List of sunken battlecruisers

The battlecruisers listed are grouped according to how they came to be sunk. In each category, they are listed in chronological order by date sunk.

unk in combat

The following ships were destroyed in battle. These ships are considered war graves.

= HMS "Invincible" =

Destroyed by a salvo from the battlecruiser SMS "Lützow" at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.
* Navy: navy|UK
* Casualties: Six survivors out of 1,021 crewmembers.
* Location: North Sea
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: The "Invincible" lies in two pieces in convert|180|ft|m of water.

= HMS "Indefatigable" =

Destroyed by a salvo from the battlecruiser SMS "Von der Tann" at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.
* Navy: navy|UK
* Casualties: Two survivors out of 1,017 crewmembers.
* Location: North Sea
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: The "Indefatigable" was extensively scavenged and salvaged prior to being declared a protected war grave. Only large pieces of metal remain on the sea floor.
* Relics: One of the ship's life savers that survived the sinking is on display at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester.

= HMS "Queen Mary" =

Destroyed by a salvo from the battlecruiser SMS "Seydlitz" at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.
* Navy: navy|UK
* Casualties: Nine survivors out of 1,266 crew members
* Location: North Sea
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: The "Queen Mary" lies upside down in convert|200|ft|m of water.

= SMS "Lützow" =

Heavily battered by the British battleships and battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland, "Lützow" was returning home when she finally succumbed to severe flooding and had to be scuttled by her crew on June 1, 1916.
* Navy: navy|German Empire
* Location: North Sea
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: The "Lützow" is relatively intact, upside down, in convert|160|ft|m of water.

= HMS "Repulse" =

Destroyed by Japanese aerial torpedoes on December 10, 1941, while deployed in defense of Singapore.
* Navy: navy|UK
* Casualties: 327 lost and 1,285 survivors
* Location: Near Kuantan in Malaysia
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: On her side in convert|180|ft|m of water.

= HMS "Hood" =

Designed and laid down as a battlecruiser, she did undergo some redesign following the Battle of Jutland while still under construction. Though popularly referred to as a battleship, she remained classified as a battlecruiser by the Royal Navy, and is still generally recognized to be one of the last battlecruisers.Destroyed by gunfire on May 24, 1941, while attacking the German warships "Bismarck" and "Prinz Eugen" during the Battle of the Denmark Strait.
* Navy: navy|UK
* Casualties: 3 survivors out of 1,418 crew members
* Location: Denmark Strait, North Atlantic Ocean
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: In pieces in convert|10000|ft|m of water.
* Relics: Two of the Hood's 5.5-inch (140 mm) guns, removed earlier during a refit, were installed on Ascension Island where the battery still exists today in a largely intact condition. A single gun mounting survives on the Faroe Islands.

"Scharnhorst"

Though classified by the Germans as a battleship, some argue the "Scharnhorst" and her sister ship represent the ultimate example of the German theory of battlecruiser design. On a platform with high-speed machinery and battleship-class armor, the Germans installed guns that were smaller than contemporary battleships. However, this was not due to a desire to reduce weight to increase speed, it was due to the Versailles Treaty, which limited German production of 15" guns to one per year.

Destroyed by gunfire and torpedoes from an Allied task force off the coast of Norway on December 26, 1943 during the Battle of North Cape.
* Navy: navy|Nazi Germany
* Casualties: Only 36 survivors out of 1,968 men
* Location: Arctic Ocean, approximately convert|66|mi|km off the North Cape of Norway.
* Status: Official war grave site.
* Condition: The "Scharnhorst" lies upside down in convert|900|ft|m of water.

Other Ships, including an A-bomb test target

Four Japanese ships of the "Kongo" class were designed and built as battlecruisers, and were all destroyed in battle during the Second World War. These ships were heavily rebuilt during the inter-war years, and it is generally agreed that these ships were upgraded to fast battleships. These ships were the "Kongō", the "Hiei", the "Kirishima", and the "Haruna".

Two American ships of the "Lexington" class were designed and laid down as battlecruisers, but were completed as aircraft carriers. The "USS Lexington (CV-2)" was destroyed by aerial torpedoes and aerial bombs during the Battle of the Coral Sea. The "USS Saratoga (CV-3)" surived WW II, but she was expended in an atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Her wreckage still lies at the bottom of the Bikini lagoon.

Two Japanese ships of the "Amagi" class were designed and laid down as battlecruisers, with the "Akagi" completed as an aircraft carrier. The "Amagi" was destroyed in an earthquake in Japan. The IJN carrier "Akagi" was destroyed by aerial bombs and fires during the Battle of Midway.

Three British ships of the "Glorious" class were designed and built as battlecruisers, and later converted into aircraft carriers. The "HMS Glorious (77)" was sunk by the German battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" while evacuating British soldiers from Norway. The "HMS Courageous (50)" was sunk by a U-boat in 1939 while escorting a convoy. The third ship, the "HMS Furious (47)", survived the war, and she was scrapped in 1948.

cuttled in deep water

The following ships were intentionally sunk while not engaged in battle.

= HMAS "Australia" =

Scuttled at sea in accordance with the disarmament terms of the Washington Naval Treaty on April 12, 1924.
* Navy: navy|Australia
* Location: Pacific Ocean, approximately convert|24|mi|km from Sydney Harbour.
* Relics: A number of relics were saved and are distributed around Australia. The admiral's table is displayed at Parliament House in Canberra.

cuttled and later salvaged for scrapping

The following ships were sunk, but were later salvaged and scrapped.

= SMS "Von der Tann" =

Interned at the end of World War I at Scapa Flow, and scuttled there by her crew on June 21 1919. Later raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|German Empire

= SMS "Moltke" =

Interned at the end of World War I at Scapa Flow, and scuttled there by her crew on June 21 1919. Later raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|German Empire

= SMS "Seydlitz" =

Interned at the end of World War I at Scapa Flow, and scuttled there by her crew on June 21 1919. Later raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|German Empire

= SMS "Derfflinger" =

Interned at the end of World War I at Scapa Flow, and scuttled there by her crew on June 21 1919. Later raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|German Empire

= SMS "Hindenburg" =

Interned at the end of World War I at Scapa Flow, and scuttled there by her crew on June 21 1919. Later, she was raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|German Empire

"Gneisenau"

The target of frequent and massive Allied bombing raids, "Gneisenau" was eventually decommissioned and scuttled as a blockship in Gotenhafen. Later raised and scrapped.
* Navy: navy|Nazi Germany
* Relics: One main turret was converted to a coastal artillery placement in Ørland, Norway, where it still exists as a museum. Parts of the guns from another main turret are on display in the Netherlands. Two twin 15 cm turrets from her secondary armament still exist in Denmark near Rødvig.

ee also

List of sunken battleships

External links

* [http://www.bobhenneman.info/Homepage.htm All the worlds battlecruisers]
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/20th_century_battleship_overview.htm Maritimequest Battleships & Battlecruisers of the 20th century]
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/battlecr.htm British and German Battlecruisers of the First World War]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/04idx.htm Navsource Online]
* [http://www.bobhenneman.info/DiveHome.htm Capital Ship Dive Sites]

Notes

References

*Baldwin, Hanson "World War I: An Outline History" (Harper and Row, New York, 1962)
*Bonney, George "The Battle of Jutland 1916" Sutton Publishing, 2006. ISBN 978-0750941785
*Breyer, Siegfried "Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970" (Doubleday and Company; Garden City, New York, 1973) (originally published in German as "Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer 1905-1970", J.F. Lehmanns, Verlag, Munchen, 1970).
*Brooks, John, "Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland, The Question of Fire Control,"Routledge, Abingdon, 2005.
*Burr, Lawrence "British Battlecruisers 1914- 1918 (New Vanguard)" Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 978-1846030086
*Gardiner, Robert, ed. "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905" (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979)
*Hough, Richard "Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship" MacMillan Publishing Company, 1975. ISBN 978-0025544208
*Ireland, Bernard, and Tony Gibbons "Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century" New York: HarperCollins, 1996. ISBN 0-00-470997-7 Also covers battlecruisers
*"Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I" (Jane's Publishing, London, 1919)
*Lambert, Nicholas. "Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution" (Studies in Maritime History). New Edition. (University of South Carolina Press, 2002). ISBN 978-1570034923. An important account; use with Sumida, below.
*Massie, Robert K, "Dreadnought," Jonathan Cape, London, 2003.
*Massie, Robert K, "Castles Of Steel" Jonathan Cape, London, 1992.
*Miller, David. "The Illustrated Directory of Warships: from 1860 to the Present Day". London: Salamander, 2001 ISBN 0-86288-677-5
*Roberts, John "Battlecruisers", Chatham Publishing, London, 1997.
*Staff, Gary "German Battlecruisers 1914-18 (New Vanguard)" Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 978-1846030093
*Sumida, Jon T. "In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Financial Limitation, Technological Innovation and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914." (Routledge, 1993). The standard account.
*Tarrant, V. E. "Battlecruiser Invincible: The History of the First Battlecruiser, 1909-1916" (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1986) ISBN 0-87021-147-1
*Van Der Vat, Dan "The ship that changed the world: The Escape of the Goeben to the Dardanelles in 1914" Adler & Adler, 1986. ASIN|B000JN9QC6