Ersatz Yorck points to Germany's fast-battleship answer

Compared with Mackensen, the larger Ersatz Yorck class sacrificed some speed while adopting 15-inch guns, shifting toward the battleship end of the spectrum. This was a more coherent answer to Germany's strategic position than another middle-of-the-road battlecruiser. Germany needed either a cheap, very fast long-range raider that could be risked independently or a fast battleship capable of strengthening the battle fleet. A costly all-round battlecruiser satisfied neither requirement, especially when British battlecruisers could match or exceed its speed. Concentrating construction on a fast-battleship type with slightly reduced armour or gun calibre could combine fleet usefulness with enough speed to avoid conventional battleships. Such a choice might have forced Britain to respond to German priorities instead of leaving Germany to follow British design changes.