Dodson, Aidan Before the Battlecruiser. The Big Cruiser in the World's Navies 1865-1910

In this book by Aidan Dobson, the approximately 200 large cruisers built for the world's navies from 1865 onward are described and analyzed in detail. The type originated in the 1860s when the French built a series of ocean-going ironclads to demonstrate their power in the Far East. Great Britain followed suit, as did Russia. In the 1890s, the widespread adoption of these fast, heavily armed, and moderately armored ships ushered in the golden age of the large cruiser. The design, development, and operation of all these great ships are recounted with the author's customary attention to detail and depth of analysis, and will captivate naval enthusiasts and historians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The battlecruiser is considered by many to be the most glorious warship, remembered for its triumphs and tragedies in both World Wars. Often forgotten are its linear ancestors, the large cruisers, built as capital ships for distant waters, as commerce raiders, and as fast scouts for the navy in the last decades of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. These large ships became key combatants in the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/1905, with the Japanese using them in the battle fleet in a way that foreshadowed later battlecruiser tactics.