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]
In the immediate aftermath of World War I, Britain, Japan, and the United States all considered new battlecruiser construction, including the British G3 class, the Japanese Amagi class, and a revised version of the American Lexingtons. In the interest of avoiding another crippling naval arms race, the three countries, along with France and Italy, signed the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, which included a moratorium on new capital ship construction. A clause in the treaty, however, gave the British, Japanese, and Americans a chance to convert several of their battlecruisers into aircraft carriers.[12][13][14] Only a handful of battlecruisers survived the arms limitation regime. In the 1930s, several navies considered new "cruiser killer" battlecruisers, including Germany's O class, the Dutch Design 1047, and the Soviet Kronshtadt class. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 put a halt to all these plans.[15]
During the war, the surviving battlecruisers saw extensive action, and many were sunk. The four Japanese Kongō-class ships had been rebuilt as fast battleships in the 1930s, but all were sunk during the conflict.[16] Of the three British battlecruisers still in service, HMS Hood and Repulse were sunk, but Renown survived the war.[17][18] The only other battlecruiser in existence at the end of the Second World War was the ex-German Goeben, which had been transferred to Turkey during the First World War and served as Yavuz Sultan Selim.[19]
Several new wartime classes were proposed, including the Japanese Design B-65 class, and the American Alaska class, two of which were built before the end of the war.[20] The Alaskas were officially classified as "large cruisers", but many naval historians refer to them as battlecruisers. In the postwar drawdown of forces, Renown and the two Alaskas were withdrawn from service and eventually scrapped;[18][21] Only Yavuz Sultan Selim, the last surviving battlecruiser in the world, lingered on until the early 1970s, when she too was sent to the shipbreakers.[19] Only one country, the Soviet Union, considered building battlecruisers after the war. The three Stalingrad-class ships, championed by Joseph Stalin, were laid down in the early 1950s, but were cancelled after his death in 1953.[22] However, in the 1970s, the Soviet Union began the construction of a class of very large guided missile cruisers, much larger than any other surface combatant[N 1] built since the Second World War. This new type, the Kirov-class, although designated as a "heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser" by the Soviet Navy, was generally referred to in the West as a "battlecruiser".[23][24]
Key
The list of 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 2]
^Surface combatants are naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons. They include battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and corvettes. Aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and mine hunters are not considered surface combatants. Thus, it would be incorrect to say that Kirov battlecruisers are the largest class of naval warship built since the Second World War, since many aircraft carriers built after the war have been larger.
^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.
^Figures here are reversed intentionally; following the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, the use of long tons to calculate ship displacement was standardized.
^As the ships were only in the design phase when canceled—no orders were placed and no construction had begun—the B-65s were never assigned actual names.[61]
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