战列巡洋舰（英语：battlecruiser或battle cruiser），又译巡洋战舰，是一种流行于20世纪前期的大型战舰。在当时是在装甲巡洋舰的基础上演变而来的功能性很强的新型战舰，可以看作一种以删减装甲换取机动性的战列舰。

英国广布全球的漫长海上航运线和商业网络相互联系的殖民利益，需要强大并且可以快速集结的海军舰队保护。英国皇家海军也需要一种结合强大火力与高机动力的战舰，不仅可以有效打击敌方的袭扰，又能够快速部署应付突发性事件。于是英国海军以“理想型巡洋舰”名义设计的战列巡洋舰是一种将战列舰强大火力和巡洋舰高机动合而为一的战舰，当时的新技术提供了建造新型战舰的可能性。

A battlecruiser, or battle cruiser, was a capital ship built in the first half of the 20th century. They were similar in size, cost, and carried similar armament to battleships, but they generally carried less armour to obtain faster speeds. The first battlecruisers were designed in the United Kingdom in the first decade of the century, as a development of the armoured cruiser, at the same time as the dreadnought succeeded the pre-dreadnought battleship. The original aim of the battlecruiser was to hunt down slower, older armoured cruisers and destroy them with heavy gunfire. However, as more and more battlecruisers were built, they increasingly became used alongside the better-protected battleships.