Royal Navy Battlecruisers
The very idea of creating a battleship, armed with as many heavy weapons of a single caliber, was first voiced by the Italian military engineer Vittorio Cuniberti. His article The ideal battleship for the British fleet in 1903 was published by the naval yearbook, edited by F.T. Jenna. The ship, proposed by the Italian designer, was to have a displacement of 17,000 tons, a main armored belt of 305 mm, a speed of 21-22 knots. And carry twelve 305-mm guns in six towers. The main dimensions and tactical and technical data, planned by Cuniberti, were very close to those that were then embodied in the Dreadnought.
At that time, Admiral Fisher was the head of the military shipyards in Portsmouth. He undoubtedly got acquainted with this article, and the project of Cuniberti had a great influence on him. Therefore it was quite logical that in the beginning of 1904 Admiral Fischer discussed with the chief designer of the Portsmouth military shipyard William Garde the draft of a battleship armed with only one large-caliber guns (the "Anteikable" project ("Do not fight me"), and a little later the project A prospective armored (destroyer) cruiser (the Aneprochable project ("Do not approach me"), the latter was supposed to be designed after the new battleship, as its cruising variant, embodying the ideas of Admiral Fisher. "Anaprojectible "Had many similarities with the projected battleship, Differing from him only by reservation and speed. The ship was mainly intended for independent cruising operations, and also, if necessary, as a high-speed in a squadron of linear forces.
As usual, to conduct consultations, Admiral Fisher attracted many different specialists in new artillery guns, turbines, the use of petroleum fuel, etc. However, at this time in the British navy was not yet planned to create a project of an armored cruiser armed with guns only "a single large caliber," since this issue was not on the agenda yet. It was assumed that the artillery armament of the new armored cruiser would be mixed and consist of 254-mm and 190-mm guns that had attracted so much attention that they planned to install on the British shipyards Vickers and Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. for Chile for the armadillo " Constitution " and " Libertad ".
As later explained by Fisher and Gard, the new armored cruiser had to have a normal displacement of 14,000 tons; Length 152.5 m; Width 21,4 m; 152 mm main armored belt, armored deck 37/51/76 mm thick (middle); Two 234-mm two-turret towers and six 190-mm two-turret towers; Power plant with a capacity of 35,000 hp. To provide a speed of 25 knots. From the use of 254mm guns abandoned, because they showed an improvement in ballistic qualities, compared with the 234-mm guns, led to a significant increase in their weight. It was believed that the ready "Anaproachable" would surpass all modern foreign armored cruisers in firepower in the same way as "Untouchable" all existing battleships.
The appearance of battleships of dreadnought type caused a lot of technical and military-strategic problems. Dreadnoughts brought to nothing not only the value of the old squadron battleships, but also the armored cruisers. The need to develop projects for a new class of armored ships - cruising variants of dreadnoughts was realized from the very beginning.
At that time, the requirements for a promising British armored cruiser were formulated as follows: speed much higher than the speed of any foreign armored cruiser; Artillery of the main caliber, consisting of 254-mm guns, as the most large-caliber, manually operated, and 190-mm auxiliary caliber weapons, as the most large-caliber quick-firing ones, and positioned in such a way as to provide the greatest possible uniform artillery fire in all sectors of the horizon ; Shell and charging cellars should be placed under all weapons, which made it possible to get rid of the corridors for the supply of ammunition and to do with a smaller number of people in the calculations of the towers; Armor protection of all guns must withstand the impact of 203-mm melinite shells; Each gun must have its own range finder and observation hood for the fire-control officer; Strongly recommended the use of a turbine power plant; Oil heating of boilers; Reduction to a minimum height of superstructures and bridges; It is desirable to use telescopic chimneys; The absence of combat marches on masts armed with small-caliber cannons; Rodless anchors; Complete absence of wooden cover; The use of cranes with electric motors instead of cargo arrows. Rodless anchors; Complete absence of wooden cover; The use of cranes with electric motors instead of cargo arrows. Rodless anchors; Complete absence of wooden cover; The use of cranes with electric motors instead of cargo arrows.
The main dimensions of the ship were determined by these requirements. It was noted that if it is possible to install machines, boilers and auxiliary equipment of the power plant closer to the stern of the ship, the placement of artillery with a minimum number of superstructures, masts and chimneys on the deck will be more profitable, as this will cut off the sector of shelling closed for guns.
With regard to the tactical designation of a new type of ship, in 1905 Professor W. Hovgard of the Massachusetts School of Shipbuilding in the United States formulated tasks that would have to be fulfilled by the ideal armored (destroyer) cruiser of the future. They boiled down to the following: rapid concentration and coverage of the enemy's flanks, using their advantage in speed; The imposition of combat on the enemy and the retention of fire contact with him until the main forces approach; Persecution of the retreating enemy; Reconnaissance by battle, since they did not have to leave any sighted enemy ship; If necessary, cover the retreat of the squadron; Independent long-distance cruising operations; Support for light cruisers.
How, then, was Hovgard picturing a future ship that met such tactical requirements? In effect, they could become armored and armored as a squadron battleship, enlarged in size before developing a higher speed. It is necessary to pay tribute to Hoggard's insight - the ships predicted by him really appeared in ten years. But in 1905 the British shipbuilders who designed the cruising version of the Dreadnought could not yet get used to the idea that a "squadron" cruiser could become larger than a battleship. Therefore, they took the second path: to increase the speed of the course not at the expense of increasing the displacement, as suggested by Hovhard, but mainly due to the weakening of the reservation. The Germans, who accepted the challenge of the English, chose the third way: content with a lower speed, They paid much attention to the reservation and survivability of the ship. As a result, a new type of strong and formidable ships appeared, in the creation of which Germany was always more fortunate than England.
The appearance of line cruisers as an intermediate class entailed a confusion, for which Fischer is primarily responsible. The basis for such confusion was not the design features of the ship, taken by themselves, but the purpose for which it was created. Here the main role was played by Fisher's statement that "a destroyer is nothing more than a fast battleship." There was another of his statements: "There is no such task for a battleship that a squadron could not accomplish." On the newly introduced classifications of warships in the United Kingdom since 1911, battleships began to be called battleships, and armored (cruisers) cruisers - linear cruisers, so the author in the text, describing the events of the same ship until 1911, uses the term "
According to the generally accepted terminology, it can be said that the British first-generation battle cruisers, in which protection was sacrificed to speed and firepower, the emphasis was on cruising functions rather than on squadrons. In the very first German battle cruisers, squadron requirements prevailed over cruising cruisers. Quite completely this difference was manifested during the First World War. Nevertheless, the British Hunghard did not succeed in curtailing the path outlined by the American, neither to the British, nor to the Germans: the steady growth in the development of the linear cruisers after their appearance was a steady increase in the displacement from series to series.
The purpose of the line cruisers was that these ships were able to suppress all modern armored cruisers and deal with damaged enemy battleships. Since the considerable firing range of their main caliber guns and high speed made it possible to control such actions, it was believed that the value of the armored protection inherent in the project was of secondary importance.
Beginning with Lion in England and Von der Tanna in Germany, the line cruiser was larger than the modern battleship. In this connection, it is necessary to point out a significant increase in displacement, which was characteristic of British cruisers from year to year: "Invincible" (laid in 1907), 20420 tons, "Indefatigable" (1909) 21240 tons, "Lyon" ( 1909) 30084 tons, "Tiger" (1912) 32800 tons. During five years the displacement increased 1.6 times, only after that the growth significantly decreased.
The term "linear" cruiser for the period 1905-1920. Can be accurately defined as the designation of a ship for four or six knots of a more high-speed than a modern battleship, which has weapons similar to the artillery of the main caliber of its modern battleships, and with such armor protection as is possible under the previous two conditions. The difficulties in creating a project of such a ship, the displacement of which could be less than that of the corresponding battleship, or, with a few exceptions, it would not be much more than his, consisted in the large dimensions and weight of the boilers, machines and mechanisms needed to provide Higher speed.
The Admiralty proposed instead of this project to build armored cruisers of the Minotaur type, but they were too weak and slow to meet the requirements of Admiral Fisher.
