Separate scouts from the fast battle line

The closing counterfactual accepts that the programme was funded to replace cruisers, then asks whether Germany should have kept Blücher-style large armoured cruisers for scouting instead of turning every replacement into a battlecruiser. The larger share of funds and design effort would then go toward properly armoured fast battleships capable of 24 or 25 knots. This would trade the pursuit of battlecruiser speed for armour and a clearer fleet role. How that division of roles might have changed the Kaiserliche Marine remains an open question.