Protected cruiser

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Protected cruisers were a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century. They were so known because their armor protected their vital machine spaces. They were less well protected than armored cruisers which also had a belt of armour along the sides. Around 1910, when armor plate began to increase in quality and engines became lighter, they were superseded by light and heavy cruisers.

Most of their armor was used on the special deck inside the vessel, protecting the boilers and steam engines, it was angled appearing trapezoid in cross-section, which gave the best protection for the least amount of armour. Protected cruisers would also use armour for the guns and conning tower.

The armor tended to range from 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) in thickness.

Typically protected cruisers displaced from 2,500 to 7,000 tons. Their main armament was up to a dozen single guns between 3.9 and 6 inches (100 mm - 152 mm) in calibre. They were capable of 18 - 23 knots.

The first protected cruisers appeared about 1880 and production stopped around 1910, when countries started to build "light armoured cruisers", which had an armoured belt and armoured decks instead of the single deck.

A few protected cruisers have survived as museum ships:

The first protected cruiser of the "New Navy" was the USS Atlanta, launched in October 1884, soon followed by the Boston in December, and Chicago a year later. A numbered series of cruisers began with Newark (Cruiser No. 1), although Charleston (Cruiser No. 2) was the first to be launched, in July 1888, and ending with another Charleston, Cruiser No. 22, launched in 1904.
The reclassification of 17 July 1920 put an end to the US usage of the term "protected cruiser", the existing ships designated as plain "cruisers" with new numbers (so that the armored cruisers could retain their numbers unchanged).

Protected cruiser

See also