Any of a class of German cruisers, having guns normally found on a battleship, operated during World War II; a battlecruiser
a small battleship built to conform with treaty limitations on tonnage and armament (from 1925 to 1930)
Any of several German warships built in the late 1920s and early 1930s that were smaller, less well armed, and less heavily armored than a conventional battleship. a fairly small fighting ship