Comments by "Frank DeMaris" (@kemarisite) on "HMS Exeter - Guide 247" video.

@scottgiles7546 there are several aspects to that answer. 1. The 11" guns on the Deutschland class were an older design than those on the Scharnhorst class. The newer guns would fire an AP shell 10% heavier at almost the same velocity. 2. Graff Spee carried 200 AP, 200 nose-fuse HE, and 200 base-fuse HE shells. The base-fuse HE shells had slightly thicker walls and smaller bursting charge, making it a bit of a semi-armor piercing (SAP) shell. Graf Spee fired 414 of 600 11" shells during the bsttle, only 30 of which were AP. This means her chances of penetrating the armor for a Jutland BOOM is almost nil. Even if they had focused on AP, that shell was designed to the WW1-era armor penetration specification. 3. British cordite handling was much improved after Jutland, largely eliminating the other type of Jutland BOOM in which a turret hit starts a fire that flashes down to the cordite magazine because safety devices were removed or jammed open.
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@dovetonsturdee7033 and many early US 8" gun cruisers were "light" cruisers because of their thin armor, until the London Treaty used that term for cruisers with 6" guns.
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