The astonishingly effective campaign waged by a handful of Confederate
raiders during the Civil War was keenly watched in France and Russia,
and above all in Britain. In the fifty years which followed, the most
sensitive area in the balance of naval power was the potential damage to
worldwide commerce which could be caused by raiders. The steel-built
protected cruiser, as a warship type, was evolved to counter this
threat. Many countries engaged in the development of cruisers, some to
give force to the threat, and some for commerce protection.