Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context nautical English) Any of a class of German cruisers, having guns normally found on a battleship, operated during World War II; a battlecruiser
WordNet
n. a small battleship built to conform with treaty limitations on tonnage and armament (from 1925 to 1930)
Usage examples of "pocket battleship".
In December, British destroyers escorting another convoy outfought a German task force, including a pocket battleship and a heavy cruiser.
After a minute of cold of this, and they were baffled by the revelation that the victorious pocket battleship had elected to blow itself up.
It was no part of his plan to become embroiled with a German heavy cruiser or pocket battleship.
True, at the core was the Sabik, a Star-class, what some called a pocket battleship.
Jensen had stuck knives between German ribs, and slipped bromide in the wine of Kapitan Langsdorff of the pocket battleship Graf Spee the night before she was scuttled.
It was also charged with smuggling into Argentina equipment and supplies intended to aid the escape from internment of the crew of the German pocket battleship GrafSpee, which had been scuttled in the harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay, in December 1939, after a running battle with the Royal Navy.
The oil rig stood in international waters but it was Chinese territory and at a rough guess I'd put its defence armament at about the same strength as a pocket battleship.
For the next five minutes the Colonel, Daley and Macready argued about possible routes Hardman had taken, marking only the wider water-ways as if Hardman were navigating a pocket battleship.