Why Hood remains a battlecruiser

Was Hood the first fast battleship?

No. Hood retained battlecruiser arrangements, while a true fast battleship also combines speed with battleship-level protection and subdivision.

A fast battleship combines battlecruiser speed with battleship armour, subdivision, and internal arrangements. Hood achieved the speed but retained the internal logic of a battlecruiser. Retrospectively changing the label obscures the design tradition from which she emerged. The fast-battleship category became clearer in the 1930s, when navies still needed fast capital ships but increasingly rejected the battlecruiser label.