Schematic section of a typical armoured cruiser with an armoured upper and middle deck and side belt (red), lateral protective coal bunkers (grey) and a double-bottom of watertight compartments. The machinery was arranged in the protected internal void.

The armored or armoured cruiser (see spelling differences) is a type of cruiser; a naval warship. The armoured cruiser is protected by a belt of side armor, in addition to the armored deck and protective coal bunkers that define the protected cruiser. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Belt armor is armor added to the hulls of battleships. ... A destroyed M113 armoured personnel carrier show a section of the armour. ... A schematic section of a protected cruiser illustrating the protection scheme. ...

The development of the explosive shell in the mid-1800s made the use of armored warships inevitable, despite the cost and weight. Armored cruisers began to appear in large Western navies around 1873 and the type continued to be built until 1908. Around this time they were rapidly being outclassed by new developments such as the 'all big gun' dreadnought battleship and the similar battlecruiser. A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot (AP, APCR, APCNR, APDS, APFSDS and Proof shot). ... Look up dreadnought in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ...

Evolution and designs

Early types

The Russian armored cruiser General-Admiral (1873)

The first large armored cruiser-type ships were the Russian General-Admiral (1873) and the British Shannon (1875), although the latter was initially known as an Ironclad Frigate. Image File history File links Russian armoured cruiser General Admiral File links There are no pages that link to this file. ... Image File history File links Russian armoured cruiser General Admiral File links There are no pages that link to this file. ... The Russian armored cruiser General-Admiral (1873) General-Admiral was a warship of the Imperial Russian Navy, and is considered as one of the early types of armored cruisers. ... The Russian armored cruiser General-Admiral (1873) General-Admiral was a warship of the Imperial Russian Navy, and is considered as one of the early types of armored cruisers. ... The eighth HMS Shannon was the first British armoured cruiser. ... Ironclad warships, frequently shortened to just ironclads, were ships sheathed with thick iron plates for protection. ... For the bird, see Frigatebird. ...

Modern armored cruisers

The first true armored cruiser was the French Navy Dupuy de Lôme, launched in 1887.^[1] That same year, the Russian Ryurik entered service. The first ship in the form that came to be accepted as the pattern for the armored cruiser was the Clyde-built Chiyoda of the Imperial Japanese Navy^[2]. The advances made in the Chiyoda were centred around the adoption of the vertical triple-expansion reciprocating engine^[2]. Unlike the horizontal TE type, which occupied the width of the ship, the vertical TE engine could be kept close to the centreline of the ship and surrounded by a protective blanket of belt armor and coal bunkers to the sides and deck armor on top. This provided a large protected zone inside the ship in which the machinery was protected from exploding shell and which maintained watertight integrity^[2]. Chiyoda is too small to be thought of as a true armored cruiser, but she set a mold that would be closely followed by subsequent ships. The French Navy, officially called the National Navy (French: Marine Nationale) is the maritime arm of the French military. ... Armored cruiser Dupuy de Lôme, launched in 1887. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... The River Clyde, looking eastwards upstream, as it passes beneath the Kingston Bridge in Central Glasgow. ... Chiyoda (千代田) was one of the Imperial Japanese Navys first armored cruisers. ... The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (: 大日本帝國海軍 Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍   or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun), officially Navy of Empire of Greater Japan, also known as the Japanese Navy or Combined Fleet was the Navy of Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japans constitutional renunciation of the use of force... // The term steam engine may also refer to an entire railroad steam locomotive. ...

Armored cruiser Dupuy de Lôme, launched in 1887.

The 1890 Japanese cruiser Chiyoda set the trend for armored cruiser design.

The last armored cruisers were built around 1910 . Around this time they were rapidly being outclassed by new technological developments such as the 'all big gun' dreadnought battleship powered by steam turbine engines and the adoption of oil firing meant that new construction could no longer rely on the protection afforded by coal bunkers. Armored cruisers were directly replaced in battle fleets by the larger, faster and better-armed battlecruisers. The large armoured cruiser was therefore rendered obsolete and only light cruisers were built from that point on. Remaining armoured cruisers were used in patrolling and minor roles until the end of World War II. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Chiyoda (千代田) was one of the Imperial Japanese Navys first armored cruisers. ... Look up dreadnought in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power plant A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work. ... An oil tanker taking on bunker fuel. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

It should be noted that the British Royal Navy classified both armoured cruisers and protected cruisers of equivalent size and armament as "first class cruisers". Thus, the first class cruisers built between the Orlando class (1886) and the Cressy class (1897) were - strictly speaking - protected cruisers, as they lacked an armored belt. The Orlando-class was a seven ship class of Royal Navy armored cruisers completed between 1888 and 1889. ... Categories: Stub | Ship classes ... A schematic section of a protected cruiser illustrating the protection scheme. ...

Examples

Early armored cruisers generally displaced 6,000–12,000 tons with a speed of 18–20 knots (33–37 km/h). The type reached its zenith in 1906–1908 with displacements of 14,000–16,000 tons and speeds of 22–23 knots (41–43 km/h). Typical armament was 2 or 4 large-calibre guns at the ends of the ship, usually between 7.5–10 inches (190 to 254 mm), and some dozen guns of 6 in (152 mm) calibre or similar along the sides. A long ton is the name used in the US for the unit called the ton in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used (alongside the metric system) in the United Kingdom and to some extent in other Commonwealth countries. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...

German Blücher (1908)

For example, the first Russian Rurik (1892) had four 8 in (203 mm) guns, sixteen 6 in (152 mm) guns and six 4.7 in (120 mm) guns and the French Victor Hugo (1904) had four 9.4 in (194 mm) guns and sixteen 7.5 in (164 mm) guns. The numerous British Monmouth class (1901) was an exception, the design of these ships giving emphasis to the class's trade protection role over fleet duties, with a uniform armament of fourteen 6 in (152 mm) guns. Later armored cruisers had increased armaments, for example the British HMS Warrior (1905) - six 9.2 in (234 mm) guns and four 7.5 in (190 mm) guns; the German SMS Blücher (1909) - twelve 210 mm (8.2 in) guns and six 150 mm (5.9 in) guns; and the second Russian Rurik (1906, built by Vickers) had four 10 in (254 mm) guns, eight 8 in (203 mm) guns, and twenty 4.7 in (120 mm) guns. Download high resolution version (804x499, 63 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (804x499, 63 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... SMS Blücher was an armoured cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was the last vessel of its class built by Germany. ... The Rurik (Рюрик) was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in 1895. ... The Monmouth-class was a ten-ship class of armoured cruiser built around 1902 for the Royal Navy. ... HMS Warrior, the name ship of her class of 4 armored cruisers of the Royal Navy, was built several years before the outbreak of the First World War. ... SMS Blücher was an armoured cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was the last vessel of its class built by Germany. ... The Rurik (Рюрик) was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in 1906. ... Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004. ...

British HMS Good Hope (1901)

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (842x519, 34 KB) HMS Good Hope Link [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Armored cruiser ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (842x519, 34 KB) HMS Good Hope Link [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Armored cruiser ... For other ships with the same name, see HMS Good Hope. ...

Armored cruisers in combat

Armored cruisers were the chief combatants in two naval battles: the Battle off Ulsan in the Russo-Japanese War, and the Battle of Coronel in World War I, and played important supporting roles in other battles of the period. Combatants Japan Russia Commanders Vice Admiral Hikonojo Kamimura Rear Admiral Nikolai Essen Strength 4 armored cruisers, 2 protected cruisers 3 armored cruisers Casualties minimal casualties with 1 armored cruiser suffering slight damage heavy casualties and 1 cruiser destroyed with two cruisers suffering heavy damage The naval Battle off Ulsan, also... Combatants Russian Empire Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov† Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo The Russo–Japanese War , February 10, 1904 – September 5, 1905) was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of the Russian Empire and the Japanese Empire over... Combatants United Kingdom German Empire Commanders Sir Christopher Cradock† Graf Maximilian von Spee Strength 2 armoured cruisers 2 light cruisers 2 armoured cruisers 3 light cruisers Casualties 1,654 men killed 2 armoured cruisers lost 3 wounded The World War I naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

The Battle of Tsushima

Armoured cruisers were used with success in the line of battle by the Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Of the battle damage received by the Japanese, the armoured cruiser Nisshin received the second-most hits after the battleship Mikasa. Nisshin was hit 13 times, including six 12-inch and one 9-inch hits. Nisshin managed to stay in line throughout the battle, validating the hopes of the designer; a cruiser able to stand in the line of battle. The performance of the Japanese armored cruisers during the Battle of Tsushima, and that of Nisshin in particular, was such that it led to a burst of construction of armored cruisers in the world's navies.^{[citation needed]} Combatants Empire of Japan Russian Empire Commanders Heihachiro Togo Zinovi Rozhdestvenski # Nikolai Nebogatov Strength 4 battleships 27 cruisers destroyers and auxiliary vessels 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers Casualties 117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk 4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk 7 captured 6... Nisshin (Jp:日進), also transliterated as Nissin, was a Kasuga-class armored cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy designed and built by Ansaldo in Italy, where the type was known as the Garibaldi class. ... Mikasa (三笠) is a pre-Dreadnought battleship, formerly of the Imperial Japanese Navy, launched in 1900. ...

Obselescence by World War I

However, when armoured cruisers met modern capital ships in World War I, the deficiencies of the type were cruelly exposed; SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sunk by the battlecruisers HMS Invincible and Inflexible at the Battle of the Falkland Islands (an incident following the Battle of Coronel) and HMS Warrior, Defence and Black Prince were lost at the Battle of Jutland when they encountered the German Navy's battle line. SMS Scharnhorst was an 11,616 ton armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. ... This article is about the WWI armored cruiser Gneisenau; for the World War II battlecruiser of the same name, see German battlecruiser Gneisenau. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... The fifth Invincible of the Royal Navy was a battlecruiser, the lead ship of her class of three, and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. ... HMS Inflexible was the second of three Invincible-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy in 1906-08. ... Combatants British Empire German Empire Commanders Doveton Sturdee Maximilian von Spee Strength 2 battlecruisers, 3 armoured cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 1 grounded pre-dreadnought 2 armoured cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 3 transports Casualties 10 killed, 19 wounded No ships lost 1,871 killed, 215 captured 2 armoured cruisers, 2... HMS Warrior, the name ship of her class of 4 armored cruisers of the Royal Navy, was built several years before the outbreak of the First World War. ... HMS Defence was a Minotaur-class armored cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched in 1907. ... The HMS Black Prince was an armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. ... Combatants Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy High Seas Fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine Commanders Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships 9 battlecruisers 8 heavy cruisers 26 light cruisers 78 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier 16 battleships 5 battlecruisers 6 pre... The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire and existed between 1871 and 1919; it grew out of the Prussian Navy and the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. ...

Armored cruisers in the US Navy

Armored cruiser Brooklyn (1898)

The first armored cruiser of the United States Navy was the USS Maine, whose explosion in 1898 triggered the Spanish-American War. Launched in 1889 , she had 7 to 12 inches (178 to 305 mm) of armor around the sides ("belt armor"), and 1 to 4 inches (25 to 102 mm) on the decks. She was redesignated as a "second class battleship" in 1894 , an awkward compromise reflecting slowness compared to other cruisers, and weakness versus the first-line battleships of the time. Image File history File links Armored Cruiser USS Brooklyn (ACR-3) At the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, 1898. ... Image File history File links Armored Cruiser USS Brooklyn (ACR-3) At the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, 1898. ... Three ships of the United States Navy have borne the name Brooklyn, after the New York City borough of Brooklyn. ... {{ USN redirects here. ... USS Maine (ACR-1), the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of Maine, was a 6682-ton second-class pre-dreadnought battleship originally designated as Armored Cruiser #1. ... Combatants United States Republic of Cuba Philippine Republic Spain Commanders Nelson A. Miles William R. Shafter George Dewey Máximo Gómez Emilio Aguinaldo Patricio Montojo Pascual Cervera Arsenio Linares General Ramón Blanco Casualties 3,289 U.S. dead (432 from combat); considerably higher although undetermined Cuban and Filipino...

New York (Armored Cruiser No. 2), launched in 1895 , was less well protected than Maine, with 3 inches (76 mm) of belt armor, and 3 to 6 inches (76 to 152 mm) of deck armor. The Brooklyn (Armored Cruiser No. 3) was an improved version of the New York and Olympia designs. The fourth USS New York (ACR-2) was a United States Navy armored cruiser, later renamed to Saratoga and then Rochester (CA-2). ... The second USS Brooklyn (CA-3) (originally ACR-3) was a United States Navy armored cruiser. ... USS Olympia (C-6) is a protected cruiser in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War. ...

Shortly after the Spanish-American War, the Navy built six Pennsylvania class armored cruisers, almost immediately followed by four of the Tennessee class. Collectively these ten ships were referred to as the 'big ten'. The Pennsylvania class of six armored cruisers was built by the United States Navy between 1901 and 1908. ...

End of the armored cruiser

On 17 July 1920, when the standard naval hull numbering nomenclature was adopted, all existing US armored cruisers were merged with protected cruisers in a single class "cruiser" with hull classification symbol "CA", bringing to an end the use of the term in the US. is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... A schematic section of a protected cruiser illustrating the protection scheme. ... The United States Navy uses hull classification symbols (sometimes called hull codes) to identify the types of its ships. ...

The London Naval Treaty of 1930 essentially abolished the term 'armored cruiser', and adopted the terms heavy cruiser and light cruiser. After this, the symbol "CA" was used to designate 'heavy cruiser'. The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which to regulate submarine warfare and limited military shipbuilding. ... The term heavy cruiser is used to refer to large cruisers, a form of warship. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ...

One, late-design, armored cruiser still exists: Georgios Averof, constructed in 1909-1911, is preserved as a museum in Greece. Georgios Averof (Greek: Θ/Κ Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ) is a Greek warship which served as the flagship of the Royal Hellenic Navy during most of the first half of the 20th Century. ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

See also

• Protected cruiser
• Light cruiser
• Cruiser
• Heavy cruiser
• Battlecruiser

A schematic section of a protected cruiser illustrating the protection scheme. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... The term heavy cruiser is used to refer to large cruisers, a form of warship. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ...

References

External links

• British and German Armored Cruisers of the First World War