Heavier cruisers reshape German commerce raiding

The alternative treaty's changes ripple below the capital-ship level. A 12,000-ton cruiser armed with 9.2-inch guns becomes plausible because more battlecruisers would intensify concern about trade protection and economic warfare. Such a ship would be difficult to balance within the displacement limit, but it resembles an enlarged County-class answer to the increased raider threat. In this setting, cruisers with 9.2-inch guns would make an eleven-inch German raider a much less comfortable proposition. Combined with more fast capital ships, they could change the rationale for the Deutschland class and redirect later German naval development. That response would interact with the industrial damage and restrictions left by Versailles, so detailed predictions about the resulting Second World War become increasingly uncertain.