The spellings battle cruiser, battle-cruiser, and battlecruiser provide a proposed way to distinguish positions along a capital-ship spectrum. Internal subdivision and cruiser-style or battleship-style framing matter alongside speed, armour, and guns. These distinctions make classification partly a judgement about construction and intended employment. Dominion station ships embodied the wider imperial naval organisation, while the appearance of Lion, Queen Mary, or Tiger carried the diplomatic weight of Britain's principal fleet. The Indefatigables were intended as the big ships on their stations, whereas the later British ships were intended to rank among the world's most powerful cruising warships.
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Battlecruiser labels and the capital-ship spectrum
Debates over writing battle cruiser as one word, two words, or a hyphenated term point to a wider spectrum of capital-ship construction and purpose.