pocket battleship

American  

noun

1. a small heavily armed and armored warship serving as a battleship because of limitations imposed by treaty.

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pocket battleship British  

noun

1. a small heavily armoured and armed battle cruiser specially built to conform with treaty limitations on tonnage and armament, esp any of those built by Germany in the 1930s

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Etymology

Origin of pocket battleship

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Hughes, "a pocket battleship" according to CMJ on TMS, is on the defensive against Tremlett as the Barmy Army tries to rouse England with a rendition of "Swann Will Tear You Apart".

From BBC • Dec. 17, 2010

Three light ships had just sunk the German pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, a supposedly impossible feat.

From Time Magazine Archive

The British had learned that they could match heavier firepower with tactical skill, smoke screening, ganging up�exactly as three British cruisers had harried the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee to her doom off Montevideo.

From Time Magazine Archive

As if playing at naval conquest, he traveled to Memel on the pocket battleship Deutschland, followed by 60 other fighting vessels including two battleships, three cruisers, two destroyer flotillas, three torpedo-boat flotillas, numerous small craft.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shells from the pocket battleship sent up huge columns of water alongside.

From A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F. by Montgomery, Rutherford George