Battleship-Cruisers

After William Hovgaard described the "Battleship-Cruiser" as a type in the early 20th Century, that prompted people to think in new ways about ship types. The Italians and Japanese were actually early adopters. At the time of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese designed armored cruisers with 4-12in guns. The Japanese had also hoped to build a ship like Colonel Cuniberti's "Ideal Battleship for the British Navy" (1903), but they didn't have enough 12in guns. They had to settle for a "semi-Dreadnought" with a mix of 12in and 10in guns. The Colonel Cuniberti designed the Roma class fast battleships that had 2-12in guns and a fairly high speed (21.5 knots). The 1921-type British battlecruisers could have been classed as fast battleships, as the Hood almost was. The late 1930's fast battleships were exactly what William Hovgaard envisioned.