As an armored cruiser, Blücher combined twelve 8.3-inch guns with better than 25 knots and was a sensible design for her moment despite wing turrets and casemates. Her failure came from employment and generational mismatch. Capital-ship gun development moved through several generations after she was laid down, leaving her to fight newer battlecruisers for which she had not been designed. The segment judges the ship against its intended category and date instead of only the opponent that destroyed it.
Chapter · 2:00:05-2:05:01
Blücher was a good cruiser in the wrong fight
SMS Blücher was a competent armored cruiser whose reputation suffers from comparison and combat with newer capital ships.