battle cruiser

American  

noun

1. a warship of maximum speed and firepower, but with lighter armor than a battleship.

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battle cruiser British  

noun

1. a warship of battleship size but with lighter armour and fewer guns and capable of high speed

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Etymology

Origin of battle cruiser

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

His first ship was the Grafton, a Royal Navy battle cruiser that served in World War I. Scruffy handwriting made the logbooks hard to read, but Purves was hooked.

From Reuters • Dec. 11, 2019

It is accompanied by the Peter the Great, a massive battle cruiser, with a fearsome array of missiles, but which are designed to hit planes, ships and submarines rather than attack land targets.

From The Guardian • Nov. 4, 2016

The deployment does mark the first time that Russia has combined the aircraft carrier’s defensive capability with the offensive capability of Peter the Great, a nuclear powered battle cruiser.

From The Guardian • Oct. 20, 2016

In July 1945, XE1 and XE3 sank the Japanese battle cruiser Takao.

From BBC • Sep. 21, 2013

The British ships on which the brunt of the fighting fell were the battle cruiser fleet and some cruisers and light cruisers, supported by four fast battleships.

From Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War, Volume 2 The Second Twelve Months of War by Raemaekers, Louis