Light cruiser
A
light cruiser is a
warship, in particular a
cruiser. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light
armoured cruiser" meaning a smaller ship that carried armour in the same way as an armoured cruiser. Up until then smaller cruisers had been of the
protected cruiser style. The "light cruiser" was a fairly loose description until the 1920s when the definition was settled by reference to the size of armament, 6 inch guns or less compared to
heavy cruisers that carried guns greater than 6 inch.
The first light cruisers were built for the
Royal Navy by
Britain with
HMS Mercury launched in 1879. They evolved, gradually becoming faster and more powerful, with greater numbers of uniform size main guns. Germany took the lead in light cruisers in the
1890s, building a class of fast cruisers copied by other nations.
By
World War I, British light cruisers often had either two 6 inch (152 mm) and perhaps eight 4 inch (100 mm) guns, or a uniform armament of 6 inch (152 mm) guns on a ship of around 5,000 tons, while German cruisers progressed during the war from 4.1 inch (105 mm) to 5.9 inch (150 mm) guns.
In the
London Naval Treaty of 1930, light cruisers were defined as cruisers having guns of 6.1 inch (155 mm) or smaller, with
heavy cruisers defined as cruisers having guns of up to 8 inch (203 mm). In both cases, the ships could not be greater than 10,000 tons.
In the
World War II era, light cruisers had guns ranging from 5 inch (127 mm) to 6.1 inch (155 mm), the most common size being 6 inch (152 mm), while heavy cruisers usually had a battery of 8 inch (203 mm) guns. Armament based on 6-inch (152 mm) guns was considered to be superior to that using 8-inch (203 mm) guns. The former fired faster and more of them could be carried for the same weight as for the 8 inch. The heavier shell of the 8 inch was little advantage because ships that could withstand a 6 inch (152 mm) hit were well-protected against 8 inch shells. This led to the construction of a great number of light cruisers of 10,000 ton with twelve to fifteen 6 inch guns that were otherwise identical to heavy cruisers.
Heavy cruisers generally faded out of use until the breakout of WW2 made the 10,000 ton limit meaningless. By the end of the war, ships classed as heavy cruisers exceeded 20,000 tons, while light cruisers stayed in the region of 10,000 tons (although sometimes reaching 12,000 or 13,000 tons). Modern cruisers have a similar displacement.
Four light cruisers are still in existence:
HMS Belfast (1938) in
London,
HMS Caroline in
Belfast,
USS Little Rock (
Buffalo, NY), and
Colbert (
Bordeaux). Similar ships include the protected cruisers
Aurora (
St Petersburg), and parts of
Puglia (Italy) and
Olympia.
In the
United States Navy, light cruisers have the
hull classification symbol CL. Both
heavy cruisers and light cruisers were classified under CL after 1931, hence there are some missing hull numbers, see
List of light cruisers of the United States. After the development of seaborne guided missiles in the 1950s, all remaining cruisers armed solely with guns, regardless of calibre were redesignated as "Gun Cruisers" (hull classification symbol
CA), with guided missile cruisers (which generally carry some gun armament) gaining the new hull classification symbol
CG.
*
Protected cruiser*
Armored cruiser*
Cruiser*
Heavy cruiser*
Battlecruiser
