Lion hybrids as protection against a surface ambush

Were Lion hybrid designs an inability to choose between aircraft carriers and a 1914-style battle fleet?

One interpretation is an attempt to give carrier groups the strongest possible escorts against an enemy battleship reaching gun range.

The Royal Navy had practical reasons to fear a battleship getting the jump on a carrier, a concern that persisted into the 1950s and helped justify retaining Vanguard. British carriers had already been lost or drawn into surface actions under just such conditions. The Lion hybrid therefore has a rationale in escort capability and survivability.