On 24/12/06, K.H.Ranitzsch <kh.ranitzsch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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.
One of the roles for battle cruisers was to act as part of the fleet recon screen, which how both the Rayal Navy and the Kreigsmarine used them at Jutland. Indeed, Beatty's BC's at Jutland intentionally put them selves in harms way, not just to act as part of the screen but in order to draw the high seas fleet into the Grand Fleets trap. Of course, this initial stage of the battle would have gone better for the British if Beatty hadn't suffered a Nelson complex, and his flag communication officer had actually bothered to relay orders and signals to Beatty, Jellicoe, and the Admiral of the 5th Battle squadron.
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.
Not as Fast Battle ships, but as heavy, fast screening elements for a large battle fleet, one of the roles they were designed for. Of course whether or not this role was tactically viable in reality is open to discussion, and such vessels were replaced with aircraft in WW2.
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.
The German BC's were there to do the same job as British BC's, only their construction followed the German norms of the time, protection, firepower, speed, in that order, whilst British capital ships tended towards firepower, speed and armour. The Royal Navy approach to ship building was a result of the fact it required multi-role capability in a wide varitety of theatres. The Kreigsmarine had but one major role, to defeat the Royal Navy. And hence it's BC's were tailored to the fleet screen role for a major fleet action.
Greetings, and Merry Christmas
Karl Heinz
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