Last of the 3 Survivors of battlecruiser HMS Hood dies aged 85

[Mike Abberton]

Battlecruisers were supposed to be able to easily sink anything they could catch and easily avoid anything that could sink them. The intention was to use them as "super cruisers", not really battle line ships. Even in a large surface engagement they were supposed to help screen the battle line, not go toe-to-toe with enemy battleships.

Unfortunately, the designers intentions are rarely followed by the actual users of a new type of weapon, and they generally found themselves used as "light battleships" not "super cruisers". At Jutland the British battlecruisers fared very badly when going up against the German battlecruisers and battleships.

Still most of the navies continued battlecruiser development after WWI until the Washington Naval Treaty decided to lump them in with battleships. Noone wanted to lose battleship tonnage to battlecruisers, so they pretty much canceled the programs or made them into aircraft carriers (a la the Lexington Class).

Some of the few existing battlecruisers at the time were updated with better armor schemes between the wars, including the Japanese Kongo class. The concept somwhat resurfaced in the 1930's with concept of "fast" or "pocket" battleships in Germany and France. At least in Germany's case, these were envisioned as convoy raiders and were not really intended to take on the British fleet.

Ironically, Hood was scheduled to receive another refit in 1941, but the war intervened and Hood did not survive. God bless Mr. Briggs and all the other sailors who ran into trouble on the seas.