List of cruisers explained

This is a list of cruisers, from 1860 to the present. It includes torpedo, unprotected, protected, scout, light, armoured, battle-, heavy and missile cruisers. Dates are launching dates.

Africa

South Africa

Protected cruiser

• SATS General Botha (1885, ex-HMS Thames) - Assigned 1922, scuttled 1947.

Americas

Argentina

Torpedo cruiser

• (1893) - Decommissioned 1927

Protected cruisers

• (1886) - Decommissioned 1927
• Necochea (1890) - Renamed Veinticinco de Mayo, decommissioned 1921
• (1892) - Discarded 1930
• (1895) - Retired 1932

Armored cruisers

• • (1895) - Retired 1934
  • (1896) - Retired 1935
  • (1897) - Retired 1947
  • (1897) - Retired 1954
  • Bernardino Rivadavia (1902) - Sold to Japan before delivery 1904, renamed Kasuga, discarded 1945
  • Mariano Moreno (1903) - Sold to Japan before delivery 1904, renamed Nisshin, retired 1935

Heavy cruisers

• • (1929) - Scrapped 1960
  • (1929) - Scrapped 1962

Light cruisers

• (1937) - Retired 1972
• • (1936, ex-USS Boise) - Assigned 1951, retired 1977
  • (1938, ex-USS Phoenix) - Assigned 1951, sunk 1982 in the Falklands War

Brazil

Auxiliary cruisers (former merchant ships)

• Niterói (1893) - Ex El Cid, purchased 1893, sold to United States 1898 and renamed USS Buffalo

Torpedo cruisers

• Tymbira (1896) - ?
• Tamoio (1896) - ?
• Tupi (1896) - Retired 1915

Protected cruisers

• (1890) - Retired 1915
• Tiradentes (1892) - Decommissioned 1919
• Republica (1892) - Retired 1921
• • Name unknown (1896) - Not acquired, purchased by Chile and renamed Ministro Zenteno, decommissioned 1930
  • - Retired 1931
  • Amazonas (1896) - Not acquired, purchased by United States and renamed USS New Orleans, decommissioned 1922
  • Almirante Abreu (1899) - Not acquired, purchased by United States and renamed USS Albany, decommissioned 1922

Scout cruisers

• • (1909) - Lost 1945
  • (1910) - BU 1948

Light cruisers

• • Almirante Barroso (1936, ex-USS Philadelphia) - Assigned 1951, retired 1973
• • Almirante Tamandaré (1938, ex-USS St. Louis) - Assigned 1951, retired 1976

Canada

Protected cruiser

• British
  • (1891, ex-British Rainbow, transferred 1910) – Sold 1920
• British
  • (1897, ex-British Niobe, transferred 1910) – BU 1922

Light cruisers

• British
  • (1913, ex-British Aurora, transferred 1920) – Sold for scrap 1927
• British
  • (1941, ex-British Uganda, transferred 1944) – Renamed Quebec 1952, BU 1961
• British
  • (1943, ex-British Minotaur, transferred 1944) – BU 1960

Chile

Unprotected cruiser

• Arturo Prat (1880) - Purchase canceled and sold to Japan in 1883, renamed, retired 1910

Protected cruisers

• (1883) - Sold to Japan 1894, renamed, discarded 1912
• • Presidente Errázuriz (1890) - Discarded 1930
  • Presidente Pinto (1890) - Shipwreck 1905
• Blanco Encalada (1893) - Retired 1940
• Ministro Zenteno (1896) - Retired 1930
• Chacabuco (1897) - Stricken 1959

Armored cruisers

• Esmeralda (1895) - Retired 1930
• O'Higgins (1896) - Retired 1933

Light cruisers

• • OHiggins (1936, ex-USS Brooklyn) - Acquired 1951, retired 1991
  • Capitán Prat (1937, ex-USS Nashville) - Acquired 1951, retired 1982
• • Almirante Latorre (1945, ex-Swedish Göta Lejon) - Commissioned 1971, retired 1984

Haiti

Protected cruiser

• Consul Gostrück (1894-ex Italian Umbria), assigned 1910, lost 1911.

Peru

Auxiliary cruisers (former merchant ships)

• Sócrates class (ex-Portuguese)
  • Sócrates (1880) - Renamed Lima, assigned 1889, retired 1950
  • Diógenes (1881) - Renamed Callao, not delivered, purchased by the United States in 1898 and renamed USS Topeka

Scout cruisers

• • Almirante Grau (1906) - retired 1958
  • Coronel Bolognesi (1906) - retired 1958

Armored cruiser

• Comandante Aguirre (ex-French Dupuy de Lôme) (1890) - purchased 1912, purchase canceled 1914

Light cruisers

• • (1941, ex-British) - assigned 1959, retired 1979. Called Almirante Grau 1960-1973
  • (1942, ex-British) - assigned 1960, retired 1982
• • (1944, ex-Dutch) - assigned 1973, retired 2017
  • (1950, ex-Dutch) - assigned 1978, retired 1999

United States

See main article: List of cruisers of the United States Navy.

Uruguay

Protected cruiser

• Montevideo (1885, ex-Italian Dogali) - purchased 1908, decommissioned 1932

Venezuela

Protected cruiser

• Mariscal Sucre (ex-Spanish Isla de Cuba) (1886) - purchased 1912, decommissioned 1940

Asia

China

Unprotected Cruisers

• Chaoyong class
  • (1880) - Sunk 1894
  • (1881) - Sunk 1894
• Kai Che (1882) - Explosion 1902
• Nan Thin class
  • (1883)
  • Nan Shuin (1884)
• Pao Min (1885)
• King Ch'ing class
  • King Ch'ing (1886)
  • Huan T'ai (1886) - Collision 1902
• Tung Chi (1894) - Sunk 1937
• Fu An (1897)

Protected Cruisers

• (1883) - Captured by Japan 1895, renamed Sai Yen, mined 1904
• Chih Yuan class
  • (1886) - Sunk 1894
  • (1886) - Sunk 1895
• Hai Chi class cruiser, 4,300 ton, Armstrong
  • (1897) - Sunk 1904
  • (1898) - Sunk 1937 as blockship in Yangtze river
• Hai Yung class
  • (1897) - Sunk 1937 as blockship in Yangtze river
  • Hai Chou (1897) - Sunk 1937 as blockship in Yangtze river
  • (1898) "Pearl of the Sea" - Sunk 1937 as blockship in Yangtze river ^[1]
• • (1912) - Sunk 1937.
  • (1913) - Sunk 1937.

Armoured Cruisers

• King Yuan class
  • (1887) - Sunk 1894
  • (1887) - Sunk 1895
• Lung Wei (1888) - Renamed Ping Yuen

Light cruisers

• • (1931) - Sunk 1937. Re-floated by Japan and renamed Ioshima. Sunk by .
  • (1931) - Sunk 1937. Re-floated by Japan and renamed Yasoshima. Sunk by US aircraft attack.
• (1934) - Sunk 1937. Re-floated by Japan and renamed Atada. Returned to the Republic of China 1946, decommissioned 1958
• British Arethusa class
  • Chung King (1948) - ex- of the Royal Navy, sold on 19 May 1948 to the Nationalist Chinese Navy. Defected to Chinese Communists and then sunk by Nationalist aircraft in 1949, continued in service as an accommodations and warehouse hulk until mid-1950s.

Guided missile cruisers

• Type 055 class

India

• British
  • (1932, ex-British, purchased 1948) – Scrapped 1978
• British
  • (1939, ex-British, purchased 1957) – Scrapped 1985

Indonesia

• KRI (purchased 1962), former Soviet Ordzhonikidze – Scrapped 1972

Japan

See main article: List of cruisers of Japan.

Pakistan

• (purchased 1956), the former British, renamed Jahangir, c. 1961

Thailand/Siam

• Taksin class (1939, requisitioned by Italy 1941)
  • Taksin (unfinished)
  • Naresuan (unfinished)

Turkey/Ottoman Empire

Battlecruisers

• Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex-German Goeben) (1912) -purchased 1914, BU 1974

Unprotected cruisers

• (1892) - BU 1911
• (1892) - BU 1911
• • (unfinished)
  • (unfinished)
• • (unfinished)
  • (unfinished)

Protected cruisers

• (Abdul Hamid) (1903) - BU 1947
• (1903) - captured by Russian 1915, restored 1918, BU 1948

Light cruisers

• Midilli (ex-German Breslau) (1912) - purchased 1914, mined 1918

Torpedo cruisers

• • (1906)
  • (1906)

Europe

Austria-Hungary

See main article: List of cruisers of Austria-Hungary.

Belgium

Protected cruiser

• D'Entrecasteaux

Croatia

Light cruiser

• Zniam (ex-KB Dalmacija, ex-SMS Niobe)

Denmark

Unprotected cruiser

• Fyen (1882)

Protected cruisers

• Valkyrien (1888)
• Hekla (1890)
• Gejser class
  • Gejser (1892)
  • Heimdal (1894)

France

See main article: List of cruisers of France.

Germany

• List of battlecruisers of Germany
• List of cruisers of Germany

Greece

• Amalia (1861) - Renamed Hellas 1862, BU 1906
• (1879) - Sold 1931
• Antinavarchos Kountouriotis (1914) - Purchased by Royal Navy while under construction
• Lambros Katsonis (1914) - Purchased by Royal Navy while under construction
• (1912, purchased 1914) - Torpedoed by Italian submarine 1940
• (1910) - Italian Pisa class, preserved at Faliro as museum
• II (1935, ex-Italian Eugenio di Savoia, obtained in 1951 as war reparations) - Stricken 1964

Italy

See main article: List of Italian cruisers.

Netherlands

See main article: List of cruisers of the Netherlands.

Norway

Protected cruisers

• Viking (1891)
• Frithjof (1896)

Poland

Light cruisers

• Danae-class

Protected cruisers

• ORP Bałtyk

Portugal

• (1896) - Sold 1933
• São Gabriel class
  • (1898) - Disposed of 1924
  • (1898) - Wrecked 1923
• Dom Carlos I (1898) - Renamed Candido Reis 1910, disposed of 1923
• Rainha Dona Amélia (1899) - Renamed República 1910, wrecked 1915

Romania

See main article: List of cruisers of Romania.

Russia/USSR

See main article: List of cruisers of the Russian Navy.

Spain

See main article: List of Spanish cruisers.

Sweden

Armoured cruiser

• (1905) - Sold for BU 1957

Seaplane cruiser

• (1933) - converted to an anti-aircraft cruiser^[2] - BU 1963

Light cruisers

• converted to anti-aircraft cruisers^[2]
  • (1944)
  • (1945)

Mine cruiser

• (1943)

Torpedo cruisers

Ukraine

Light cruisers

• Krasnyi Krym
• Pamiat' Merkuria

Guided-missile cruisers

• Ukraina

United Kingdom

• List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy
• List of cruisers of the Royal Navy

Yugoslavia

• (the former German)

Oceania

Australia

Protected cruiser

• (1902) - Scuttled 1932

Battlecruiser

• (1911) - Scuttled 1924

Light cruisers

• British Chatham class
  • (1912) - BU 1929
  • (1912) - BU 1929
  • (1915) - Sold for BU 1936
  • (1918) - BU 1949
• British Leander (Apollo) class
  • (1934) - Sunk 1942
  • (1934) - Sunk 1941
  • (1934) - BU 1962

Heavy cruisers

• British
  • (1927) - BU 1955
  • (1927) - Sunk 1942
  • (1927) - BU 1955

New Zealand

• HMNZS Achilles - Formerly British Achilles
• HMNZS Leander - Formerly British Leander
• HMNZS Gambia - Formerly British Gambia
• HMNZS Black Prince - Formerly British Black Prince
• HMNZS Bellona - Formerly British Bellona
• HMNZS Royalist - Formerly British Royalist

See also

• List of ironclads
• List of battleships
• List of ships of the Second World War
• List of cruisers of the Second World War

Notes and References

1. News: Flag, Pearl & Peace . https://web.archive.org/web/20101122135402/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753799,00.html . dead . November 22, 2010 . . July 17, 1933 . 2010-12-18 .
2. Friedman, Norman "Anti-Aircraft Cruisers: The Life of a Class" United States Naval Institute Proceedings January 1965 p.96