Battlecruiser is a relational category defined against contemporary battleships. HMS Hood's generation never received its planned battleship counterpart, which obscures the compromises that make the Admiral class a battlecruiser. The same problem fuels arguments over Iowa when the slower, more heavily protected Montana class was never completed. Looking at hull density, subdivision, speed, armor, and the intended battleship baseline gives a more useful classification than treating gun size or reputation alone as decisive.
Notable Point · 33:58-35:23
Why battlecruiser labels need a generational baseline
Hood and Iowa are easier to classify when compared with the battleships their own generations intended to build rather than with ships from another era.