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1 Roberts argues that the focus on the Baltic was probably unimportant at the time the ships were designed, but was inflated later, after the disastrous ________.

2 In summer 1904, after Fisher's appointment as ________, the decision was taken to use 12-inch guns for the next generation of battleships, because of their superior performance at long range.

3 The results of some of these developments were illustrated by the successful defence of convoys at the ________ and the Battle of the North Cape.

4 By comparison with the critical role of submarines during the ________ the commerce-raiding role of battlecruisers was marginal in its impact on the outcome of the war.

5 The use of battlecruisers as commerce raiders was curtailed following an attack by the Admiral Scheer on a convoy guarded by the HMS Jervis Bay, an ________.

6 They returned to Brest in northern ________ but found this port was vulnerable to Royal Air Force attacks and were obliged to return to Germany.

7 However their ________-era armament was weaker and their upgraded armour scheme was still not up to contemporary dreadnought standards.

8 However, she was surprised by the battleship HMS Duke of York with the cruisers Jamaica, Norfolk and Belfast at the ________ and sunk on 26 December 1943.

9 The line between the battlecruiser and the modern ________ became blurred; indeed, the Japanese Kongō class were formally redesignated as battleships.

10 The ________, which limited capital ship construction from 1922 onwards, treated battleships and battlecruisers identically.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the British battlecruisers HMS Indomitable and HMS Indefatigable bombarded Turkish fortifications on the Dardanelles two days before the British declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire?
  • the British battlecruiser HMS Lion (pictured) fired seven torpedoes during the Battle of Jutland without success?
  • the British battlecruiser Princess Royal (pictured) fired 271 13.5-inch shells during the Battle of Dogger Bank, but only scored three hits?
  • the British Invincible class were the world's first battlecruisers?
  • the Japanese Kongō-class battlecruisers (Kongō pictured) were designed by British naval engineer George Thurston?
  • when torpedoed in May 1915 by German submarine UB-8, SS Merion was disguised as the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Tiger?
  • the wreck of the British battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary has been designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986?
  • the construction of Stalingrad-class battlecruisers was cancelled soon after their major supporter, Joseph Stalin, died in March 1953?
  • the Indefatigable-class battlecruiser HMAS Australia (pictured) was the first flagship of the Royal Australian Navy?
  • the Admiral-class battlecruiser Hood (pictured) escorted British merchantmen into Bilbao in 1937, even though the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera was attempting to blockade the port?
  • because of her tough resistance during the Battle of Jutland, the German battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger (pictured) was nicknamed "Iron Dog" by the British Royal Navy?
  • SMS Weißenburg, a German pre-dreadnought battleship, was sold to the Ottoman Navy, and later came to the rescue of the battlecruiser Goeben, another former German warship in Ottoman service?
  • British Admiral of the Fleet Michael Pollock, was gunnery officer on the HMS Norfolk when she fought the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst during the Battle of North Cape?
  • in 1921, future four-star admiral Louis M. Nulton tried to save the battlecruiser USS Constitution from being scrapped by illegally transferring funds from the construction and repair of other warships?
  • the Imperial German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz (pictured) was nearly destroyed when a shell from HMS Lion penetrated a gun turret and caused a flash fire during the Battle of Dogger Bank?
  • the 14"/50 caliber gun was slated to be the main armament for the Lexington-class battlecruiser, but that class was redesigned in 1917?
  • the North Sea patrols of the battlecruiser HMAS Australia during World War I were so monotonous that one sailor was driven insane?
  • HMS Incomparable was a design for a mammoth battlecruiser, proposed by British Admiral Jackie Fisher in 1915, but never built?