Battleships and Battlecruisers

In effect, the fast battleships built in the 1930's and 1940's were battlecruisers with a new name. The North Carolina class ships definitely sacrificed protection to achieve speed and a heavy armament. They also sacrificed structural strength and ridigidy in the process. Except for their armament layout, the 1921 British battlecruisers (the G3 design) were better than most of the ships built as fast battleships. They sacrificed gunpower to achieve speed and protection. While the corresponding battleships would have carried 9-18in guns, the G3's had 9-16in guns. Due to the frenzy to achieve the most on a given displacement that was rampant in Britain in 1921, the armament layout was strange. They would have not given up that much by having a more conventional layout (two turrets forward, one aft), and they would have been superior ships.