Protected Cruisers, 1895 - 1910


From the first steel cruisers of the 1880s, two distinct functional types emerged in the 1890s: the protected cruiser and the armored cruiser. While the two types corresponded in some degree to later light and heavy cruisers, the distinction lies in their armor protection schemes.

Protected cruisers were designed for either scouting for the fleet or commerce raiding. They generally mounted 5"-6" main guns along with an assortment of smaller weapons and torpedo tubes. Armored cruisers were used for scouting, raiding, and in a pinch, fleet action; mounted a few 8-10" guns; were protected by belt armor on their hulls. See lower schematic at right; full discussion elsewhere.

When battleship aficionados discuss "deck armor," they are talking about the special angled, armored deck at or near the waterline as seen in our diagrams here. There was no armor protection on the weather deck of a battleship or cruiser; it was expected that plunging shells could penetrate into the ship in action, but that the armored deck would keep magazines and engineering spaces inviolate, and the armored barbettes would do the same for ammo hoists. Many pre-dreadnoughts also included in their protection an additional splinter deck a few feet below the armored deck. The theory was that only splinters of shrapnel could penetrate the armored deck, and they would then be foiled by this second layer.

Our diagrams at right delineate these schemes of armor protection. Below we explore two protected cruisers from the period which have survived to this day as museum ships; and the sole armored cruiser still existing.

Plan of a Montgomery class protected cruiser, really more of a gunboat, the USS Marblehead, named for the great Massachusetts seaport, prominent in the Revolutionary War. The ship's protection was limited to a 5/8" armored deck (the shaded curved line that arcs just above the waterline) protecting the ship's engines, boilers, and magazines; and 1" armor on the main gun shields.


In section, a protected cruiser such as the Aurora or the USS Olympia. Marked in red here, the armored deck and shields stand out. This provided beefier protection (in the Olympia's case, 4.75" on the slope and 2" on the flat) than the Montgomery class gunboats could boast; Olympia also had minimal armor on the conning tower, 5" casemates, and turrets, making her a far more survivable vessel than the Marblehead. With ten 5" and four 8" guns, she packed more of a punch too. Owing to the unsatisfactory training scheme for her 8" turrets (later remedied), Olympia did most of her fighting with her 5" guns, as explained below.

Here is the armor plan for a full-fledged armored cruiser, SMS Scharnhorst, commissioned 1907. Armored cruisers had vertical belt armor on the hull in addition to the armored deck, and thicker armor on turrets and vitals, making them in effect miniature battleships. In Scharnhorst's case, 7" armor on main armament turrets and barbettes, 6"-3" belt, 8" on conning tower, 6" on the secondary armament pyramid amidships, plus 1.4"-2.5" deck. Stem-to-stern waterline armor gave a greater measure of protection than the protected cruisers, even comparing somewhat favorably to pre-dreadnought battleships with their 9-10" armor on their belt and turrets. However, naval technology was moving by bounds just as the Scharnhorst class were being turned out at Blohm & Voss; their armor and speed proved completely unequal to 12" shells launched from 27-kt. battlecruisers some 6 years later. Other armored cruisers having run-ins with dreadnoughts had similar experiences and the type was discontinued after the War.

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Three That Bide With Us Still:
Surviving Pre-Dreadnought Era Cruisers

Protected Cruiser U.S.S. OLYMPIA
Dewey's Flagship at Manila Bay

USS Olympia in Philadelphia
USS Olympia, a protected cruiser built 1891-93 at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, now lies at her permanent berth in Philadelphia. The 6,600-ton Olympia was part of the "New Navy" of modern warships which rejuvenated the U.S. fleet following a post-Civil War era of corruption, inattention and decay. Denoted C-6 (Cruiser #6), she came right at the beginning of this resurgence, along with the Maine and the 1895 Texas. She is one of the very few early steel warships preserved in the world today.

Olympia is a graceful, balanced vessel, as evident in her plans and a vintage 1898 shot. As the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay, in which the U.S. laid its claim to the Philippines within days of declaring war on Spain in 1898, Olympia iced her own claim to fame: Dewey's footsteps, cast in bronze, stand on her bridge to this day. The cruiser carried four 8-inch guns in twin turrets fore and aft, a mixed armament (ten 5" and smaller calibres) in casemate mountings and sponsons on the hull, and 2 torpedo tubes. Olympia had a 40-year career in the Navy and coast defense before becoming a museum ship in Philadelphia. The ship's charter from Congress was to be built entirely by American industry and in general she was a credit to her makers. However, there were a few awkward features. As originally built, Olympia used a steam-operated training gear for her 8" turrets (as did the Oregon and other American contemporaries). This system lacked fine control, making it very difficult to train the 8" guns accurately. In target practice the gunners would send the turrets around in a wide arc and fire as the guns bore. At Manila Bay, the ship did most of her fighting with her 5" battery, although illustrators of the day concentrated on the allure of the big guns. Post-1898 a more satisfactory electrical training system was installed, copying the successful original installation on the USS Brooklyn. Another design note was the experimental use of cofferdams in the sides of the hull, packed with cellulose; this was meant to provide lightweight anti-flooding protection. Also, coal bunkers were sited along the ship's sides to absorb enemy shot; this proved potentially dangerous as coal was prone to spontaneous combustion; it is thought that a bunker fire next to a magazine may have caused the destruction of the battleship Maine. Neither the cellulose nor the coal proved to be much use as protection, though fortunately the ship survived her bouts of battle without serious damage. No matter: Dewey was inflated into a first-class American hero by the "Yellow Press" and politicos, and the Olympia and her Captain Gridley shared the limelight. Coming only days after the declaration of war, the Manila Bay victory etched itself on the national consciousness in vivid colors. Consequently the ship has been quite well cared for by the Cruiser Olympia Foundation and Independence Seaport Museum.

USS OLYMPIA at her permanent berth in Philly, stern quarter view

Specifications for the Olympia:
Dimensions: 344'1" x 53' x 21'6"; std. displacement 5,870 tons. Armament: (4) 8"/40 Mark III (2x2); (10) 5"/50 Mark II; (14) 6-pounders; (6) 1-pounders; 2 Colt machine guns; (1) 63mm field piece for landing parties; (6) 18" torpedo tubes. Boilers: (4) double-ended and (2) single-ended Scotch boilers. Bunkerage: 1,085.6 tons of coal. Engines: Two inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 17,313 HP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 21.7 kts. Crew: 33 officers and 378 enlisted men. Endurance: 6,105 nm @ 10 kts. Cost: $1,796,000 at 1890 valuation.

Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 104.9m x 16m x 6.55m; std. displacement 5,870 tons. Armament: (4) 203 mm/40 Mark III (2x2); (10) 127 mm/50 Mark II; (14) 6-pounders; (6) 1-pounders; 2 Colt machine guns; (1) 63mm field piece for landing parties; (6) 450 mm torpedo tubes. Boilers: (4) double-ended and (2) single-ended Scotch boilers. Bunkerage: 1,085.6 tons of coal. Engines: Two inverted vertical triple-expansion engines developing 12,910 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 40.2 km/hr. Crew: 33 officers and 378 enlisted men. Endurance: 11,306 km @ 18.5 km/hr. Cost: $1,796,000 at 1890 valuation.

Russian Protected Cruiser AURORA - 1903

Russian cruiser AURORA docked in St. PetersburgAurora reflects French styling in her high sides, tall funnels, and pronounced tumble-home (turning inwards of the hull sides as they climb upwards). This is a marked contrast to straight-sided Olympia, although other large ships in the American fleet (notably the Brooklyn) were indebted to these same French stylings (carried to a grotesque extreme in 1890s French battleships). Aurora initially carried eight 6-inch guns (all in single mounts), smaller calibre weapons and torpedoes (plan). During the Russo-Japanese war, the recently completed cruiser was part of the ill-fated fleet that steamed from the Baltic all the way around Africa to meet annihilation at Tsushima. On this chaotic and desperate voyage, the Aurora acted as a morale leader, providing moments of bittersweet satisfaction to the irascible C-in-C, Zinovy Petrovich Rozhdestvensky. The smart and efficient Aurora served to remind him of the sort of fleet he would have liked to command. She was one of the few Russian vessels to elude capture or sinking at the Tsushima dust-up. Running all out along for 4 days along with the cruisers Oleg and Zhemchug, she claimed asylum at Manila. Released after the Treaty of Portsmouth in fall 1905, Aurora rejoined the remnants of the Russian Imperial fleet; was stationed in the Baltic as a cadet training ship through World War I. In port at Petersburg for repairs, her crew became red-hot revolutionaries, refusing orders to put to sea. Aurora became a pivotal weapon in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, when her guns shot blanks at the Winter Palace from the Neva, signaling the assault on the palace and helping persuade Kerensky's Provisional Government to flee.

Over the years the ship has received many honors from the Communist government for her impeccable Bolshevist credentials. In WWII -- Russia's "Great Patriotic War" -- both Moscow and Leningrad were surrounded and besieged; the sieges' brutality and hardship are legendary to this day. Aurora's fourteen 6" guns were removed and used in the front-line defense of Leningrad. The ship herself was transformed into a mobile antiaircraft gun platform at the port of Oranienbaum nearby, where was sunk by Nazi air raids in September 1941. But in gratitude (and recognizing a potent patriotic symbol), the Soviet government resurrected her and made her a museum of the October Revolution, first opening in 1957. And so she remains, beautifully preserved, moored at the Petrovskaya Embankment, near the handsome baroque buildings of the Nakhimov Naval Academy in St. Petersburg.

Schematic of the AVRORA, legendary Russian cruiser of 1903

Specifications for the Aurora:
Dimensions: 416' x 55.1' x 24'   Displacement: 6,731 tons std, 7,600 tons deep laden. Armament (as built): (8) 6"/45 and (24) 3" 12-pdr guns; (9) 37 mm MG; (3) 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: 3"/2" protective deck, 2" shields. Fuel bunkerage: 960 tons of coal std; 1,430 tons maximum, plus unspecified qty oil fuel. Propulsion: (24) coal-fired Belleville boilers; (3) horizontal 3-cyl triple expansion engines developing 11,600 HP, shafted to triple screw. Speed: 20 kts. Crew: 578.

By the time of her star turn in the October Revolution, the ship's armament had been augmented to fourteen 6" (152 mm) guns, four 76 mm AA guns, and assorted machine guns. During WWII she became an antiaircraft gunship until sunk by Nazi aircraft.

Ships in class: Pallada · Avrora · Diana

Metric specifications: Dimensions: 126.8m x 16.8m x 7.32m   Displacement: 6,731 tons std, 7,600 tons deep laden. Armament (as built): (8) 152 mm/45 and (24) 75 mm 12-pdr guns; (9) 37 mm MG; (3) 450-mm torpedo tubes. Armor: 76/50 mm protective deck; 50 mm shields. Fuel bunkerage: 960 tons of coal std; 1,430 tons maximum, plus unspecified qty oil fuel. Propulsion: (24) coal-fired Belleville boilers; (3) horizontal 3-cyl triple expansion engines developing 8,650 kW, shafted to triple screw. Speed: 20 kts. Crew: 578.

Armored Cruisers, 1895 - 1910

British armoured cruiser HOGUE, sunk in 1914
In the years just prior to WWI, armored cruisers (larger and better protected than "protected" cruisers) grew to a size and complexity rivaling small battleships, and with commensurately larger crews. However, these large ships afforded their large crews far less protection than a genuine battleship. This had tragic consequences at the Falkland Islands, at the Battle of Jutland, and preceding these in the case of the "Live Bait Squadron," 3 older armored cruisers sunk in rapid succession by U-9 on Sept. 22, 1914, with the loss of more than 1450 British lives (837 survived). At left, HMS Hogue, commissioned 1902, was one of the Live Bait Squadron, lost patroling the Broad Fourteens in 1914. 472' long x 69.5' wide x 26' deep, she displaced 12,000 tons and carried two 9.2" guns in single turrets, (12) 6" QF, and (3) 3-pdrs; could steam at 22 kts when new, but could barely make 12 when brought out of reserve at the start of WWI. Most British armored cruisers followed a similar layout, but the largest ones (Minotaur class) had twin turrets fore and aft doubling their 9" firepower, and secondary battery upgraded to ten 7.5" guns. Old salts in the Royal Navy grumbled that these ships were over-gunned and that the weight would have been better spent on more protection. Despite their speed, armored cruisers were no match for the Dreadnought battlecruisers which superseded them increasingly after 1908. The battlecruisers completely outclassed the armored cruisers in both speed and firepower. When the two came to blows, the results could be tragic: A number of armored cruisers were blown to atoms at the Battle of Jutland: HMS Black Prince, HMS Defence, HMS Warrior, and SMS Wiesbaden. And in each instance, 850-900 men lost their lives.

Greek Armored Cruiser GEORGIOS AVEROF - 1910

Armored Cruiser GEORGIOS AVEROF cleaves the Aegean
The armored cruiser Georgios Averof, former flagship of the Hellenic Navy, on her way to her permanent berth near Athens, at right. Averof, built at Cantieri Orlando, Livorno, Italy in 1910-11, was a de facto third member of the Italian Pisa class, with improved protection and British-style tripod masts. She joined the Greek fleet just before the First Balkan War of 1912-13, in which she outfought the combined Turkish fleet and spearheaded a blockade of Turkish ports on the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Izmir. The Greek fleet otherwise consisted of three slow, French-built 1890 battleships and a rather good TB flotilla. Together they prevented Turkish troops from sailing to the front in Macedonia or the Ottoman-held islands in the Aegean. As flagship, Averof (known as "Uncle Georgi" to her crew) played a leading role in this campaign. Armed with four 9.2" guns and eight 7.5" guns in twin turrets in a hex disposition, Averof expressed a sensible compromise between speed and protection. She had a top speed of 23.5 kts and an 8" belt, making her the most formidable "battleship" east of Otranto in 1910. Commanding admiral Paulos Kountouriotis drilled his crew in gunnery, using advanced fire-control techniques as practiced in the British fleet.

Matters came to a head on Dec. 16, 1912, when the Averof and three destroyers went on the offensive at the Battle of Elli, fought only a few miles off the mouth of the Dardanelles. Leaving the slow battleships behind, Kountouriotis lunged aggressively at the antiquated Ottoman battleships. Crossing the Turks' T, Averof blasted the Ottoman flagship Hayreddin Barbarossa with six well-placed salvos, then turned her guns on the sister-ship Torgud Reis. Nursing 56 casualties (15 killed), the two ex-German battleships retreated in disorder from the single armored cruiser and its cruelly precise gunnery, even as the three old Greek battleships Hydra, Psara, and Spetsai churned into range. The two fleets met again on Jan. 18, 1913 off the island of Lemnos, and again Greek gunnery won the day for the Hellenic Navy. As the damaged Ottoman battleships retreated to base, Averof pursued, harassing them with accurate long-range fire. Withdrawing into the Straits, the Ottoman fleet did not emerge again for the duration.

The success of the Greek blockade -- spearheaded by Averof -- guaranteed victory to the Greeks and their allies in the Balkan League. The Turks' abandonment of the Aegean left important Turkish-held islands there open to Greek conquest. All fell by March 1913, the last being Lesbos amd Samos. They remain Greek territories to this day. The other war aims of the Balkan League were realized and Albania celebrated its independence.

Averof's design (tripod masts, ram bow, six twin turrets) reflects the stylings of semi-dreadnought warships, in their brief heyday 1909-11, operating on the fringes of the dreadnought/battlecruiser arms race raging at that time. One distinctively Greek feature of the ship is her Orthodox chapel, complete with ornate silver candelabra and beautiful ikon paintings. Her heavy armament made her Greece's "enforcer" and deterrant in the region. The ship's silhouette is a familiar patriotic symbol.

Though more than a match for the antiquated Ottoman fleet of 1912, Averof would have been lucky to last ten minutes in a duel with a genuine battlecruiser such as Yavuz Sultan Selim, as the Turks renamed the German Goeben when she arrived at Constantinople in August 1914. Shortly afterwards, the Sublime Porte issued a declaration of war on the side of the Central Powers, events historians feel may be linked. But happily, skillful handling and good fortune kept Averof intact as she fought doggedly through two World Wars. In WWII she defied the Luftwaffe, making a hairbreadth escape to Crete and thence to Egypt; spent much of the war as an escort ship based in Bombay (Mumbai). In late 1944 she had the honor of transporting the Greek government-in-exile back from Cyprus to Athens after the Nazi occupiers fled. (Yavuz herself survived to be scrapped in the 1970s, leaving the USS Texas as the lone survivor of the WWI dreadnought fleets.) After a postwar period of neglect, Averof was lovingly restored and became a national museum ship in 1986. Now open to the public at Faliron, near Athens, she remains a commissioned warship of the Hellenic Navy and flies a rear admiral's flag. She is the only remaining armored cruiser in the world.

Schematic of the GIORGIOS AVEROF, Hellenic Navy armored cruiser of 1910

Specifications for the Averof:
Dimensions: 459'9" x 68'10" x 23'6'   Displacement: 9,956 tons std; 10,200 tons deep laden. Armament: Four 9.2" (2x2), eight 7.5" (4x2), (16) 3", and four 1.85" guns; three 17" torpedo tubes (as built.) Armor: 7.9"/3.15" belt; 7.9" main turrets, 6.9" secondary turrets; 7.1" barbettes & conning tower; 1.6" deck. Fuel capacity: 660 tons of coal (1,500 tons max.) Propulsion: 22 Belleville water-tube boilers; (2) inverted vertical 4-cyl triple-expansion engines developing 19,000 SHP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 23.5 kts. Endurance: 2,480 nm at 17.5 kts. Crew: 670. NOTE: In a refit during the 1930s she was equipped with additional 76 mm and 37 mm AA guns.

Metric Specifications:
Dimensions: 140.13m x 21m x 7.18m   Displacement: 9,956 tons std; 10,200 tons deep laden. Armament: Four 234 mm (2x2), eight 190 mm (4x2), (16) 76 mm, and four 47mm guns; three 17" torpedo tubes (as built.) Armor: 200/80 mm belt; 200 mm main turrets, 175 mm secondary turrets; 180 mm barbettes & conning tower; 41 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 660 tons of coal (1,500 tons max.) Propulsion: 22 Belleville water-tube boilers; (2) 4-cyl inverted vertical triple-expansion engines developing 14,168 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 43.5 km/hr. Endurance: 4,593 km @ 32.4 km/hr. Crew: 670.

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