One proposed alternative was a 30-knot cruiser with less machinery and more space for armour. Spain also may not have needed 8,000 nautical miles at 15 knots when its other cruisers managed roughly 4,000 to 5,000 nautical miles at that speed. Reducing endurance to about 6,000 nautical miles while retaining the 15-knot cruising speed could have freed capacity for protection or other improvements. A slower cruiser with shorter endurance could still have been useful and better suited to serious fighting. Treaty limits offer little explanation for the original choice because Spain was not bound by them and the ships already exceeded the nominal limit by about 840 tons.
Notable Point · 49:14-50:48
Trade speed and endurance for a survivable flagship
Reducing the requirement to 30 knots or 6,000 nautical miles could have made room for more protection while retaining a useful cruiser.