The original battlecruiser concept depends on enough speed to choose an engagement, rather than a single extra knot over a battleship. With a larger 14-inch dreadnought already making 24 knots, contemporary boilers and turbines struggle to propel a protected capital ship to the required 27 or 28 knots. The likely result is another generation of armored cruisers or all-big-gun cruisers before a viable battlecruiser appears. The delay could move the first British battlecruiser toward a Tiger-like or even early Admiral-like design once power density improves.
Notable Point · 44:13-47:48
Faster dreadnoughts delay the battlecruiser
A 24-knot battleship erases most of Invincible's speed advantage, forcing Britain either to retain armored cruisers or wait for machinery capable of a true 28-knot capital ship.