What is the Difference Between a Cruiser and a Battleship?
A cruiser is a vessel built to secure speed and fuel capacity at the expense of armor and battery strength.
The modern cruiser may be regarded as the offspring of the frigate of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The later construction has been designed for a minimum speed of twenty-five knots an hour, with a possible attainment of thirty knots or over, under favorable conditions.
The battleship and one form of cruiser were evolved from the conflicting opinions of two opposite schools of design. The battleship is the expression of the thoughts of those who stood for extremely developed battery power, great thickness of armor plate, and moderate speed. The cruiser is the result of the triumph of those who contended for high speed at the sacrifice of heavy armor protection and excessive battery strength.
The armored cruiser was the particular development of the antagonistic views prevailing among naval architects. The type of this class in the United States navy was the “Brooklyn,” which figured prominently in the war with Spain in 1898.
Recently the armored cruiser has been superseded by the battle cruiser. The armor protection in this type of ship is much lower than that of the battleship, while the ordnance, on the other hand, is practically the same. High speed, wide radius of action and great battery strength are the characteristics of this type; and to meet these requirements the battle cruiser is planned of a size considerably larger than the battleship.
The protected cruiser is a later development of naval construction. Its distinguishing features are certain modifications in the distribution of the mass of protective armor of the ship.
Light cruisers are vessels of from 1,500 to 7,500 tons, used in scouting, as commerce destroyers, etc. They are outside the armored class.
