Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:30:48-2:32:08

Armoured cruisers on the road to Dreadnought

British armoured cruisers show the hull form and gun-layout ideas from which a fast all-big-gun capital ship could develop.

Armoured CruisersDevonshire Class CruisersDuke of Edinburgh Class Armoured CruisersHMS DreadnoughtShip Design
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Question

Did anyone design an all-big-gun cruiser before HMS Dreadnought?

Short answer

Not in the completed Dreadnought form, but British armoured cruisers already showed the hull and primary-gun layout from which the concept developed.

Notes

The Duke of Edinburgh, Black Prince and Devonshire classes show a recognizable design path before Dreadnought. Their primary weapons were still single guns and they retained secondary batteries, so they were not finished all-big-gun ships. Their fast-cruiser hulls and distribution of principal turrets nevertheless offered a model for building a fast battleship. The watch point separates a complete revolutionary design from the earlier components and habits that made it possible.