This is the most comprehensive study yet in the English language of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served in the First World War. Known as Panzerkreuzer, literally "armored cruiser," the eight ships of the class were involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before the major pitched battle of Jutland, where they inflicted devastating damage on the Royal Navy's battlecruiser fleet. In this comprehensive book, the author details their design and construction and traces the full service history of each ship, recounting their actions largely from first-hand German sources and official documents, many of which are previously unpublished in English. Detailed line drawings and maps augment the text throughout, along with a wealth of contemporary photos that depict the vessels at sea as well as in dock, where the damage sustained in action and various aspects of their design can be viewed up close. A superb series of full-color, specially commissioned computer graphics shows full-length profiles and top-down views of each ship in precise and clear detail. This stunning book is a major new contribution to German naval history in this country and will become a "must-have" volume on the shelves of historians, enthusiasts, modelers, and indeed anyone interested in the navies of the First World War and steel warships in general. This new paperback edition will delight a new audience of historians, enthusiasts, and modelmakers who missed the book when it was first published.