlin 2003, pp. 332–337
7. Gardiner & Gray, p. 200
9. Staff, pp. 8–37
10. Gardiner & Gray, pp. 41, 155–156
11. Herwig, p. 256
12. Koop & Schmolke, p. 4
13. Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 259
14. Bidlingmaier, pp. 73–74

1. The German Scharnhorst-class battleships and Deutschland-class cruisers and the French Dunkerque-class battleships are all sometimes referred to as battlecruisers. Since neither their operators nor a significant number of naval historians did/do not classify them as such, they are not included in this list. ^{[12] [13] [14]}
2. The table for Russia gives the date of launching rather than commissioning, since none of its battlecruisers were commissioned. Similarly, the United States' table gives dates of launch and commissioning for those ships that did enter service.

Bibliography

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• Gray, Randal (1985). Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Naval Institute Press. p. 439. ISBN   978-0-87021-907-8.
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• Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2007). "Allied Warships". Uboat.net.
• "Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk". Cranston Fine Arts. 2001–2007.
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