Sunken battlecruisers are large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century that were either destroyed in battle, scuttled, or destroyed in a weapon test. They were similar in size and cost to a battleship, and typically carried the same kind of heavy guns, but battlecruisers generally carried less armor and were faster. The first battlecruisers were developed in the United Kingdom in the first decade of the century, as a development of the armored cruiser, at the same time the dreadnought succeeded the pre-dreadnought battleship. The original aim of the battlecruiser was to hunt down slower, older armored cruisers and destroy them with heavy gunfire. However, as more and more battlecruisers were built, their opponents became ships of their own type, not slower, weaker vessels.[1]
In World War I, the thin armor of British battlecruisers did not serve them well in combat with their better-armored German counterparts and three were lost at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. SMS Lützow, a German battlecruiser, was also sunk during the battle. Five German battlecruisers were scuttled by their crews in 1919 to prevent their seizure by the Royal Navy after the First Armistice at Compiègne in 1918.
Between the World Wars, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limited the number and tonnage of capital ships that could be retained. Many battlecruisers were scrapped during this period, though HMAS Australia, the sole Australian battlecruiser, was scuttled to comply with the treaty. One provision of the treaty allowed nations to convert two battlecruisers then under construction into aircraft carriers and both the Empire of Japan and the United States took advantage of the opportunity. The British also converted all three of their "light battlecruisers" into aircraft carriers even though they were not subject to the treaty. The Japanese rebuilt their four remaining battlecruisers into fast battleships during the 1930s.
World War II took a heavy toll on the remaining battlecruisers, both converted and unconverted. In contrast to World War I, where all four ships were lost to gunfire, only two were sunk solely by guns. Two battlecruisers were sunk by a combination of gunfire and aerial attack, four were sunk solely by aircraft and two were sunk by submarines. The largest loss of life in the sinking of a battlecruiser was the 1,415 killed in the sinking of HMS Hood during her confrontation with the in 1941. Of the three surviving World War II battlecruisers, two were scrapped after the war and one,, was sunk by nuclear weapon tests in 1946.
The first combat losses of battlecruisers occurred during World War I, as a result of the Battle of Jutland between the Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy on 31 May 1916. The three British ships—,, and —were all sunk by magazine explosions, with heavy loss of life.[2] had been hit several times below the waterline by British shells during the battle and took on a lot of water after the battle. Later that night, Lützow had so much water aboard that she threatened to capsize; the crew was ordered to abandon ship and a German destroyer finished her off with two torpedoes. The next combat losses were a quarter century later during World War II, when the British intercepted a German force attempting to break out into the Atlantic to attack supply convoys. Shortly after the Battle of the Denmark Strait began on 24 May 1941, a shell from the hit, causing its magazine to explode with massive loss of life. Six months later, the battleship and the battlecruiser attempted to intercept Japanese troop convoys approaching the Malay Peninsula. They were spotted by Japanese aircraft en route and sunk by torpedo bombers on 10 December.[3]
Several battlecruisers survived World War I only to be scuttled in its aftermath. The five German battlecruisers that survived World War I—,,,, —were interned at Scapa Flow pending the signing of a peace treaty between Germany and the Allies. The commander of the German ships in Scapa, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, thought the British were going to seize the ships immediately after the expiration of the Armistice, and preemptively ordered the ships be scuttled on the morning of 21 June 1919 to keep them out of British hands.[4] The Royal Australian Navy scuttled in 1924 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.[5]
Half a dozen of the surviving battlecruisers (including three under construction) were converted into aircraft carriers during the 1920s.All three of the s were converted. Courageouss aircraft were hunting for submarines shortly after the beginning of World War II when she was sunk by the on 17 September 1939. The following year, was returning to Britain when she was sunk by the German battleships and in the North Sea on 8 June 1940.[6] A clause in the Washington Naval Treaty allowed two ships per signatory to be converted to aircraft carriers, and the United States Navy chose to convert two of its s during the 1920s because of their high speed. was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes during the Battle of the Coral Sea on 8 May 1942. They only moderately damaged the ship, but, more importantly, they cracked some of her avgas storage tanks. Fumes from these tanks later caught fire and could not be put out; the crew was forced to abandon ship and Lexington was torpedoed and sunk by an American destroyer.[7] survived the war, but was considered obsolete so she was used as a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. The ship survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test on 25 July 1946. The was another battlecruiser converted into a carrier because of the Washington Naval Treaty. She was struck by three bombs during the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942 that caused serious fires that forced the crew to abandon ship early that night. By the following morning, it was clear that the ship could not be repaired, and so was torpedoed and sunk.[8]
The four Japanese
The listed battlecruisers are grouped according to causes of the sinking. Within groups, they are listed in chronological order of sinking.
The following ships were destroyed in battle.
| Name | Navy | Casualties | Date sunk | Location | Condition | Relics | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [9] | [10] | North Sea | Invincible lies in two pieces[11] in 177feet of water[12] | |||||
| [13] | North Sea | Heavily salvaged, only large pieces of metal remain in 183feet of water | One of the ship's lifebelts that survived the sinking is on display at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester[14] | |||||
| [15] | North Sea | Queen Mary lies upside down in two pieces in 196feet of water | ||||||
| [16] | [17] | North Sea | Lützow is relatively intact, upside down, in 144feet of water | |||||
| [18] | [19] | Denmark Strait | In pieces in 2800m (9,200feet) of water[20] | Two of Hoods 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.[21] | ||||
| [22] | [23] | South China Sea | Almost upside down in 177feet of water[24] |
Several battlecruisers were scuttled.
| Name | Navy | Date sunk | Location | Condition | Relics | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [25] | Scapa Flow | Raised and salvaged at Scapa Flow, 7 December 1930, broken up for scrap[26] | |||||
| [27] | Scapa Flow | Raised 10 June 1927, broken up for scrap[28] | |||||
| [29] | Scapa Flow | Raised November 1928, broken up for scrap | Ship's bell in the Laboe Naval Memorial[30] | ||||
| [31] | Scapa Flow | Raised in 1939, broken up for scrap | Ship's bell outside the Church of St Michael on the Outer Hebrides island of Eriskay[32] | ||||
| [33] | Scapa Flow | Raised 22 July 1930, broken up for scrap | Ship's bell in the Laboe Naval Memorial | ||||
| [34] | Off Sydney Heads[35] | At a depth of [36] | Various artifacts, including a propeller at the Australian War Memorial[37] |
Several battlecruisers were converted into other ship types either during construction or after entering service; many of these ships were sunk in combat during World War II.
| Name | Navy | Conversion | Casualties | Date sunk | Location | Condition | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft carrier | [38] | Western Approaches | Unknown | |||||
| Aircraft carrier | [39] | North Sea[40] | Unknown | |||||
| Aircraft carrier | [41] | Coral Sea | In 3 pieces below the surface. | |||||
| Aircraft carrier | [42] | Off Midway Island | At a depth of 18,011 feet (5,490 m) upright, mostly intact.[43] | |||||
| Battleship | [44] | Ironbottom Sound | Unknown | |||||
| Battleship | [45] | Ironbottom Sound | Upside down in 4000feet of water, bow missing (separated from main hull, condition unknown). | |||||
| Battleship | [46] | Formosa Strait[47] | Unknown | |||||
| Battleship | [48] | Kure | Scrapped, 1946 | |||||
| Aircraft carrier | [49] | Bikini Atoll | Saratoga is upright, with the top of the bridge below the surface, largest WWII Carrier accessible to divers.[50] |