Goeben is described as avoiding the Lord Nelson class because the likely engagement range could bring the pre-dreadnoughts' 9.2-inch guns into action. Repeated hits from that battery could cause substantial damage to an early battlecruiser. The same reasoning is applied to Invincible and, more tentatively, to Renown and Repulse with their original six-inch armour. Nominal superiority on paper would therefore leave an attacker facing a damaging fight at the ranges under consideration.
Notable Point · 1:44:16-1:45:56
Why an early battlecruiser would avoid a Lord Nelson
The Lord Nelsons' 9.2-inch battery could make an encounter costly for lightly protected battlecruisers at likely engagement ranges.