How cruiser types divided the work of economic warfare

Light cruisers appear as balanced and comparatively expendable ships, using guns against small raiders and torpedoes to discourage heavier opponents. Battlecruisers are fleet scouts and global heavy hitters able to meet enemy battlecruisers, but their cost keeps their numbers low. Heavy cruisers occupy a more defensive position, staying with convoys or distant stations and making an attack expensive even when they cannot guarantee victory. Trade protection and trade interdiction were central to cruiser identity in this period alongside fleet scouting. Similar cruiser labels therefore concealed different operational expectations.