Battlecruiser protection failed inside fleet tactics

A battlecruiser traded armor and internal subdivision for protection based on speed and maneuverability. Once placed inside fleet tactics, however, it had to conform to the formation and could no longer use those qualities freely to control range or escape heavy fire. No commander could remove that design contradiction after the ships had been committed to the battle line. Jellicoe simultaneously left four newly arrived fifteen-inch-gun battleships in port because their gunnery had not reached his combat standard. Critics claimed every floating hull might have changed the result, but a few more unready ships would have added little to a force already enjoying overwhelming numerical superiority.