Question: Cecil Brown's book "Suez to Singapore" describes the sinking of a battlecruiser built during what war?

Context paragraphs:
Cecil Brown (journalist): Cecil Brown (September 14, 1907 – October 25, 1987) was a war correspondent who worked closely with Edward R. Murrow during World War II.  He was the author of the book "Suez to Singapore", which describes the sinking of "HMS Repulse" in December 1941.  He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to radio.

HMS Repulse (1916): HMS "Repulse" was a "Renown"-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War.  Originally laid down as an improved version of the "Revenge"-class battleship s, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in a timely manner.  Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval to restart her construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly.  The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ships in 15 months.  They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916.  "Repulse", and her sister HMS "Renown" , were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

HMS Inflexible (1907): HMS "Inflexible" was an "Invincible"-class battlecruiser of the British Royal Navy.  She was built before World War I and had an active career during the war.  She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiser  and the light cruiser  in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship "Invincible" sank the German armoured cruisers  and  during the Battle of the Falkland Islands.  "Inflexible" bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while maneuvering.  She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent to Malta, and then Gibraltar for more permanent repairs.  Transferred to the Grand Fleet afterwards, she damaged the German battlecruiser "Lützow" during the Battle of Jutland and watched "Invincible" explode.  She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold for scrap in 1921.

SMS Von der Tann: SMS "Von der Tann"  was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine, as well as Germany's first major turbine-powered warship.  At the time of her construction, "Von der Tann" was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 27 kn .  She was designed in response to the British "Invincible" class .  While the German design had slightly lighter guns—28 cm (11 in), compared to the 30.5 cm (12 in) Mark X mounted on the British ships—"Von der Tann" was faster and significantly better-armored.  She set the precedent of German battlecruisers carrying much heavier armor than their British equivalents, albeit at the cost of smaller guns.

SMS Lützow: SMS "Lützow" was the second "Derfflinger"-class battlecruiser built by the German "Kaiserliche Marine" (English: Imperial Navy ) before World War I.  Ordered as a replacement for the old protected cruiser "Kaiserin Augusta" , "Lützow" was launched on 29 November 1913, but not completed until 1916.  "Lützow" was a sister ship to "Derfflinger" from which she differed slightly in that she was armed with an additional pair of 15 cm (5.9 inch) secondary guns and had an additional watertight compartment in her hull.  She was named in honor of the Prussian general Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

HMS Lion (1910): HMS "Lion" was a battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s.  She was the lead ship of her class, which were nicknamed the "Splendid Cats".  They were significant improvements over their predecessors of the "Indefatigable" class in terms of speed, armament and armour.  This was in response to the first German battlecruisers, the "Moltke" class , which were very much larger and more powerful than the first British battlecruisers, the "Invincible" class .

HMS Hood: HMS "Hood" (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy.  Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood.  One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, "Hood" had design limitations, though her design was revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction.  For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be completed.  Despite the appearance of new and more modern ship designs over time, "Hood" remained the largest and most powerful warship in the world for twenty years after her commissioning and her prestige was reflected in her nickname "The Mighty Hood".

HMS Furious (47): HMS "Furious" was a modified "Courageous"-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War.  Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed to be armed with only two heavy guns (18-inch), one forward and one aft, plus a number of lesser guns.  "Furious" was modified and became an aircraft carrier while under construction.  Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land.  Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence.  "Furious" was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.

HMS Queen Mary: HMS "Queen Mary" was the last battlecruiser built by the Royal Navy before World War I.  The sole member of her class, "Queen Mary" shared many features with the "Lion"-class battlecruiser s, including her eight 13.5 in guns.  She was completed in 1913 and participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight as part of the Grand Fleet in 1914.  Like most of the modern British battlecruisers, she never left the North Sea during the war.  As part of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, she attempted to intercept a German force that bombarded the North Sea coast of England in December 1914, but was unsuccessful.  She was refitting in early 1915 and missed the Battle of Dogger Bank in January, but participated in the largest fleet action of the war, the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916.  She was hit twice by the German battlecruiser "Derfflinger" during the early part of the battle and her magazines exploded shortly afterwards, sinking the ship.

SMS Seydlitz: SMS "Seydlitz" was a 24988 MT battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built in Hamburg.  She was ordered in 1910 and commissioned in May 1913, the fourth battlecruiser built for the High Seas Fleet.  She was named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, a Prussian general during the reign of King Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War.  "Seydlitz" represented the culmination of the first generation of German battlecruisers, which had started with the "Von der Tann" in 1906 and continued with the pair of "Moltke"-class battlecruiser s ordered in 1907 and 1908.  "Seydlitz" featured several incremental improvements over the preceding designs, including a redesigned propulsion system and an improved armor layout.  The ship was also significantly larger than her predecessors—she was approximately 3,000 metric tons heavier than the "Moltke"-class ships.

Supporting paragraphs: Cecil Brown (journalist) HMS Repulse (1916)
Answer: First World War