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Battlecruisers in Naval Warfare: A Historical Quiz

This quiz explores the historical significance and strategic roles of battlecruisers in naval warfare. Test your knowledge on key events, figures, and decisions that shaped their use during critical periods.

#naval history #battlecruisers #World War I #World War II #military strategy #naval warfare

1 Roberts argues that the focus on the Baltic was probably unimportant at the time the ships were designed, but was inflated later, after the disastrous ________.

2 In summer 1904, after Fisher's appointment as ________, the decision was taken to use 12-inch guns for the next generation of battleships, because of their superior performance at long range.

3 The results of some of these developments were illustrated by the successful defence of convoys at the ________ and the Battle of the North Cape.

4 By comparison with the critical role of submarines during the ________, the commerce-raiding role of battlecruisers was marginal in its impact on the outcome of the war.

5 The use of battlecruisers as commerce raiders was curtailed following an attack by the Admiral Scheer on a convoy guarded by the HMS Jervis Bay, an ________.

6 They returned to Brest in northern ________, but found this port was vulnerable to Royal Air Force attacks and were obliged to return to Germany.

7 However, their ________-era armament was weaker and their upgraded armour scheme was still not up to contemporary dreadnought standards.

8 However, she was surprised by the battleship HMS Duke of York with the cruisers Jamaica, Norfolk and Belfast at the ________ and sunk on 26 December 1943.

9 The line between the battlecruiser and the modern ________ became blurred; indeed, the Japanese Kongō class were formally redesignated as battleships.

10 The ________, which limited capital ship construction from 1922 onwards, treated battleships and battlecruisers identically.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the British battlecruisers HMS Indomitable and HMS Indefatigable bombarded Turkish fortifications on the Dardanelles two days before the British declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire.
  • the British battlecruiser HMS Lion (pictured) fired seven torpedoes during the Battle of Jutland without success.
  • the British battlecruiser Princess Royal (pictured) fired 271 13.5-inch shells during the Battle of Dogger Bank, but only scored three hits.
  • the British Invincible class were the world's first battlecruisers.
  • the Japanese Kongō-class battlecruisers (Kongō pictured) were designed by British naval engineer George Thurston.
  • when torpedoed in May 1915 by German submarine UB-8, SS Merion was disguised as the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Tiger.
  • the wreck of the British battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary has been designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
  • the construction of Stalingrad-class battlecruisers was cancelled soon after their major supporter, Joseph Stalin, died in March 1953.
  • the Indefatigable-class battlecruiser HMAS Australia (pictured) was the first flagship of the Royal Australian Navy.
  • the Admiral-class battlecruiser Hood (pictured) escorted British merchantmen into Bilbao in 1937, even though the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera was attempting to blockade the port.
  • because of her tough resistance during the Battle of Jutland, the German battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger (pictured) was nicknamed "Iron Dog" by the British Royal Navy.
  • SMS Weißenburg, a German pre-dreadnought battleship, was sold to the Ottoman Navy, and later came to the rescue of the battlecruiser Goeben, another former German warship in Ottoman service.
  • British Admiral of the Fleet Michael Pollock, was gunnery officer on the HMS Norfolk when she fought the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst during the Battle of North Cape.
  • in 1921, future four-star admiral Louis M. Nulton tried to save the battlecruiser USS Constitution from being scrapped by illegally transferring funds from the construction and repair of other warships.
  • the Imperial German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz (pictured) was nearly destroyed when a shell from HMS Lion penetrated a gun turret and caused a flash fire during the Battle of Dogger Bank.
  • the 14"/50 caliber gun was slated to be the main armament for the Lexington-class battlecruiser, but that class was redesigned in 1917.
  • the North Sea patrols of the battlecruiser HMAS Australia during World War I were so monotonous that one sailor was driven insane.
  • HMS Incomparable was a design for a mammoth battlecruiser, proposed by British Admiral Jackie Fisher in 1915, but never built.
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