Protected cruiser
Encyclopedia
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...
of the late 19th century, so known because its armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
ed deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above. Protected cruisers were an alternative to the armoured cruisers, which also had a belt of armour along the sides.
Evolution
From the late 1850s, navies began to replace their fleets of wooden ships-of-the-lineShip of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
with armoured ironclad warship
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
s. However, the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s and sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
s which performed the missions of scouting, commerce raiding, and trade protection remained unarmoured. For several decades it proved difficult to design a ship which had any meaningful amount of protective armour but at the same time was capable of the speed and range required of a 'cruising warship'. The first attempts to do so, armoured cruisers like HMS Shannon
HMS Shannon (1875)
The eighth HMS Shannon was the first British armoured cruiser. She was the last Royal Navy ironclad to be built which had a propeller that could be hoisted out of the water to reduce drag when she was under sail, and the first to have an armoured deck....
, proved to be unsatisfactory, generally being too slow for their cruiser role.
During 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. Cruisers with armoured decks and no side armour became 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, and eclipsed the armoured cruisers in popularity in the 1880s and in to the 1890s.
Shannon was the first warship to incorporate an armoured deck; hers stretched forward from the armoured citadel to the bows. However, Shannon principally relied on her vertical citadel armour for protection. By the end of the 1870s ships could be found with full-length armoured decks and little or no side armour. The Italian Italia class
Italia class battleship
The Italia-class battleships were a class of two Italian battleships which served in the Regia Marina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
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; however the Comus class were designed for colonial service and were only capable of 13 knots speed, not fast enough for commerce protection or fleet duties.
The breakthrough for the protected cruiser design came with the Chilean cruiser Esmeralda
Japanese cruiser Izumi
The was a 2nd class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by the Newcastle upon Tyne-based Armstrong Whitworth shipyards at Elswick in the United Kingdom...
, designed and built by the British firm Armstrong, at their Elswick yard. Esmeralda had a high speed of 18 knots (dispensing entirely with sails), and an armament of two 10in and six 6in guns. Her protection scheme, inspired by the Italia class, included a full-length protected deck up to 2in thick, and a cork-filled cofferdam along her sides. Esmeralda set the tone for cruiser construction for the years to come, with "Elswick cruisers" on a similar design being constructed for Italy, China, Japan, Argentina, Austria and the United States.
The French navy adopted the protected cruiser wholeheartedly in the 1880s. The Jeune École
Jeune Ecole
The Jeune École was a strategic naval concept developed during the 19th century. It advocated the use of small, powerfully equipped units to combat a larger battleship fleet, and commerce raiders capable of ending the trade of the rival nation...
school of thought, which proposed a navy composed of fast cruisers for commerce raiding and torpedo-boats for coast defence, was particularly influential in France. The first French protected cruiser was the Sfax, laid down in 1882, and followed by six classes of protected cruiser - and no armoured cruisers.
The British Royal Navy was equivocal about which protection scheme to use until 1887. The large Imperieuse class
Imperieuse class cruiser
The Imperieuse class cruiser was a class of two armoured cruisers launched between 1883 and 1884 for the Royal Navy.-History:In an 1886 magazine article, Sir Edward Reed complained that these ships did not deserve to be called "armoured", as they were not armoured at bow or stern, only along the...
, begun in 1881 and finished in 1886, were built as armoured cruisers but were often referred to as protected cruisers. While they carried an armoured belt some 10 in thick, the belt only covered a 140 ft of the 315 ft length of the ship, and the belt was also submerged below the waterline at full load. The real protection of the class came from the armoured deck 4 in thick, and the arrangement of coal bunkers to prevent flooding. These ships were also the last armoured cruisers to be designed with sails. However, on trials it became clear that the masts and sails did more harm than good. The masts, sails and rigging were removed and replaced with a single military mast with machine guns.
The next class of small cruisers in the Royal Navy, the Mersey class, were protected cruisers, but the Royal Navy then returned to the armoured cruiser with the Orlando class
Orlando class cruiser
The Orlando-class was a seven ship class of Royal Navy armoured cruisers completed between 1888 and 1889.- Building Programme :On 2 December 1884, the Secretary to the Admiralty stated, "The present Board have been gradually developing, and, as I would venture to say, in an effective manner, our...
, begun in 1885 and completed in 1889. However in 1887 a comparison of the Orlando type judged them inferior to the protected cruisers and accordingly the Royal Navy built exclusively protected cruisers, even for very large first-class cruiser designs returning only to armoured cruisers in the late 1890s with the Cressy class
Cressy class cruiser
The Cressy class cruiser was a class of six armoured cruisers launched between December 1899 and May 1901, for the Royal Navy.-Service:...
, laid down in 1898.
The only major naval power to retain a preference for armoured cruisers during the 1880s was Russia. The Russian Navy laid down four armoured cruisers and one protected cruiser during the decade, all being large ships with sails.
Around 1910, armour plate began to increase in quality and 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, lighter and more powerful than previous reciprocating engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, came into use. Existing protected cruisers became obsolescent as they were slower and less well protected than new ships. Oil fired
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
boilers were introduced, making side bunkers of coal unnecessary but losing the protection they afforded. Protected cruisers were replaced by "light armoured cruisers" with a side armoured belt and armoured decks instead of the single deck, later developed into heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . 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...
s.
Protected cruisers in the United States Navy
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United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
"New Navy" was the USS Atlanta
USS Atlanta (1884)
The second USS Atlanta was a protected cruiser and one of the first steel warships of the "New Navy" of the 1880s.Atlanta was laid down on 8 November 1883 at Chester, Pennsylvania by John Roach & Sons; launched on 9 October 1884; sponsored by Miss Jessie Lincoln, the daughter of Secretary of War...
, launched in October 1884, soon followed by the Boston
USS Boston (1884)
The fifth USS Boston, a protected cruiser, was launched 4 December 1884 by John Roach & Sons, Chester, Pennsylvania, and commissioned 2 May 1887, Captain Francis M. Ramsay in command....
in December, and Chicago
USS Chicago (1885)
The first USS Chicago was a protected cruiser of the United States Navy, the largest of the original three authorized by Congress for the "New Navy"....
a year later. A numbered series of cruisers began with Newark (Cruiser No. 1)
USS Newark (C-1)
The first USS Newark was a United States Navy protected cruiser, the first modern cruiser in the US fleet.She was laid down by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 12 June 1888, launched on 19 March 1890, sponsored by Miss Annie Boutelle, the daughter of Congressman Charles A...
, although Charleston (Cruiser No. 2)
USS Charleston (C-2)
The second USS Charleston was a United States Navy protected cruiser — the first US protected cruiser to be built. Lacking experience in building steel cruisers, the design was commissioned from the British company W. Armstrong, Mitchell and Co...
was the first to be launched, in July 1888, and ending with another Charleston, Cruiser No. 22
USS Charleston (C-22)
The third USS Charleston was a United States Navy St. Louis-class protected cruiser. She was launched 23 January 1904 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Miss H. Rhett, and commissioned 17 October 1905, Captain Cameron McRae Winslow in command...
, launched in 1904. The last survivor of this series is the USS Olympia (C-6)
USS Olympia (C-6)
USS Olympia is a protected cruiser which saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The ship was decommissioned after...
, preserved as a museum ship in Philadelphia.
The reclassification of 17 July 1920 put an end to the U.S. usage of the term "protected cruiser", the existing ships designated as plain "cruisers" with new numbers (so that the armored cruisers could retain their numbers unchanged).
Protected cruisers in the Royal Navy
The BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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...
rated cruisers as first, second and third class between the late 1880s and 1905, and built large numbers of them for trade protection requirements. For most of this time these cruisers were built with a "protected", rather than armoured scheme of protection for their hulls. First class protected cruisers were as large and as well-armed as armoured cruisers, and were built as an alternative to the large first class armoured cruiser from the late 1880s till 1898. Second class protected cruisers were smaller, displacing 3,000–5,500 tons and were of value both in trade protection duties and scouting for the fleet. Third class cruisers were smaller, lacked a watertight double bottom, and were intended primarily for trade protection duties, though a few small cruisers were built for fleet scout roles or as "torpedo" cruisers during the "protected" era.
The introduction of Krupp armour
Krupp armour
Krupp armour was a type of steel armour used in the construction of capital ships starting shortly before the end of the 19th century. It was developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced Harvey armour as the primary method of protecting naval ships.The initial manufacturing...
in six inch thickness rendered the "armoured" protection scheme more effective for the largest first class cruisers, and no large first class protected cruisers were built after 1898. The smaller cruisers, unable to bear the weight of heavy armoured belts retained the "protected" scheme up to 1905, when the last units of the Challenger and Highflyer class were completed. There was a general hiatus in British cruiser production after this time, apart from a few classes of small, fast scout cruisers for fleet duties. When the Royal Navy began building larger cruisers (>4,000 tons) again around 1910, they used a mix of armoured decks and/or armoured belts for protection, depending on class. These modern, turbine powered cruisers are properly classified as 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.
Surviving examples
A few protected cruisers have survived as museum shipMuseum 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...
s:
- Aurora—St Petersburg
- USS OlympiaUSS Olympia (C-6)USS Olympia is a protected cruiser which saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The ship was decommissioned after...
—Philadelphia - Bow section and bridge of Puglia—La SpeziaLa SpeziaLa Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
See also
- Commerce raidingCommerce raidingCommerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
- Armored cruiserArmored cruiserThe armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
- Light cruiserLight cruiserA 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...
- CruiserCruiserA 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...
- Heavy cruiserHeavy cruiserThe heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . 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...
- BattlecruiserBattlecruiserBattlecruisers 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...