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

See Examples For:

pocket battleship

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

Still afloat but of questionable value as fighting ships are the battleship Gneisenau, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and the Admiral Hipper.

From Time Magazine Archive

The scuttling of the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spec off Montevideo in December 1939, enforced by inferior British vessels, was one of Britain's proudest episodes in the war.

From Time Magazine Archive

They are: the pocket battleship Lutzow, the 26,000-ton battleship Scharnhorst, the never-in-action aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, the three light cruisers Nurnberg, Leipzig and Emden.*

From Time Magazine Archive

He had heard about Stan and O'Malley's attack upon the pocket battleship.

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