Editing Cruiser (section)

===German pocket battleships===
The German {{sclass|Deutschland|cruiser|4}} was a series of three ''Panzerschiffe'' ("armored ships"), a form of heavily armed cruiser, designed and built by the [[Reichsmarine|German Reichsmarine]] in nominal accordance with restrictions imposed by the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. All three ships were launched between 1931 and 1934, and served with Germany's [[Kriegsmarine]] during [[World War II]]. Within the Kriegsmarine, the Panzerschiffe had the propaganda value of capital ships: heavy cruisers with battleship guns, torpedoes, and scout aircraft. (The similar Swedish ''Panzerschiffe'' were tactically used as centers of battlefleets and not as cruisers.) They were deployed by Nazi Germany in support of the German interests in the Spanish Civil War. Panzerschiff ''Admiral Graf Spee'' represented Germany in the [[Fleet review (Commonwealth realms)#George VI|1937 Coronation Fleet Review]].

The British press referred to the vessels as pocket battleships, in reference to the heavy firepower contained in the relatively small vessels; they were considerably smaller than contemporary battleships, though at 28 knots were slower than battlecruisers. At up to 16,000 tons at full load, they were not treaty compliant 10,000 ton cruisers. And although their displacement and scale of armor protection were that of a heavy cruiser, their {{convert|280|mm|abbr=on}} main armament was heavier than the {{convert|203|mm|abbr=on|0}} guns of other nations' heavy cruisers, and the latter two members of the class also had tall conning towers resembling battleships. The Panzerschiffe were listed as Ersatz replacements for retiring Reichsmarine coastal defense battleships, which added to their propaganda status in the Kriegsmarine as Ersatz battleships; within the Royal Navy, only battlecruisers HMS ''Hood'', HMS ''Repulse'' and HMS ''Renown'' were capable of both outrunning and outgunning the Panzerschiffe. They were seen in the 1930s as a new and serious threat by both Britain and France. While the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in 1940, ''Deutschland''-class ships continued to be called ''pocket battleships'' in the popular press.