A fast battleship was a battleship which in concept emphasised speed without undue compromise of either armor or armament. Most of the early World War I -era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds, so the term "fast battleship" is applied to a design which is considerably faster.
The extra speed of a fast battleship was normally required to allow the vessel to carry out additional roles besides taking part in the line of battle , such as escorting aircraft carriers. A fast battleship was distinguished from a battlecruiser in that it would have been expected to be able to engage hostile battleships in sustained combat on at least equal terms.
The requirement to deliver increased speed without compromising fighting ability or protection was the principal challenge of fast battleship design. Technological advancements such as propulsion improvements and light, high-strength armor plating were required in order to make fast battleships feasible. Unlike battlecruiser , which became official Royal Navy usage in , [ 1 ] the term fast battleship was essentially an informal one. The warships of the Queen Elizabeth class were collectively termed the Fast Division when operating with the Grand Fleet.
Otherwise, fast battleships were not distinguished from conventional battleships in official documentation; nor were they recognised as a distinctive category in contemporary ship lists or treaties. There is no separate code for fast battleships in the U. Navy's hull classification system , all battleships, fast or slow, being rated as "BB". Between the origins of the armoured battleship with the French Gloire and the Royal Navy's Warrior at the start of the s, and the genesis of the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth class in , several battleship classes appeared which set new standards of speed.
In these late pre-dreadnought designs, the high speed may have been intended to compensate for their lesser staying power, allowing them to evade a more powerful opponent when necessary. From about , interest in the possibility of a major increase in the speed of Royal Navy battleships was provoked by Sir John "Jackie" Fisher , Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.
