Blücher carried twelve 8.3-inch guns and could make about 25.4 knots, a formidable combination against older cruisers. A Tiger Cub with eight longer-ranged 9.2-inch guns and a designed speed of 28 knots could dictate the range. Turbine machinery and small-tube boilers might widen that service-speed advantage beyond the nominal 2.6 knots. Germany would therefore have to treat the new cruiser as more than a routine station ship even though it was not a capital ship.
Notable Point · 43:50-46:01
Blücher shows what the Tiger Cub had to beat
The German armored cruiser Blücher provides a concrete benchmark for the proposed British ship's speed, armament, and ability to control an engagement.