Would a battlecruiser work better?

Would a battlecruiser have worked better than an armoured cruiser?

Yes; by 1914 battlecruisers combined the speed and firepower needed for wide-area operations, while armoured cruisers had become dangerously outclassed.

By 1914, the battlecruiser had become the modern version of the armoured cruiser's intended role. The Falklands demonstrated the mismatch when British battlecruisers destroyed von Spee's armoured cruisers, whose earlier victory at Coronel offered no protection against the newer type. Speed mattered especially across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, while heavily armoured battleships retained value where a fleet could not avoid close engagement. The Royal Navy's proposed G3 battlecruisers and M3 battleships illustrate a force split between long-range fast operations and Mediterranean dominance.