[rmlew]

So, battleship-battleship? Didn't happen often, other than Leyte Gulf where US firepower slaughtered the Japanese by crossing the tee. (Aided by side-shooting torpedoes from smaller ambusher from the side.)

December 26, 1943-The Scharnhorst is sighted by the British battleship Duke of York, and is sunk by the British ship at roughly 7:45 p.m., after several hours of fighting. Of the entire crew, only 36 of the Scharnhorst’s crew would survive.

Of course, I would add the following engagements:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Port_Arthur Battle of Port Arthur at the start of the Russo-Japanese War. Although tactically inconclusive, the Russian Pacific fleet was bottled in the harbor, where it later succumbed to Japanese naval and land artillary attack.
In the Battle of Tsushima, the Russian Baltic fleet was all but destroyed. The Russians lost 7 Battleships, with only one surviving!

And then there was that little incident of Denmark during World War I, called the Battle of Jutland.

The British Battlecruiser HMS Lion was hit thrice by 11-inch shells and survived. The SMS Seydlitz likewise survived a number of hits, including 15 inch shells. The SMS Derfflinger was hit 21 times at Jutland .Fortunately, for her crew, the Germans armored their ships better than the Brits, and the British shells were poor penetrators.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Thank you! Had forgotten Scharnhorst-Duke of York: my error.

Russo-Japanese War is hard to compare with even WWI tactics and fire power because that era's fire-control and "mix" of pre-dreadnought/early dreadnought/post-dreadnought ships was so screwed up.

I considered Jutland w/r battleship-battlecruiser: as you pointed out, with the exception of the HMS Lion, the BC's lost in a stand-up fight. So many were lost catastrophically after so few hits that the entire concept of a "battlecruiser" should have been discarded: instead the idea lived on. And the battlecruiser of WWII proved just as disastrous in WWII.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Battlecruiser damage report on Seydlitz: Damage even in Dogger Banks combat was extensive: According to

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/germany/gersh-s/seydlitz.htm

SMS Seydlitz (Battle Cruiser, 1913-1919)

Seydlitz, a 24,988-ton battle cruiser built at Hamburg, Germany, was commissioned in May 1913. She served in the North Sea and Baltic areas prior to the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914. During that conflict she took part in two important battles with the British Navy, receiving serious damage in each. On 24 January 1915 Seydlitz was flagship of the German battle cruiser force in the battle of the Dogger Bank, losing two gun turrets and nearly 160 crewmen in a major ammunition fire. In the battle of Jutland, on 1 June 1916, she was struck by a destroyer's torpedo and some two-dozen large shells. Four of her five twin 28cm gun turrets were hit, with two suffering massive fires. Seydlitz's forward hull was largely filled with water, reducing her freeboard at the bow to almost nothing, and she made port with great difficulty. After repairs lasting through the summer, the ship returned to the fleet and remained active until the 11 November 1918 Armistice ended the fighting. Ten days later she steamed to Scapa Flow to be interned and was scuttled there by her crew on 21 June 1919. Her wreck was raised in 1928 and scrapped in 1930.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Battlecruiser damage: Granted the SMS Derfflinger survived Jutland after extensive hits, but should we "score" simply making it back to port (after the battle) as a ship worth constructing? Were her shells valuable enough in the battle to be worth the tradeoff with her loss due to damage, even though she survived the battle? Would a more heavily amored (but probably slower) battleship have been more effective in her place? Or would her replacement (the theorectically slower battleship) not been able to get in position to fire to fire at all?

World War 1 Service:
Derfflinger
Part of I Scouting Group
16 December 1914 bombarded Hartlepool.
24 January 1915 took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank.
February 1915 repairs.
28 June 1915 turbine breakdown.
24 April 1916 took part in bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft.
1916 took part in the Battle of Jutland. Hit by 10 15 inch, 1 13.5 inch, 10 12 inch, 2 6 inch and 7 4 inch shells with 157 killed and 26 injured. Took part in sinking of HMS Invincible and HMS Queen Mary firing 385 12 inch rounds.
October 1916 Repaired at Kiel.
Post WW1 interned and scuttled at Scapa Flow.