This is a list of battlecruisers of World War I. A battlecruiser, or battle cruiser, was a capital ship built in the first half of the 20th century. They were similar in size, cost, and carried similar armament to battleships, but they generally carried less armour to obtain faster speeds. The first battlecruisers were designed in the United Kingdom, in the first decade of the century, as a development of the armoured cruiser, at the same time as the dreadnought succeeded the pre-dreadnought battleship. The original aim of the battlecruiser was to hunt down slower, older armoured cruisers and destroy them with heavy gunfire. However, as more and more battlecruisers were built, they increasingly became used alongside the better-protected battleships.
Battlecruisers served in the navies of Britain, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Australia and Japan during World War I, most notably at the Battle of the Falkland Islands and in the several raids and skirmishes in the North Sea which culminated in a pitched fleet battle, the Battle of Jutland. British battlecruisers, in particular, suffered heavy losses at Jutland, which modern research has revealed was due to dangerous ammunition handling practises rather than the weak armour usually attributed as the weakness. By the end of the war, capital ship design had developed with battleships becoming faster and battlecruisers becoming more heavily armoured, blurring the distinction between a battlecruiser and a fast battleship. The Washington Naval Treaty, which limited capital ship construction from 1922 onwards, treated battleships and battlecruisers identically, and the new generation of battlecruisers planned was scrapped under the terms of the treaty.[1] [2] [3] [4]
The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the immediate aftermath, inclusive of localized ongoing combat operations, garrison surrenders, post-surrender occupation, colony re-occupation, troop and prisoner repatriation. Some uncompleted battlecruisers are included, out of historic interest.
| Ship | Operator | Class | Displacement (tonnes) | First commissioned | End of service | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefatigable | 18,800 | 21 June 1913 | 12 December 1921 | Scuttled 12 April 1924 | ||
| Borodino | 33,000 | Launched 31 July 1915, sold for scrap 21 August 1923 | ||||
| Courageous | 19,490 | 28 October 1916 | 17 September 1939 | Converted to aircraft carrier 1924–1928, sunk by submarine 17 September 1939 | ||
| Derfflinger | 26,600 | 1 September 1914 | 10 May 1917 | Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 1939, scrapped 1946–1948 | ||
| Ersatz Yorck | 33,500 | Laid down July 1916, broken up 1918 | ||||
| Mackensen | 31,000 | Laid down 3 November 1915, broken up 1922 | ||||
| Courageous | 19,826 | 26 June 1917 | 15 September 1944 | Converted to aircraft carrier 1921–1925, paid off April 1945, broken up 1948–1954 | ||
| 19,490 | 14 October 1916 | 8 June 1940 | Converted to aircraft carrier 1924–1930, sunk 8 June 1940 | |||
| Mackensen | 31,000 | Launched 15 September 1917, stricken 17 November 1919, sold for scrap 28 October 1921 | ||||
| Kongō | 27,384 | 19 April 1915 | 28 July 1945 | Sunk 28 July 1945, refloated and scrapped 1946 | ||
| 27,384 | 4 August 1914 | 13 November 1942 | Sunk 13 November 1942 | |||
| Derfflinger | 26,947 | 10 May 1917 | 21 June 1919 | Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 23 July 1930, scrapped 1930–1932 | ||
| Ibuki | 14,871 | 1 November 1909 | 20 September 1923 | Sold for scrap 20 September 1923 | ||
| Tsukuba | 13,970 | 24 March 1908 | 20 September 1923 | Stricken 20 September 1923 and scrapped | ||
| Indefatigable | 18,800 | 24 February 1911 | 31 May 1916 | Sunk 31 May 1916 | ||
| Invincible | 17,530 | 25 June 1908 | 31 March 1920 | Sold for scrap 1 December 1921 | ||
| 17,530 | 20 October 1908 | 31 March 1920 | Sold for scrap 1 December 1921 | |||
| 17,530 | 20 March 1909 | 31 May 1916 | Sunk 31 May 1916 | |||
| Borodino | 33,000 | Launched 22 June 1915, broken up 1931 | ||||
| 33,000 | Launched 30 October 1915, sold for scrap 21 August 1923 | |||||
| Kongō | 27,384 | 19 April 1915 | 15 November 1942 | Sunk 15 November 1942 | ||
| 27,384 | 16 August 1913 | 21 November 1944 | Sunk by submarine 21 November 1944 | |||
| Ibuki | 14,871 | 28 February 1911 | 20 September 1923 | Sold for scrap 20 September 1923 | ||
| Lion | 26,690 | 4 June 1912 | 30 May 1922 | Sold for scrap 31 January 1924 | ||
| Derfflinger | 26,600 | 8 August 1915 | 1 June 1916 | Scuttled 1 June 1916 | ||
| Mackensen | 31,000 | Launched 21 April 1917, stricken 17 November 1919, broken up 1922 | ||||
| Moltke | 22,979 | 30 August 1911 | 21 June 1919 | Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 1927, scrapped 1929 | ||
| Borodino | 33,000 | Launched 9 November 1916, sold for scrap 21 August 1923 | ||||
| Indefatigable | 18,800 | 19 November 1912 | 19 December 1922 | Sold for scrap 22 January 1923 | ||
| Lion | 26,690 | 14 November 1912 | 19 December 1922 | Sold for scrap 22 January 1923 | ||
| Mackensen | 31,000 | Laid down 1 May 1915, launched 13 March 1920, broken up 1921 | ||||
| 27,200 | 4 September 1913 | 31 May 1916 | Sunk 31 May 1916 | |||
| Renown | 32,740 | 20 September 1916 | 21 January 1948 | Scrapped, 3 August 1948 | ||
| 32,740 | 18 August 1916 | 10 December 1941 | Sunk during the Naval Battle of Malaya, 10 December 1941 | |||
| 24,988 | 22 May 1913 | 21 June 1919 | Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 2 November 1928, scrapped 1930 | |||
| 29,000 | 3 October 1914 | 15 May 1931 | Sold for scrap February 1932 | |||
| Tsukuba | 13,970 | 14 January 1907 | 14 January 1917 | Sunk by magazine explosion 14 January 1917 | ||
| 19,370 | 1 September 1910 | 21 June 1919 | Scuttled 21 June 1919, refloated 7 December 1930, scrapped 1931 | |||
| Moltke | 23,100 | 2 July 1912 | 14 November 1954 | Scrapped, 7 June 1973 | ||