How Hawkins exposed the instability of cruiser labels

Were the Hawkins-class ships originally called armoured cruisers?

No; they began as large or Atlantic light cruisers and were later redesignated as heavy cruisers.

The Hawkins class was not conceived as an armoured cruiser. Contemporary descriptions treated the ships as large light cruisers or Atlantic light cruisers. Later treaty definitions used gun calibre and displacement to place them in the heavy-cruiser category. The reclassification shows how apparently fixed warship labels can conceal changes in doctrine and legal definition.