Scharnhorst and Gneisenau: a classification change without a proven order

The discussion describes Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as fast battleships in papers prepared before meetings with Churchill and as battlecruisers afterwards. It connects the altered terminology with the argument that Britain's existing fast ships were sufficient. Ark Royal, Renown, Repulse and Hood are the ships named in that assessment of the available force. Churchill's personal responsibility for ordering the change remains an inference. No document containing such an instruction is identified, and the inability to prove it is stated explicitly. That distinction matters when using the episode to assess the shipbuilding pause.