Heavy cruiser: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A heavy cruiser is a type of large warship which originated during World War I when countries again started to build two distinct sizes of cruiser. The first heavy cruisers were the British Hawkins class. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1921 restricted heavy cruisers to 10,000 tons and 8" guns. In the 1930s several navies began to secretly flout the tonnage limits, with the ships of the German Admiral Hipper class reaching over 14,000 tons displacement. However by the mid 30s Britain France, and Italy had ceased building heavy cruisers. The last heavy cruisers were built during World War II, and ultimately resulted in the Alaska class which were often erroneously referred to as battlecruisers because of their size. The category fell out of use after World War II. Some existing heavy cruisers lasted until the 1970s, sometimes after conversion to guided missile cruisers (general hull symbol CG).

In the United States Navy, the term first came into official use in 1930, with hull classification symbol CA.

Many other nations built or possessed heavy cruisers in the period 1920-1945, namely Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, USSR, Spain, the Netherlands, Argentina and Australia. They played a similar role to that of armoured cruisers 40 years earlier.

The only heavy cruisers in existence today are museum ships, including HMS Belfast (1938) and USS Salem.