Found a Word version of Jutland Redux, though cannot find the original link or who wrote it, anyway, this is what they had happening wrt to Fishers ships.
There was the bulk of material on hand to build three more Revenge class battleships, which were put on hold at the start of the war. Starting in early November there were discussions regarding the fleet and whether the fleet was adequately equipped. It was felt that if the decision was made swiftly there was a short opening of a window of opportunity to build two or three more dreadnought types before the industrial demands of the war removed that option.
Admiral Fisher was back as First Sea Lord an he met with Admiral Jellicoe to discuss what if anything was needed for Dreadnoughts. Jellicoe felt that there were enough battleships with what was nearing completion and building. That played right to Admiral Fisher as he wouldn’t waste the opportunity to push for more of his beloved fast but lightly armoured battle cruisers.
Fisher returned to the Admiralty with a proposal to build two 32 knot battle cruisers mounting four 15” rifles and having an armoured base comparable to the Indefatigable class. In his view this would be the culminate version of his view on what a battle cruiser should be.
But while there was agreement on the choice to build a pair of battle cruisers, there was a lot of scepticism in the First Sea lord’s specifications. After more discussions a compromise was reached and the ships would be enlarged to mount a third 15” turret and some sundry improvements in armour.
This was not what Fisher felt was needed, but as there would be no more consideration given to building either battleships or battle cruisers in the immediate future. But after some thought Fisher came upon the concept of what he called ‘the Large Light Cruiser’. He stated there was a need for a fast shallow draft vessel mounting heavy dreadnought calibre main armament for hit and run bombardment operations in the Baltic plan he was formulating.
These ships were remarkably similar to his first proposals for the two additional battle cruisers albeit with still higher proposed speed and lighter protection. He preference was for a half dozen of these ships, but after much debate it was reduced to half that number. As a consolation the third ship would be built to a slightly modified design with it’s main armament changed from four 15” rifles to two 18” rifles as Fisher wanted the largest weapons possible for his ‘Large Light Cruisers’ and if he couldn’t have quantity then he would sure as hell have quality.
By the end of December the preliminary plans for the battle cruisers were drawn up and approved, and a survey of the materials collected for the un-built Revenge’s was under way. Enough of the plans had been produced for the battle cruisers that the laying of the keels had begun in the weeks before the battle of Dogger Bank.
But the heavy damage suffered by the ‘Splendid Cats’ at Dogger Bank cause the Admiralty to halt the work on the two new battle cruisers as they were not armoured even to the extent of the Lion’s, let alone the Queen Mary or Tiger.
There was no time to waste as Dogger Bank had begun to show the fallacy’s of the high speed lightly armoured battle cruiser. The Admiralty was in a dilemma, for while they had reduced the German battle cruiser force by one an now had an even greater advantage in numbers, they knew that the High Seas Fleet was continuing to build bigger and better battle cruisers themselves.
Even with the moratorium on building capital ships was in place the design services of the RN had not been idle. The plans were brought out and dusted off to see what if anything they could start from.
The end result was a vessel mounting eight 15” guns, an armoured scheme close to that of the Queen Elizabeth’s albeit with the main belt not as high to save weight. The designed speed of 28 knots was some knots slower than the original design, but it was felt sufficient to operate with the existing battle cruisers. In the name of better protection and hitting power high speed would have to wait.
This pair of ships, to be known as His Majesty’s Ships Renown and Repulse (still using the names assigned for the materials for the original Revenge class) would be given the highest priority with hopes of having them in the fleet by Mid 1916.
The Admiralty also wanted to complete a review of the three Glorious class ’Large Light Cruisers’ as well, but with the efforts put into the new battle cruisers re-design and other issues that arose needing their attention, that review kept getting set back…. And if at all possible Admiral Fisher wasn’t going to remind them of it. At the same time Fisher would do everything in his power to see ‘his’ ships completed. By the time a review was planned Fisher ha once more left the Admiralty and the ships were close enough to completion that any choices would be moot. Like it or not the Royal Navy would be the dubious owners of the world’s first ‘Large Light Cruisers’.
Among other points raised was to begin looking into a way to counter the High Seas Fleet’s Zeppelins, which were becoming more common in the North Sea. The British did have a motley collection of seaplanes and seaplane carriers were starting to make their appearance as well. But the question was spawned in the discussions regarding the German airships if a way could be found to operate land type aircraft from a ship.
It was felt that this type of vessel would give the RN an over the horizon recon force as well as possibly one day operating an aircraft capable of dealing with the zeppelin issue. While no firm decision was made, it was decided that the point needed further consideration.