Eleven of the 211 design drawings in the 1911-1925 "Spring Styles" Book treat battle cruisers. These plans cover both preliminary concept designs that did not lead to ship construction as well as four designs prepared during the course of development of the one class selected for construction, the Lexington (Battle Cruiser # 1) class. (These ships were canceled prior to completion but two were converted to aircraft carriers and completed as Lexington (CV-2) and Saratoga (CV-3). One drawing included shows the design for the British battle cruiser Hood of this era, prepared for comparative purposes. Related drawings in the book that show ships referred to as "fast battleships" are included under battleships. Related drawings of somewhat smaller ships that also carried heavy main battery guns, called "battle scouts" at the time, are included under cruisers. As these drawings show, Navy officials considered a wide range of armor protection schemes in developing ideas for fast surface combatant ships mounting heavy main battery guns. Adoption of comparatively heavy armor protection increased ship size and cost significantly, as did added maximum speed.
This page features those 1911-1925 Bureau of Ships "Spring Styles" plans that concern battle cruisers.
For general information on this album, see:
On the picture data sheets referenced from this page, click on the thumbnail image (small photograph) to prompt a larger view of the same image.
--One proposed design for a battle cruiser, informing conceptual studies, 1912:
--Three proposed designs for a battle cruiser, related to the "Scout Cruiser" study series, 1915:
--Four proposed designs for the Lexington class:
--Three proposed designs for a "Battleship Cruiser", 1918, not selected for construction:
--One drawing illustrating the design selected for the British Battle Cruiser "Hood", 1918:
For general information on this album, see:
Page made 31 August 2011