World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

This article refers to the entire Admiral-class; it is not about an individual vessel.

ww2dbaseThe Admiral-class battlecruisers were originally intended to be a new class of battleships, but after intelligence revealed that Germany was working on the Mackensen-class battlecruiser design which would rival any WW1-era battlecruiser in the British Royal Navy, the decision to change the Admiral-class to a large battlecruiser design was made. In Apr 1916, one of the two designs by E. L. Attwood was chosen, and the decision to commission four ships in this class was made; they were to be named Anson, Howe, Rodney, and Hood. After Germany stopped working on the Mackensen-class battlecruisers near the end of WW1, however, three of the Admiral-class ships were canceled, leaving Hood the lone ship of her class. This allowed the United Kingdom to return to the pursuit of a better battleship design.

Admiral-class Battlecruiser Interactive Map

Admiral-class Battlecruiser Operational Timeline