Editing Battlecruiser (section)

==Battlecruisers in the dreadnought arms race==
Between the launching of the ''Invincible''s to just after the outbreak of the First World War, the battlecruiser played a junior role in the developing dreadnought arms race, as it was never wholeheartedly adopted as the key weapon in British imperial defence, as Fisher had presumably desired.  The biggest factor for this lack of acceptance was the marked change in Britain's strategic circumstances between their conception and the commissioning of the first ships.  The prospective enemy for Britain had shifted from a Franco-Russian alliance with many armoured cruisers to a resurgent and increasingly belligerent Germany.  Diplomatically, Britain had entered the [[Entente cordiale]] in 1904 and the [[Anglo-Russian Entente]].  Neither France nor Russia posed a particular naval threat; the Russian navy had largely been sunk or captured in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905, while the French were in no hurry to adopt the new [[dreadnought]]-type design.  Britain also boasted very cordial relations with two of the significant new naval powers: Japan (bolstered by the [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]], signed in 1902 and renewed in 1905), and the US.  These changed strategic circumstances, and the great success of the ''Dreadnought'' ensured that she rather than the ''Invincible'' became the new model capital ship.  Nevertheless, battlecruiser construction played a part in the renewed naval arms race sparked by the ''Dreadnought''.<ref>Sondhaus, pp. 199–202</ref>

[[File:HMS Queen Mary.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Queen Mary}}, the last battlecruiser built before World War I]]
For their first few years of service, the ''Invincible''s entirely fulfilled Fisher's vision of being able to sink any ship fast enough to catch them, and run from any ship capable of sinking them. An ''Invincible'' would also, in many circumstances, be able to take on an enemy [[pre-dreadnought battleship]]. Naval circles concurred that the armoured cruiser in its current form had come to the logical end of its development and the ''Invincible''s were so far ahead of any enemy armoured cruiser in firepower and speed that it proved difficult to justify building more or bigger cruisers.<ref>Roberts, p. 25; Mackay, pp. 324–25</ref> This lead was extended by the surprise both ''Dreadnought'' and ''Invincible'' produced by having been built in secret; this prompted most other navies to delay their building programmes and radically revise their designs.<ref>Sondhaus, pp. 201–02</ref> This was particularly true for cruisers, because the details of the ''Invincible'' class were kept secret for longer; this meant that the last German armoured cruiser, {{SMS|Blücher||2}}, was armed with only {{convert|21|cm|adj=on}} guns, and was no match for the new battlecruisers.<ref>Staff, pp. 3–4</ref>

The Royal Navy's early superiority in capital ships led to the rejection of a 1905–1906 design that would, essentially, have fused the battlecruiser and battleship concepts into what would eventually become the fast battleship. The 'X4' design combined the full armour and armament of ''Dreadnought'' with the 25-knot speed of ''Invincible''. The additional cost could not be justified given the existing British lead and the new Liberal government's need for economy; the slower and cheaper {{HMS|Bellerophon|1907|2}}, a relatively close copy of ''Dreadnought'', was adopted instead.<ref>Roberts, p. 26</ref> The X4 concept would eventually be fulfilled in the {{sclass|Queen Elizabeth|battleship|4}} and later by other navies.<ref>Breyer, pp. 61–62</ref>

The next British battlecruisers were the three {{sclass|Indefatigable|battlecruiser|4}}, slightly improved ''Invincible''s built to fundamentally the same specification, partly due to political pressure to limit costs and partly due to the secrecy surrounding German battlecruiser construction, particularly about the heavy armour of {{SMS|Von der Tann}}.<ref>Roberts, pp. 28–29</ref> This class came to be widely seen as a mistake<ref>Brown 1999, p. 57</ref> and the next generation of British battlecruisers were markedly more powerful. By 1909–1910 a sense of national crisis about rivalry with Germany outweighed cost-cutting, and a naval panic resulted in the approval of a total of eight capital ships in 1909–1910.<ref>Sondhaus, p. 203</ref> Fisher pressed for all eight to be battlecruisers,<ref>Roberts, p. 32</ref> but was unable to have his way; he had to settle for six battleships and two battlecruisers of the {{sclass|Lion|battlecruiser|4}}. The ''Lion''s carried eight [[BL 13.5 inch Mk V naval gun|13.5-inch guns]], the now-standard caliber of the British "super-dreadnought" battleships. Speed increased to {{convert|27|kn}} and armour protection, while not as good as in German designs, was better than in previous British battlecruisers, with {{convert|9|in|adj=on|spell=in}} armour belt and [[barbette]]s. The two ''Lion''s were followed by the very similar {{HMS|Queen Mary||2}}.<ref>Roberts, pp. 31–33</ref>

[[File:German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz in port, prior to World War I (retouched).jpg|thumb|left|SMS ''Seydlitz''|alt=A large gray ship in port. The two funnels in the center of the ship emit clouds of smoke.]]
By 1911 Germany had built battlecruisers of her own, and the superiority of the British ships could no longer be assured. Moreover, the German Navy did not share Fisher's view of the battlecruiser. In contrast to the British focus on increasing speed and firepower, Germany progressively improved the armour and staying power of their ships to better the British battlecruisers.<ref>Sondhaus, pp. 202–03</ref> ''Von der Tann'', begun in 1908 and completed in 1910, carried eight 11.1-inch guns, but with 11.1-inch (283&nbsp;mm) armour she was far better protected than the ''Invincible''s. The two {{sclass|Moltke|battlecruiser|5}}s were quite similar but carried ten 11.1-inch guns of an improved design.<ref>Breyer, pp. 269–72</ref> {{SMS|Seydlitz||2}}, designed in 1909 and finished in 1913, was a modified ''Moltke''; speed increased by one knot to {{convert|26.5|kn}}, while her armour had a maximum thickness of 12 inches, equivalent to the {{sclass|Helgoland|battleship|2}}s of a few years earlier. ''Seydlitz'' was Germany's last battlecruiser completed before World War I.<ref>Breyer, pp. 267, 272</ref>

The next step in battlecruiser design came from Japan. The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] had been planning the {{sclass|Kongō|battlecruiser|0}} ships from 1909, and was determined that, since the Japanese economy could support relatively few ships, each would be more powerful than its likely competitors. Initially the class was planned with the ''Invincible''s as the benchmark. On learning of the British plans for ''Lion'', and the likelihood that new [[U.S. Navy]] battleships would be armed with {{convert|14|in|mm|adj=on}} guns, the Japanese decided to radically revise their plans and go one better. A new plan was drawn up, carrying eight 14-inch guns, and capable of {{convert|27.5|kn}}, thus marginally having the edge over the ''Lion''s in speed and firepower. The heavy guns were also better-positioned, being [[superfire|superfiring]] both fore and aft with no turret amidships. The armour scheme was also marginally improved over the ''Lion''s, with nine inches of armour on the turrets and {{convert|8|in|mm|0}} on the barbettes. The first ship in the class was built in Britain, and a further three constructed in Japan.<ref>Evans & Peattie, pp. 161–63</ref> The Japanese also re-classified their powerful armoured cruisers of the ''[[Tsukuba-class cruiser|Tsukuba]]'' and ''[[Ibuki-class armored cruiser|Ibuki]]'' classes, carrying four 12-inch guns, as battlecruisers; nonetheless, their armament was weaker and they were slower than any battlecruiser.<ref>Gardiner & Gray, p. 233</ref>

[[File:Japanese battleship Kongo.jpg|thumb|''Kongō'']]
The next British battlecruiser, {{HMS|Tiger|1913|2}}, was intended initially as the fourth ship in the ''Lion'' class, but was substantially redesigned. She retained the eight 13.5-inch guns of her predecessors, but they were positioned like those of ''Kongō'' for better fields of fire. She was faster (making {{convert|29|kn}} on [[sea trial]]s), and carried a heavier secondary armament. ''Tiger'' was also more heavily armoured on the whole; while the maximum thickness of armour was the same at nine inches, the height of the main armour belt was increased.<ref>Roberts, pp. 37–38</ref> Not all the desired improvements for this ship were approved, however. Her designer, [[Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet|Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt]], had wanted small-bore [[water-tube boiler]]s and geared turbines to give her a speed of {{convert|32|kn}}, but he received no support from the authorities and the engine makers refused his request.<ref>Breyer, p. 136</ref>

1912 saw work begin on three more German battlecruisers of the {{sclass|Derfflinger|battlecruiser|4}}, the first German battlecruisers to mount 12-inch guns. These ships, like ''Tiger'' and the ''Kongō''s, had their guns arranged in superfiring turrets for greater efficiency. Their armour and speed was similar to the previous ''Seydlitz'' class.<ref>Breyer, pp. 277–78</ref> In 1913, the [[Russian Empire]] also began the construction of the four-ship {{sclass|Borodino|battlecruiser|4}}, which were designed for service in the [[Baltic Sea]]. These ships were designed to carry twelve 14-inch guns, with armour up to 12 inches thick, and a speed of {{convert|26.6|kn}}. The heavy armour and relatively slow speed of these ships made them more similar to German designs than to British ships; construction of the ''Borodino''s was halted by the First World War and all were scrapped after the end of the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref>Breyer, p. 399</ref>