Re: [GZG] Battlecruisers

["K.H.Ranitzsch" <kh.ranitzsch@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Bell schrieb:
> On 12/23/06, Ryan Gill <rmgill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > I think mostly because it's role was too
> > particular and it was often just stuck into the
> > battle-line where it suffered horribly.
>
>
> Not only was its role particular, but once the airplane really took
> off, it was mooted.  The role of the battlecruiser envisioned by
> Fisher was a vessel that allowed you to find the other line of battle
> while preventing the enemy from doing the same.  

As far as I understand it, the original battlecruisers were not really 
intended for reconnasissance work for the battle fleet and they were not 
used like that in WWI. Recconnaissance was the task of light cruisers 
and destroyers.

As has already been mentioned, the battlecruisers were intended to hunt 
down commerce raiders, as they did in the Falklands battle. The 
intention was to allow the Royal Navy to keep world-wide control of the 
sea. While many German raiders were converted merchant ships (and even a 
sailing ship) there were numerous light cruisers (e.g.the Emden) and 
even heavy cruisers (Graf Spee's squadron) scattered over the oceans. 
The battlecruisers were intended to deal with the heaviest of these 
threats and did so effectively. Though it certainly is true that they 
were overkill against most raiders, including the light cruisers. But 
then, you really can't have too much killing power, can you ?

Once the commerce raiders had been dealt with, the Royal Navy used them 
as fast battleships, with altogether poor results - see the battle of 
Jutland.

What the contemporary German battlecruisers were supposed to do is not 
quite clear to me. Probably they were built in an effort to "keep up 
with the Jones". Note that they were better armoured than the British 
ones, of similar speed, but with weaker guns - though still adequate to 
deal with a battlecruiser's armour. Perhaps they can be described as 
anti-battlecruisers. They were mostly used as raiders, but only within 
the confines of the North Sea. They didn't have the range, and Germany 
didn't have the network of bases to use them in world-wide raiding.

Greetings, and Merry Christmas
Karl Heinz




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