Cruisers as technology trials and command schools

Britain's large industrial base allowed cruiser construction to spread risk across multiple hulls and yards. An unsuccessful feature could still earn useful service on a quiet station, whereas a successful one could migrate into capital ships. The class would also create more commands in which officers could practice high-speed maneuver, fire control, and gunnery before moving into the battlecruiser force. Those posts mattered because the naval race kept the existing battlecruisers concentrated in European waters instead of serving as worldwide training commands. More experience might also change battlecruiser gunnery practices, although the scenario cannot establish that officers would make different decisions.