A protected cruiser relies primarily on an armoured deck over vital spaces, whereas an armoured cruiser carries side armour. General-Admiral had a waterline belt as well as concentrated protection around the central battery. Those features place her on the armoured side of the classification despite the design's ironclad ancestry. The comparison shows why a single structural choice, rather than the ship's original label, underpins the class's historical claim.
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The belt that defines an armoured cruiser
Compare protected and armoured cruisers through the class's defining waterline belt and central battery.