The Battle Cruiser was the result of the naval arms race and the realisation that England's undisputed mastery of the seas was over. The ship was the next logical step in the evolution of the Cruiser. Historians have generally considered this type of warship as an expensive mistake. While it was not as successful as its creators might have hoped, neither was it the disaster claimed by many of its critics. Once the British chose to build these ships, not only did they have no choice but to keep building more of them, but they also had to build larger, more powerful and expensive Battle Cruisers in order to maintain the lead in the arms race with Germany.

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