For a long time, cruisers made up for Confucius between very light ships such as torpedo boats and battleships. Cruisers are powerful enough to resist attacks from small ships and can sail far from their own bases. Although battleships are powerful, they are too slow and need too much fuel (especially after using steam engines), so it is difficult to fight from a long distance. For most of the19th century and at the beginning of 20th century, cruisers were long-range deterrent weapons of the fleet, while battleships remained near the base. The main function of cruisers is to attack enemy caravans. Cruisers pay more attention to speed, and adopt a slender hull that is conducive to acceleration to optimize high-speed navigation.
/kloc-Around the 0/9th century, the Royal British Navy with colonies all over the world paid special attention to cruisers. The powerful cruiser fleet enables Britain to control a large number of sea areas at less cost. These cruisers can detect the enemy's situation and protect the battleship fleet from going far away or attacking in groups. For example, the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk followed the German battleship Bismarck until the British battleship and aircraft carrier arrived and sank Bismarck. A British heavy cruiser and two light cruisers can disperse the superior firepower of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. Although the British ship was damaged, the German ship did not dare to fight and finally decided to flee to the port.
Cruisers have also been incorporated into the main fleet for reconnaissance and patrol.
With the increase of battleships, the draft and size of cruisers are also increasing. After the sails were replaced by steam engines, armored cruisers appeared. In fact, they are relatively small and fast battleships. At the end of 19, the development speed of warships was so fast that cruisers launched several years later surpassed the previous battleships. America's white fleet became obsolete within a few years of launching. During this period, a fleet often contains very old ships and very new ships, and the new ships are often much larger than the old ships.
In the 1920s, people were forced to start distinguishing between light cruisers and heavy cruisers. After the First World War, these two concepts were defined in different arms limitation treaties. The gun diameter of light cruisers is less than 6. 1 inch (155 mm), and the gun diameter of heavy cruisers is above this (8 inches, that is, 203 mm). In the Washington naval treaty, 8 inches is the maximum diameter of a cruiser. However, there are several cruisers with gun diameters above this: two scharnhorst-class (German), two Dunkirk-class (French) and two Alaskan-class (American). They were super cruisers during the treaty period and a continuation of combat cruisers in World War II.
During the period from 1880 to 19 10, many much smaller escort cruisers were built. Because they have little armor, they are not installed on the side of the ship, but on the deck.
The smaller cruiser is an auxiliary cruiser. In fact, they were merchant ships with small guns assembled quickly after the war broke out. These ships are used to provide protection for other merchant ships, but they are actually useless because of their slow speed, weak firepower and weak armor. In the two world wars, Germany attacked allied merchant ships with small merchant ships equipped with cruiser guns, because these merchant ships didn't realize what these ships were at first. Some large ocean-going ships are also modified in this way. In World War I, France and Germany used this kind of ship to attack the enemy. The advantage of these ships lies in their high speed (56 kilometers per hour). Germany and Japan used this kind of ship again in World War II. In World War I and the early days of World War II, Britain used this ship to protect the merchant fleet.
Battleship
An unwritten rule in the design of a battleship is that its armor should be able to withstand its own fire at a conventional engagement distance, so that the design is qualified. Before World War I, there was a design that upset this balance. Its purpose is to design a ship much faster than a battleship, but with the same firepower as a battleship. The role of these ships is to pursue enemy cruisers, especially armored cruisers that are active in various oceans and are mainly used to break the situation. Under the auspices of John Abbas Nott Fisher, the first British Minister of Maritime Affairs, the first ship of this warship named "Combat Cruiser" was launched in Ahlvik Shipyard on April 1907. It was the "Invincible".
These warships between battleships and cruisers have the same tonnage and firepower as battleships, but their armor is very weak, which is only equivalent to cruisers. The saved weight is invested in engines and firepower. The result is a highly mobile warship: more firepower than any cruiser, but faster than a battleship. The father of the war patrol praised this kind of warship, because the armored cruiser, the main naval force next to the battleship at that time, was only waiting for slaughter when facing the high speed of more than 25 knots of war patrol.
Their design was very successful, at least they successfully completed the design requirements. For example, in the Falklands naval battle in 19 14 and the subsequent naval battle in Shazhou, Dogel, battle cruiser showed its unique power to its design rivals. But in fleet operations, they are very vulnerable to enemy combat cruisers and battleships. 19 16 This defect in battle cruiser, England, was very obvious and caused heavy losses. After the war, the British navy demolished many battle cruisers, and the remaining armor was reinforced in its permitted state. But the main reason for the demolition is that the Washington naval treaty stipulates the number of heavy warships and drainage restrictions.
1940 also showed the weakness of battle cruiser's armor when the British fleet pursued the German battleship Bismarck in World War II. The British battleship Hood has the same artillery power as Bismarck, but its armor is much weaker. In the naval battle in the Danish Strait, Hood was hit by Bismarck's artillery before he could hit the Bismarck. After the armor of the hood was punctured, the ammunition depot exploded, broke into two pieces and sank rapidly. 14 19 Only three sailors survived.
At the end of 20th century
The appearance of airborne troops in World War II greatly changed the nature of naval warfare. Even the fastest cruiser is not as fast as the plane, and the range of the plane is still expanding, and finally it can jump into the ocean. This reduces the chance of a single ship or a small unit fighting independently. In the late 20 th century, only a very large fleet fought together to resist almost all air strikes. This makes most navies pay attention to the design of ships that only complete one task, especially anti-submarine and air defense ships. Most multi-functional ships in the fleet have disappeared. The US Navy, the Russian Navy, the Peruvian Navy and the Italian Navy are the navies that still own cruisers.
The Soviet navy used cruisers as the basis of their combat fleet. After the war, they built a fleet with artillery, but it was soon replaced by a large ship loaded with a large number of missiles and a large number of anti-aircraft missiles. The most famous Soviet-Russian cruisers are Kirov-class cruisers built in 1980s and 1990s, with a total of four cruisers. Its nuclear power system can provide the ship with more than 30 knots of high speed and almost unlimited endurance. At present, except the latest "Peter the Great", the other three ships are in poor condition, and the first two ships, ushakov (formerly "Kirov") and lazarev (formerly "Fu Longzhi"), are even preparing to be dismantled.
After World War II, the center of the US Navy was the aircraft carrier. The Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers built in 1980 were originally designed as destroyers, and their main intention was to provide extremely powerful air defense forces. For the sake of public relations, these ships were mistakenly named cruisers to emphasize the combat capability of the Aegis combat system. However, since the launch of the 198 1 Ticonderoga cruiser, this class of ships has obtained a series of improvements, greatly enhancing its anti-submarine and ground attack capabilities (using cruise missiles). Like their Soviet rivals, these Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers can also serve as the center of the entire battle group.