The Royal Navy's capital-ship spectrum

The Royal Navy did not use the phrase capital-ship spectrum, but its constructors appear to have reasoned in those terms. An early dreadnought armored cruiser could destroy cruisers and avoid battleships, while the later one-word battlecruiser could fight its peers but still withdrew from ships carrying the battleship label. A fast battleship was expected to stand against another battleship while using speed to choose the engagement. A conventional battleship instead maximized the ability to absorb damage and return it. Scharnhorst's protection and intended combat behavior place it in the fast-battleship category despite its smaller main-gun caliber.