Naval Historical Center #71787
Heavy cruisers were a creature of the naval disarmament treaties. Up to the end of the First World War, cruisers served as scouts for the main battle fleet, as commerce raiders or escorts, and to show the flag in distant colonies. For these roles, 6” (152mm) or smaller guns were perfectly adequate, and this was the standard cruiser armament. However, the British had experimented with 7.5" (190mm) guns on the Hawkins class, and so the disarmament treaties limited non-capital ship gun caliber to 8” (203mm). This immediately became a new standard for cruiser armament. Ships whose guns met the older standard of 6” caliber became known as light cruisers, and those with the newer 8” standard caliber became known as heavy cruisers.
Because heavy cruisers were both more numerous and more expendable than capital ships, they were often the backbone of surface forces in restricted or distant waters. For example, heavy cruisers were central to many of the surface actions of the Guadalcanal campaign. When battleships were committed by either side, the heavy cruisers continued to fight alongside them, at considerable cost to themselves.
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