Fast battleship A fast battleship was a battleship which emphasized speed without — in concept — undue compromise of either armor or armament . Most of the early WWI - era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds , so the term " fast battleship " is applied to a design which was considerably faster . The extra speed of a fast battleship was normally required to allow the vessel to carry out additional roles besides taking part in the line of battle , such as escorting aircraft carrier s . A fast battleship was distinguished from a battlecruiser in that it would have been expected to be able to engage hostile battleships in sustained combat on at least equal terms . The requirement to deliver increased speed without compromising fighting ability or protection was the principal challenge of fast battleship design . While increasing length - to - beam ratio was the most direct method of attaining a higher speed , this meant a bigger ship that was considerably more costly and / or could exceed the naval treaty tonnage limits ( where these applied — such as the Washington Naval Treaty shaping Naval fleet composition before World War II ) . Technological advancements such as propulsion improvements and light , high - strength armor plating were required in order to make fast battleships feasible . Unlike " battlecruiser " , which became official Royal Navy usage in 1911 , the term " fast battleship " was essentially an informal one . The warships of the were collectively termed the " Fast Division " when operating with the Grand Fleet . Otherwise , fast battleships were not distinguished from conventional battleships in official documentation ; nor were they recognized as a distinctive category in contemporary ship lists or treaties . There is no separate code for fast battleships in the US Navy ' s hull classification system , all battleships , fast or slow , being rated as “ BB ” . Origins . Between the origins of the armoured battleship with the French and the Royal Navy ’ s at the start of the 1860s , and the genesis of the Royal Navy ’ s " Queen Elizabeth " class in 1911 , a number of battleship classes appeared which set new standards of speed . The " Warrior " herself , at over under steam , was the fastest warship of her day as well as the most powerful . Due to the increasing weight of guns and armour , this speed was not exceeded until achieved under steam . The Italian of 1880 was a radical design , with a speed of , heavy guns and no belt armour ; this speed was not matched until the 1890s , when higher speeds came to be associated with second - class designs such as the of 1895 ( 18 knots ) and the and of 1903 ( 20 knots ) . In these late pre - dreadnought designs , the high speed may have been intended to compensate for their lesser staying power , allowing them to evade a more powerful opponent when necessary . From about 1900 , interest in the possibility of a major increase in the speed of Royal Navy battleships was provoked by Sir John ( “ Jackie ” ) Fisher , at that time Commander - in - Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet . Possibly due to Fisher ’ s pressure , The Senior Officer ’ s War Course of January 1902 was asked to investigate whether a ship with lighter armour and quick - firing medium guns ( 6 - inch to 10 - inch ( 150 mm – 254 mm ) calibre ) , with a advantage in speed , would obtain any tactical advantage over a conventional battleship . It was concluded that “ gun power was more important than speed , provided both sides were determined to fight ” ; although the faster fleet would be able to choose the range at which it fought , it would be outmatched at any range . It was argued that , provided that the fighting was at long range , an attempt by the faster fleet to obtain a concentration of fire by ” crossing the T ” could be frustrated by a turn - away , leading to the slower fleet “ turning inside the circle of the faster fleet at a radius proportional to the difference in speed ” ( Figure 1 ) . War games conducted by the General Board of the US Navy in 1903 and 1904 came to very similar conclusions . Fisher appears to have been unimpressed by these demonstrations , and continued to press for radical increases in the speed of battleships . His ideas ultimately came to at least partial fruition in the of 1906 ; like " Warrior " before her , " Dreadnought " was the fastest as well as the most powerful battleship in the world . The Early Dreadnoughts . " Dreadnought " was the first major warship powered by turbines . She also included a number of other features indicating an increased emphasis on speed : In the decade following the construction of the " Dreadnought " , the Royal Navy ’ s lead in capital ship speed was eroded , as rival navies responded with their own turbine - powered “ dreadnoughts ” . Meanwhile , in Britain , Fisher continued to press for still higher speeds , but the alarming cost of the new battleships and battlecruisers provoked increasing resistance , both within the Admiralty and from the new Liberal Government that took office in 1906 . As a result , a number of potentially significant fast battleship designs failed to achieve fruition . A notable abortive design was the 22 , 500 - tons “ X4 ” design of December 1905 . This would have been a true fast battleship by the standards of the time , carrying the same armament and protection as " Dreadnought " at a speed of . In the event , the British lead in dreadnought and battlecruiser construction was deemed to be so great that a further escalation in the size and cost of capital ships could not be justified . The X4 design is often described as a “ fusion ” of the " Dreadnought " concept with that of the battlecruiser , and it has been suggested that she “ would have rendered the s obsolete " . Fisher was again rebuffed in 1909 over the first of the 13 . 5in - gunned “ super - dreadnoughts ” , the ; of the two alternative designs considered , one of and the other of , the Board of Admiralty selected the slower and cheaper design . Fisher had his dissent recorded in the board minutes , complaining that “ we should not be outclassed in any type of ship ” . The " Queen Elizabeth " class . In the event , Fisher ’ s aspirations for faster battleships were not fulfilled until after his retirement in 1910 . Following the success of the gun , the Admiralty decided to develop a 15 inch gun to equip the battleships of 1912 construction programme . The initial intention was that the new battleships would have the same configuration as the preceding , with five twin turrets and the then - standard speed of . However , it was realized that , by dispensing with the amidships turret , it would be possible to free up weight and volume for a much enlarged power plant , and still fire a heavier broadside than the " Iron Duke " . Although War College studies had earlier rejected the concept of a fast , light battlefleet ( see Origins and Figure 1 , above ) , they were now supportive of the concept of a Fast Division of or more , operating in conjunction with a conventional heavy battleline , which could use its advantage in speed to envelop the head of the enemy line ( Figure 2 ) . Compared to Fisher ’ s idea of speeding up the entire battlefleet , the advantages of this concept were that there would be no need to compromise the fighting power of the main fleet , and that it would be possible to retain the use of the existing ( and still brand - new ) 21 - knot ships . Up to this time , it had been assumed that the role of a Fast Division could be fulfilled by the battlecruisers , of which there were at that time ten completed or on order . However , it was realized that there were now two problems with this assumption . The first was the likelihood that the battlecruisers would be fully committed in countering the growing and very capable German battlecruiser force . The second was that , as the then First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill , put it , " our beautiful “ Cats ” had thin skins compared to the enemy ’ s strongest battleships . It is a rough game to pit . . . seven or nine inches of armour against twelve or thirteen ” . The new battleships would , in fact , be the most heavily armoured dreadnoughts in the fleet . The original 1912 programme envisaged three battleships and a battlecruiser . However , given the speed of the new ships , it was decided that a new battlecruiser would not be needed . In the event , five ships were built , the extra unit , , being funded by the Federated Malay States . The battleship design for the following year ’ s programme , which became the , also had guns , but reverted to the speed of the main battlefleet . Again , no battlecruiser was included , a decision which suggests that the fast battleships were perceived at that time as superseding the battlecruiser concept . Combat Experience at the Battle of Jutland . When the fast battleship concept was put to the test at the Battle of Jutland , the " Queen Elizabeths " had been temporarily attached to Vice - Admiral Beatty ’ s Battlecruiser Squadron at Rosyth ( this was to release the " Invincible " - class battlecruisers of the Third Battlecruiser Squadron for gunnery practice at Scapa Flow ) . The " Queen Elizabeth " s proved an outstanding success , firing with great rapidity , accuracy and effect , while surviving large numbers of hits from German 28 . 4 cm ( 11 - inch ) and 30 . 5 cm ( 12 - inch ) shells , and successfully evading the main German battlefleet during the so - called " run to the North " . In the fighting , was severely damaged , suffered a steering failure and was obliged to withdraw , while " Malaya " suffered a serious cordite fire which nearly caused her loss . However , both ships returned safely to port . This was in notable contrast to the performance of the battlecruisers , of which three ( out of nine present ) were destroyed by magazine explosions after a relatively small number of hits . When the main body of the Grand Fleet came into action , the " Queen Elizabeth " s were unable to reach their intended station ahead of the battleline , and instead joined the rear of the line , seeing little further action . Meanwhile , the six surviving battlecruisers assumed the “ Fast Division ” role , operating ahead of the battleline with some success , exploiting their advantage of speed to damage the head of the German line with virtual impunity . Jutland was a crippling blow to the reputation of the existing battlecruisers . However , it also reinforced the views of the commander - in - chief , Sir John Jellicoe , that the " Queen Elizabeths " were too slow to operate with the Battlecruiser Fleet on a permanent basis . Based on combat reports , Jellicoe credited the German s with , which would mean that " Queen Elizabeth " s , which were good for just , would be in serious danger if they were surprised by a battlefleet headed by these ships . The Admiral class . Even before Jutland , Jellicoe and Beatty had expressed concern at the lack of new construction for the Battlecruiser Fleet , and the inadequacy of the ships already provided . Early in 1916 , they had rejected proposals for a new fast battleship design , similar to the " Queen Elizabeth " but with reduced draught , pointing out that , with the five new ' Revenge " - class nearing completion , the fleet already had a sufficient margin of superiority in battleships , whereas the absence of battlecruisers from the 1912 and 1913 programmes had left Beatty ’ s force with no reply to the new 30 . 5 cm ( 12 - inch ) – gunned German battlecruisers . Jellicoe had believed that the Germans intended to build still more powerful ships , with speeds of up to , and hence had called for ships to fight them . Although two new battlecruisers ( and ) had been ordered in 1914 , and were being constructed remarkably quickly , Jellicoe had argued that , although their speed was adequate , their armour protection ( dramatically reduced at Fisher ’ s insistence ) was insufficient . The 1915 design had therefore been recast as a 36 , 000 ton battlecruiser with 8 guns , and a speed of . The main belt was only 8 inches thick , sloped outwards to give the same protection as a vertical 9 - inch belt . A class of four ships had been authorised , the first being laid down on 31 May – the day that Jutland was fought . The losses at Jutland led to a reappraisal of the design . As noted above , the British were now convinced that their fast battleships were battleworthy but too slow , and their battlecruisers — even the largest — unfit for sustained battle . As a result , the new ships were radically redesigned in order to achieve the survivability of the " Queen Elizabeth " s while still meeting the requirement for battlecruisers , although this reworking was flawed . The resulting ships would be the s ; at 42 , 000 tons by far the largest warships in the world . In 1917 construction was slowed down , to release resources for the construction of anti - submarine vessels ; when it became clear that the threatened new German battlecruisers would not be completed , the last three were suspended and ultimately canceled , leaving only the lead ship to complete as the famous HMS " Hood " . Although the Royal Navy always designated " Hood " as a battlecruiser , some modern writers such as Anthony Preston have characterised her as a fast battleship , as she theoretically had the protection of the " Queen Elizabeth " s while being significantly faster . On the other hand , the British were well aware of the protection flaws remaining despite her revised design , so she was intended for the duties of a battlecruiser and served in the battlecruiser squadrons throughout her career . Moreover , the scale of her protection , though adequate for the Jutland era , was at best marginal against the new generation of gunned capital ships that emerged soon after her completion in 1920 , typified by the US and the Japanese . Other designs , 1912 - 1923 . During the First World War , the Royal Navy was unique in operating both a Fast Division of purpose - built battleships and a separate force of battlecruisers . However , the 1912 - 1923 period saw a series of advances in marine engineering which would eventually lead to a dramatic increase in the speeds specified for new battleship designs , a process terminated only by the advent of the Washington Naval Treaty . These advances included : By the early 1920s , the wealth of the USA and the ambition of Japan ( the two Great Powers least ravaged by World War I ) were forcing the pace of capital ship design . The set a new standard for fast battleships , with guns and a speed of . The Japanese appear to have shared Fisher ’ s aspiration for a progressive increase in the speed of the whole battlefleet , influenced partly by their success at outmanoeuvring the Russian fleet at Tsushima , and partly by the need to retain the tactical initiative against potentially larger hostile fleets . The immediate influence of the " Nagato " s was limited by the fact that the Japanese kept their actual speed a closely guarded secret , admitting to only . As a result , the US Navy , which had hitherto adhered steadily to a battlefleet , settled for a modest increase to in the abortive of 1920 . The Japanese planned to follow up the " Nagato " s with the , ( ten guns , 29 . 75 knots , 39 , 900 tons ) described as " fast capital ships " and , according to " Conway ’ s " , representing a fusion of the battlecruiser and battleship types . Meanwhile , the Royal Navy , alarmed at the rapid erosion of its pre - eminence in capital ships , was developing even more radical designs ; the gunned N3 class and the , gunned G3 class both of some 48 , 000 tons . Officially described as battlecruisers , the G3s were far better protected than any previous British capital ship , and have generally been regarded , like the " Kii " s , as true fast battleships . The G3s were given priority over the N3s , showing that they were considered fit for the line of battle , and orders were actually placed . However , both the British and the Japanese governments baulked at the monstrous cost of their respective programmes , and ultimately were forced to accede to US proposals for an arms limitation conference ; this convened at Washington DC in 1921 , and resulted in the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty . This treaty saw the demise of the giant fast battleship designs , although the British used a scaled - down version of the G3 design to build two new battleships permitted under the treaty ; the resulting vessels were completed with the modest speed of . The Washington Treaty Era . The signatories of the Washington Treaty were the USA , UK , Japan , France and Italy ; at that time the only nations in the world with significant battlefleets . As a result , the terms of the Washington Treaty , and the subsequent treaties of London 1930 and London 1936 had a decisive effect on the future of capital ship design . The treaties extended the definition of capital ship to cover all warships exceeding 10 , 000 tons standard displacement or carrying guns exceeding 8 - inch calibre ; imposed limits on the total tonnage of capital ships allowed to each signatory ; and fixed an upper limit of 35 , 000 tons standard displacement for all future construction . These restrictions effectively signaled the end of the battlecruiser as a distinct category of warship , since any future big - gun cruiser would count against the capital ship tonnage allowance . It also greatly complicated the problem of fast battleship design , since the 35 , 000 ton limit closed off the most direct route to higher speed , as the increasing length - to - beam ratio would have meant a bigger ship . Evidence of continued interest in high - speed capital ships is given by the fact that , although the signatories of the treaties were allowed to build gunned ships as their existing tonnage became due for replacement , most of them passed up the opportunity to do so , preferring instead lighter - armed but faster ships . A British Admiralty paper of 1935 concludes that a balanced design with guns would not be possible within the 35 , 000 ton limit , since it would be either insufficiently armoured or too slow ; it is clear that by this date the speed of the " Nelsons " was considered insufficient . The recommended design ( never built ) was one with nine guns and speed “ not less than ” . The gunned and es , built in the 1930s by Italy and France respectively , reflect similar priorities to the British . Four capital ships of the treaty era were built to displacements appreciably less than the 35 , 000 limit ; the French and , and the German and . The was built in response to the German " Panzerschiff " ( or “ pocket battleship ” ) . The " Panzerschiffe " were , in effect , a revival of the late 19th century concept of the commerce - raiding armoured cruiser ; long - ranged , heavily armed , and fast enough to evade a conventional capital ship . Likewise , the " Dunkerque " , can be regarded as a revival of the armoured cruiser ’ s nemesis , the battlecruiser . With speed and 330 mm ( 13 inch ) guns , she could operate independently of the fleet , relying on her speed to avoid confrontation with a more powerful adversary , and could easily overtake and overwhelm a " Panzerschiff " , just as Sturdee ’ s battlecruisers had done to von Spee ’ s cruisers at the Falkland Islands in 1914 . On the other hand , as a member of the line of battle , alongside the elderly and slow dreadnoughts that made up the rest of the French battlefleet , the design would make no sense , since her speed would lose its value and neither her armament nor her protection would be at all effective against a modern gunned battleship such as " Nelson " . The " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " were Germany ’ s response to the " Dunkerque " s . They were an attempt to redress the inadequacies of the " Panzerschiff " design in speed , survivability and powerplant ( the diesel engines of the " Panzerschiffe " were unreliable and produced severe vibration at high speed ) , and used much material assembled for the " Panzerschiffe " programme ( most significantly , the six triple gun mountings originally intended for " Panzerschiffe " D to F ) . Although much larger than the " Dunkerque " s , the " Gneisenau " s were also not intended for the line of battle ; apart from their insufficient armament , set - piece battles against the vastly more numerous Allied battlefleets had no place in Germany ’ s strategic requirements . Instead , the two German ships relied throughout their career on their superlative speed ( over 32 knots ) to evade the attentions of Allied capital ships . The treaties also allowed the reconstruction of surviving battleships from the First World War , including up to 3 , 000 tons additional protection against torpedoes , high - altitude bombing and long - range gunnery . In the late 1930s , the Italian and Japanese navies opted for extremely radical reconstructions : in addition to replacing the powerplant in their existing ships , they lengthened the ships by adding extra sections amidships or aft . This had a double benefit ; the extra space allowed the size of the powerplant to be increased , while the extra length improved the speed / length ratio and so reduced the resistance of the hull . As a result , both navies realised significant increases in speed ; for example the Japanese was increased from 23 to , and the Italian from to . France , the UK and the US took a less radical approach , rebuilding their ships within their original hulls ; boilers were converted to oil - firing or replaced , as were the engines in some cases , but increases in the output of the powerplant were generally canceled out by increases in the weight of armour , anti - aircraft armament and other equipment . The exception to the European battleship trend was Japan , which refused to sign the Second London Treaty . It rather uncharacteristically settled for a moderate speed of , for the sake of heroic level of protection and firepower in the gunned 64 , 000 ton displacement . After much debate , the US settled on two 35 , 000 ton classes , also with a speed of , in the and es . Due to treaty restrictions , firepower and protection were emphasized first , although both did manage respectable speed increases compared to their WWI contemporaries to be able to operate as carrier escorts . The US signed the Second London Treaty but was quick to invoke an “ escalator clause ” to up the main battleship caliber from to as Italy and Japan refused to adopt it . This made the a somewhat unbalanced ship , being designed to resist shells from the guns that it was originally intended to carry , but being up - gunned during construction . The " South Dakota " rectified this with protection proof against guns . In order to counter the increase in armor weight and stay within tonnage limits , the " South Dakota " class had to go with a shorter hull to reduce the length of the required protected area , compensating by installing more powerful machinery than the " North Carolina " , and this made the ships somewhat cramped . The US also used the treaty ' s “ escalator clause ” to order the 45 , 000 ton , after Japan ' s withdrawal from the treaty . Being free of treaty limitations , the " Iowa " class had new guns with a greater maximum range , and it had even more powerful engines and a lengthened hull for a significantly faster speed over the " North Carolina " s and " South Dakota " s . World War II Designs . In 1938 the USA , Britain and France agreed to invoke the above - mentioned escalator clause of the Second London Treaty , allowing them to build up to 45 , 000 tons standard . By this time , all three allied nations were already committed to new 35 , 000 - ton designs : the US s ( two ships ) and s ( four ) , the British ( five ships ) and the French s ( two completed out of four planned , the last of the class , " Gascogne " , to a greatly modified design ) . The UK and US laid down follow - on classes , designed to the new 45 , 000 ton standard , in 1939 and 1940 respectively . The US succeeded in completing four of the intended six " Iowas " , but the British would prove abortive ; two of the planned four units were laid down , in the summer of 1939 , but neither was completed . They would have embarked nine guns and , at 29 to , would have been significantly faster than the " King George V " class . The UK did complete one final battleship to an “ emergency ” design , the , built around the gun mountings removed from the cruisers and after their conversion to aircraft carriers . Completed in 1946 , she was similar in speed to the " Lion " s . The last two US capital ship designs were the first since 1922 to be entirely free of treaty constraints , and were sharply contrasted . The huge s represent a return to “ normal American practice ” in battleship design , with massive protection , heavy firepower , and moderate speed ( 27 knots ) . At 60 , 500 tons standard , they approached the size of the " Yamato " s , which they resembled in concept . Five of these ships were ordered , but they were ill - suited to the needs of fast carrier task force operations , and none were laid down . Summary of " fast battleship " classes . The following classes of warship have been considered to be fast battleships , in accordance with the definition used in this article and / or with contemporary usage . The list includes all new construction of the 1930s and 1940s , along with some reconstructions ; this reflects the fact that , while not all of these ships were notably fast by contemporary standards of new construction , they were all much faster than the considerable number of capital ships built in the pre - Treaty era and still in service at that time . All speeds are design speeds , sourced from Conway ’ s ; these speeds were often exceeded on trial , though rarely in service .