Heavy cruiser - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

, a naval warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre (8 inches). The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930. The heavy cruiser's immediate precursors were the light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

designs of the 1900s and 1910s, rather than the armoured cruisers of before 1905.

Evolution and definition

At the end of the 19th century, cruisers were classified as First, Second or Third Class depending on their capabilities. First class Cruisers were typically armoured cruisers, with belt

Belt armor

Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....

side armor, and they were hard to distinguish from a small pre-dreadnought battleship. The lighter, cheaper and faster Second and Third Class cruisers tended to have only an armoured deck and protective coal bunkers, rather than armoured hulls, and hence were known as protected cruiser

Protected cruiser

The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...

s.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the First Class Armoured Cruiser metamorphosed into the battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

, and increased markedly in size and cost. At the same time, the Third Class Cruiser started to carry thin steel armour on the outside of its hull and became known as the light cruiser

Light cruiser

. The wide gap between the massive battlecruiser of perhaps 20,000 tons and 305 mm (12-inch) guns and the small light cruiser of up to 5,000 tons and 100 mm (4-in) or 155 mm (6-inch) guns naturally left room for an intermediate type.

The first such design was the British 'Atlantic cruiser' proposal of 1912, which proposed a long-range cruiser of about 8,000 tons displacement with 190 mm (7.5-inch) guns. This was a response to a rumour that Germany was building cruisers to attack merchant shipping in the Atlantic with 170mm guns. The German raiders proved to be fictional and the 'Atlantic cruisers' were never built. However, in 1915 the requirement for long-range trade-protection cruisers resurfaced and resulted in the Hawkins class

Hawkins class cruiser

The Hawkins class was a class of five heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy designed in 1915 and constructed throughout the First World War. All ships were named after Elizabethan sea captains...

. Essentially enlarged light cruisers, the Hawkins class each carried seven 190 mm (7.5-inch)

BL 7.5 inch Mk VI naval gun

The BL 7.5 inch gun Mark VI was the 45 calibre naval gun forming the main battery of Royal Navy s. These ships with seven single gun mounts were significant to the cruiser limitations defined by the Washington Naval Treaty.-Description:...

guns, and had a displacement just under 10,000 tons.

Comparison to armored cruisers

The old armoured cruiser was not a close ancestor of these heavy cruiser models, even though the name sometimes suggests this. By 1905 the armoured cruiser had grown in size and power to be very close to the pre-dreadnought battleships of the day, with a displacement of around 15,000 tons: considerably larger than the 10,000 tons of the heavy cruiser. This trend resulted in the battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

, which was initially conceived as an armoured cruiser on the same scale as the dreadnought

Dreadnought

The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...

battleship. By 1915, both battleships and battlecruisers had grown markedly; HMS Hood

HMS Hood

Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hood after several members of the Hood family, who were notable Navy officers: was a 91-gun second-rate ship of the line, originally laid down as HMS Edgar, but renamed in 1848 and launched in 1859. She was used for harbour service from 1872 and was...

, for instance, designed at around that time, displaced 45,000 tons. The great gap between heavy cruisers and the capital ships of the same generation meant that, unlike the armoured cruiser, the heavy cruiser could not be expected to serve as a junior battleship.

There were also important technical differences between the heavy cruiser and the armoured cruiser, some of which reflected the generational gap between them. Heavy cruisers, like all contemporary ships, were typically powered by oil-fired steam turbine

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

engines and were capable of far faster speeds than armoured cruisers had ever been (propelled by coal-fired reciprocating steam engines of their era). The main armament of a heavy cruiser at a maximum 203 mm (8-inch) was smaller than the typical 233 mm (9.2-inch) guns of later armoured cruisers. Nonetheless, heavy cruisers often had a larger number of main guns (some armoured cruisers had a mixed instead of uniform complement of main guns), discarded the mounting of main guns in casemate

Casemate

A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...

s in favor of center-line superfiring

Superfire

The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...

turrets (saved tonnage and enabled the ship to fire all guns on one broadside), and benefited from the introduction of fire control in the 1920s and 30s, meaning that the heavy cruiser was considerably more powerful.

Washington Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

of 1922 introduced very strict limits on the construction of battleships and battlecruisers, defined as warships of more than 10,000 tons standard displacement

Displacement (fluid)

In fluid mechanics, displacement occurs when an object is immersed in a fluid, pushing it out of the way and taking its place. The volume of the fluid displaced can then be measured, as in the illustration, and from this the volume of the immersed object can be deduced .An object that sinks...

or with armament of a calibre greater than eight inches (203 mm). Under this limit, far fewer restrictions applied. The 10,000 tons and 203 mm (8-inch) level was set with reference to the British Hawkins class, but both Japan and the USA were also considering designs on a similar specification. The Japanese model became the Furutaka class

Japanese cruiser Furutaka

was the lead ship in the two-vessel Furutaka-class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named after Mount Furutaka, located on Etajima, Hiroshima immediately behind the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy.-Design:...

.

The emergence of these new, powerful cruiser classes sparked off something of a cruiser arms-race. The Japanese navy had a doctrine of building more powerful ships in every class than its likely opponents, which led to the development of several very impressive heavy cruiser classes. British and American building was more influenced by the desire to be able to match the Japanese ships while keeping enough cruisers for their other global responsibilities. With battleships heavily regulated by the Washington Treaty, and aircraft carriers not yet mature, the cruiser question became the focus of naval affairs. The British, with a strained economy and global commitments, favoured unlimited cruiser tonnage but strict limits on the individual ships. The Americans favoured the opposite: strictly limited numbers of powerful cruisers. Disagreements between the British and Americans wrecked the 1927 conference on naval affairs.

Even during the 1920s, the 10,000 ton limit was not strictly observed. British, French and American designers generally worked to the limit with precision. The British built 13 of their famous County Class

County class

County class may refer to:*County class destroyer, a post–World War II class of guided missile destroyers*County class cruiser, pre–World War II class of heavy cruiser*GWR 1000 Class or County class of Great Western Railway locomotives, built 1945–1947...

with four twin 8" gun turrets but with very minimal armour. The ships had fine sea-keeping qualities and a long range, but were virtually unprotected, and were easily damaged in combat. The Japanese Myoko class

Myoko class cruiser

-External links:*...

, however, grew during its construction as the naval general staff prevailed on the designers to increase the weapons load. As well as a breach of the Treaty, this was a poor decision from the design point of view and the ships had to be reconstructed in the 1930s to reduce weight. The German Deutschland class

Deutschland class cruiser

The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles...

, was classified as armoured coast defence ships under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

. They superficially resembled contemporary battleships due to their massive main gun turrets and unusually high conning tower

Conning tower

A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....

/bridge

Bridge (ship)

The bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is underway the bridge is manned by an OOW aided usually by an AB acting as lookout...

. However, they were in effect a heavy cruiser being upgunned to 11-inch batteries at the cost of slower speed; their displacement was declared at 10,000 tons but was in practice considerably greater.

The Pensacola
Pensacola class cruiser
The Pensacola class of United States Navy heavy cruisers were the first "treaty cruisers", designed under the limitations set by the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited cruisers to a maximum of 10,000 tons displacement and a maximum main battery caliber of 8 inches.-Description:In an effort to...

class cruisers were the US Navy's first "treaty cruisers", adhering to the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

restrictions. Their main battery consisted of the maximum 8" guns permitted by the treaty. However, they had a thin armor belt (varying from 2.5 to 4 inches in thickness) and deck (1.75 inches), no thicker than the armor on 6" gun cruisers, being inadequate to protect their vitals from enemy 8" shells. The two vessels in this class, Pensacola and Salt Lake City, were originally classified as light cruisers due to their minimal armor until re-designated in July 1931 as heavy cruisers in accord with international practice of designating all cruisers with guns larger than 6".

London Treaty

In 1930 the Washington Naval Treaty was extended by the London Naval Treaty

London Naval Treaty

The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...

, which finally settled the arguments on cruisers which had raged in the 1920s. The treaty defined limits on both heavy cruisers - those with guns larger than 155 mm (6.1 inches) - and light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

s - those with smaller-calibre guns. The limit of 10,000 tons displacement still applied to both. This was the point at which the split between 'heavy' and 'light' cruisers finally became official and widespread.

The Treaty satisfied Britain and America. However, it deeply offended Japan, as this severely limited the numbers of heavy cruisers that the Imperial Japanese Navy could have, as they considered heavy cruisers as key warships in a line of battle with their 8-inch guns and heavy torpedo armament. The IJN placed less priority on purpose-built light cruisers, most of their existing types dating back to the 1920s (the five WWII-era light cruisers that the IJN commissioned were less well-armed than light cruisers of the US and Royal Navies), which were largely relegated to leading destroyer squadrons. The solution the Japanese adopted was to build the Mogami class

Mogami class cruiser

The were a class of four heavy cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1930s. All four fought in World War II, and were sunk.-Design:...

, which was declared as a 10,000 ton light cruiser with fifteen 6.1-inch guns. In practice, they displaced over 12,000 tons, and it was always intended to replace her turrets to give a final armament of ten 203 mm guns, making something of a nonsense of the light and heavy cruiser classifications.

The German navy also paid lip-service to the treaty limitations, with the Admiral Hipper class

Admiral Hipper class cruiser

The Admiral Hipper-class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by the German Kriegsmarine in the mid 1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class were completed to see action during World War II...

weighing in at 14,000 tons.

In the mid 1930s, Britain, France and Italy ceased building heavy cruisers. It was felt that in a likely cruiser engagement, a larger number of 155 mm (6-inch) guns would be preferable to a smaller number of 203 mm (8-inch). The heavier shell of the 203 mm weapon was of little advantage, as most ships that could withstand a 6-inch hit were also well-protected against eight-inch shells. This led to the construction of cruisers up to the 10,000-tons limit, with twelve to fifteen 155 mm guns. While these ships fell into the 'light cruiser' classification by virtue of the calibre of their main armament, they were designed to fight a heavy cruiser on equal terms again making something of a nonsense of the classifications.

The 1936 London Naval Treaty, principally negotiated between Britain and the United States but never ratified, abolished the heavy cruiser entirely by restricting new construction to 8,000 tons and 155 mm (6.1-inch) guns. This suited Britain's needs very well, but was largely a dead letter. The U.S. continued to build heavy cruisers, culminating in the New Orleans class and USS Wichita

USS Wichita (CA-45)

USS Wichita was a heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. The lead ship and only member of her class, she was the first ship named after the city of Wichita, Kansas...

Second World War

Heavy cruisers were still being built, and they could be balanced designs when nations decided to skirt the restrictions imposed by the London Naval Treaty

London Naval Treaty

.

The Germans built their Hipper class heavy cruisers of 14,000 tons, although the Anglo-German Naval Agreement

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 18, 1935 was a bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and German Reich regulating the size of the Kriegsmarine in relation to the Royal Navy. The A.G.N.A fixed a ratio whereby the total tonnage of the Kriegsmarine was to be 35% of the total tonnage...

was supposed to limit their shipbuilding.

The U.S. built the Baltimore class

Baltimore class cruiser

The Baltimore class cruiser was a type of heavy cruiser in the United States Navy from the last years of the Second World War. Fast and heavily armed, ships like the Baltimore cruisers were mainly used by the Navy in World War II to protect the fast aircraft carriers in carrier battle groups...

of heavy cruisers during the war. While earlier heavy cruisers were noted for their powerful torpedo armament (especially Japanese heavy cruisers), later ships built by the USN concentrated mainly on anti-aircraft armament as their main role was escorting aircraft carriers instead of engaging in surface actions. Interestingly, most Japanese heavy cruisers were sunk by aircraft or submarines, instead of during surface engagements.
The U.S. built the last heavy cruisers, which were finished shortly after the war. The Baltimore class consisted of seventeen ships, including three of the slightly different Oregon City class. The Des Moines class

Des Moines class cruiser

The Des Moines class cruisers were a group of U.S. Navy heavy cruisers, commissioned in 1948–1949. They were the last of the all-gun heavy cruisers, exceeded in size in the American navy only by the cruisers.-Description:...

were the last heavy cruisers built: though based on the Baltimores, they were considerably heavier and longer due to their new rapid-firing 203 mm (8-inch) guns. Additionally, two aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

s were built on a Baltimore-derived hull, the Saipan class

Saipan class aircraft carrier

The Saipan class aircraft carriers were a class of two light carriers [ and ] built for the United States Navy during World War II. Like the nine Independence- class light carriers, they were based on cruiser hulls...

.

The largest heavy cruisers were the Alaska class

Alaska class cruiser

The Alaska-class cruisers were a class of six very large cruisers ordered prior to World War II for the United States Navy. Although often called battlecruisers, officially the Navy classed them as Large Cruisers . Their intermediate status is reflected in their names relative to typical U.S....

of "large cruiser". Though they resembled contemporary battlecruisers or battleships in general appearance, as well as having main armament and displacement equal or greater than that of capital ship

Capital ship

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...

s of the First World War, they were actually upscaled heavy cruisers. The Alaskas, for instance, lacked the torpedo defense system of true capital ships. They also had proportionately less weight in armour at 28.4% of displacement, in contrast to the British battlecruiser Hood
HMS Hood (51)
HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...

of 30%, and the German Scharnhorst
German battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...

and US North Carolina
USS North Carolina (BB-55)
USS North Carolina was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of this U.S. state. She was the first new-construction U.S. battleship to enter service during World War II, participating in every major naval offensive in the Pacific...

battleships of 40%. The layout of the Alaskas machinery and the possession of a single rudder was also based on that of cruisers rather than that of capital ships.

Heavy cruisers fell out of use after the Second World War, with the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

decommissioning its last three (London

HMS London (69)

HMS London was a member of the second group of the County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She and her sisters; Sussex, Shropshire, and Devonshire differed from the earlier group of Counties, , by having a smaller forward superstructure, which was positioned slightly further aft, and next...

, Cumberland

HMS Cumberland (57)

HMS Cumberland was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.-Career:Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit...

, and Devonshire

HMS Devonshire (39)

HMS Devonshire was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was part of the London subgroup of the County class, and saw service in the Second World War.-Early career:...

), by the early 1950s. Some existing US heavy cruisers lasted well through the 1970s, with the last all-gun ship USS Newport News

USS Newport News (CA-148)

The second USS Newport News was a in the United States Navy. Newport News was laid down 1 November 1945; launched on 6 March 1948 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. The vessel was sponsored by Mrs. Homer L. Ferguson upon commissioning on 29 January 1949,...

decommissioning in 1975, and those converted to guided missile cruisers (US hull symbol CG), USS Chicago

USS Chicago (CA-136)

USS Chicago was a Baltimore class heavy cruiser laid down on 28 July 1943 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, by the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Launched on 20 August 1944 she was sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Kelly, wife of the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard...

, and USS Albany

USS Albany (CA-123)

USS Albany was a United States Navy Oregon City-class heavy cruiser, later converted to the guided missile cruiser CG-10. The converted cruiser was the lead ship the new Albany guided missile cruiser class...

were laid up in 1980.

The last heavy cruiser in existence is the USS Salem

USS Salem (CA-139)

The third USS Salem is a Des Moines-class heavy cruiser, formerly commissioned in the United States Navy. The world's last all-gun heavy cruiser to enter commission, she is currently open to the public as a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts.-Construction and shakedown:Salem was laid down on 4...

, now carefully preserved museum ship

Museum ship

A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

in Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

External links