Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Scout cruiser

Type of cruiser From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scout cruiser
Remove ads

A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers. Intended for fleet scouting duties and acting as a flotilla leader, a scout cruiser was typically armed with six to ten destroyer-type guns of 3-inch (76 mm) to 4.7-inch (120 mm) calibre, plus two to four torpedo tubes.

Thumb
HMS Sentinel, the first scout cruiser

The British were the first to operate scout cruisers, when the Royal Navy acquired 15 ships divided into two distinct groups - the eight vessels all ordered under the 1903 Programme, and the seven later, heavier-armed vessels ordered under the 1907–1910 Programmes. All these ships served in World War I, when the advent of better machinery and larger, faster destroyers and light cruisers had already made them obsolete.

The other major operator of scout cruisers was the Kingdom of Italy. With no conventional protected cruisers or light cruisers planned between 1900 and 1928, the Italian Royal Navy (Italian: Regia Marina) instead operated a number of scout cruisers (esploratori) from 1912 onwards. Ranging in size from enlarged destroyers to substantial, light cruiser-like ships, these esploratori were also given secondary capabilities as fast minelayers. Later esploratori, such as the Leone class, carried extremely heavy armament for their modest size, capable of outgunning any destroyer of the early 1920s. However, by 1938 the surviving esploratori were re-rated as destroyers.

Remove ads

Scout cruiser designs

Summarize
Perspective

Austro-Hungarian Navy

Brazilian Navy

Kriegsmarine

  • Spähkreuzer – Translates to 'scout cruiser' in English; developed from late 1930s Zerstörer 1938A/Ac large ocean-going destroyer design concept intended for oceanic escort.

Peruvian Navy

Regia Marina

Note: this list includes all vessels rated as scouts (esploratori) by Italy.

Romanian Navy

Royal Navy

United States Navy

Remove ads

See also

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads