By 1914 the Invincible class was a powerful secondary-theater asset rather than an ideal unit for the main battle line. Concentrating three in the Mediterranean could have contained Goeben, while older pairs distributed across the Pacific, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and South Atlantic could have answered German cruiser threats. Building each battlecruiser generation in threes would have created complete squadrons instead of scattered pairs. An Invincible accompanying Cradock at Coronel illustrates the possible result: von Spee could neither outrun nor outfight it, and the British armored cruisers could close behind its 12-inch guns.
Notable Point · 3:50:42-3:59:27
Battlecruiser classes needed squadron strength and suitable theaters
A closing force-structure discussion argues that older British battlecruisers belonged in secondary theaters and that classes built in threes would have produced coherent squadrons.