World War I
On the 24th January 1915 Franz von Hipper and his Battlecruiser squadron were hoping to achieve a glorious victory over some fishing boats when they were suddenly intercepted by Admiral Beatty's Battlecruisers.
The result was the
Battle of Dogger Bank. In the OTL the end result was a victory for The Royal Navy with the armoured cruiser
Blucher sunk and the
Seydlitz heavily damaged. Most historians seem to agree that only Beatty's inept signalling system plus the damage that put his own flagship out of action prevented the annhilation of Hipper's force.
Some historians counter by saying that the British were lucky that the Germans didn't fight it out and perhaps do to them what they did at Jutland. In other words blow up the poorly armoured British BC's and destroy the myth of 'speed is armour' once and for all.
In reality the German Battlecruisers were more akin to fast battleships and were based on a different design philosophy. The German ships sacrificed speed and firepower for armoured protection, while the British philosophy was the reverse. Greater speed and larger calibre longer range guns were to be their source of power AND of protection.
But at the Dogger Bank it was the German BC
Seydlitz that almost blew up. It was hit at 9.43 am by a 13.5" shell that penetrated one of the barbettes and caused a fire that almost destroyed the ship. Only prompt action by a sailor called Wilhelm Heidkamp saved the ship by flooding the magazines and preventing a catastrophic explosion.
POD
The
Seydlitz blows up at 9.43 (as it almost did) and is sunk. Hipper is dead

and we have 5 British BC's facing the
Derfflinger the
Moltke and the Blucher.
As a result the
Lion and
Tiger shift their guns to the
Moltke and begin pounding away. The accuracy of the Britsh ships is terrible but there's no
Seydlitz firing back. The Germans with their leader dead are badly shaken and can only think of running for home. Then at 10.30 the Blucher is slowed by a direct hit (same as OTL). She's not going home today either.
The next day the Kaiser is staring into space as Admiral Tirpitz explains why none of his 'beautiful ships' came home.
"You said we had the best designed ships in the world" whispered a visibly broken Kaiser. Then his lip started to quiver and Tirpitz could see a tear roll down the regal cheek.
"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships" he blurted as spittle and mucus was discharged from the royal visage.
It took 5 hours for the Kaiser to stop crying. Tirpitz wanted to cry too but for a different reason.
Meanwhile back at the Admiralty in London, Jackie Fisher looked 30 years younger as he glared at Churchill and the other know-it-alls who had doubted his Battlecruisers. He was especially gloating over Churchill who had cancelled any more Battlecruisers as soon as he took over the Admiralty in favour of 15" dreadnoughts.
"I told you didn't I? You thought I was an idiot but who are the real idiots I wonder?" he said. There was a silence that would have been glum if everyone wasn't so damn happy.
"Who needs 10-12 inches of pansy side armour when you've got 13.5" guns and 27 knots" continued the triumphant old Admiral.
"My babies did me proud in the Heligoland Bight, they did me proud in the Falklands and by the Almighty and English God they did me proud yesterday. Do I have your attention now little boys?"
The men of the Admiralty nodded in assent. A few days later an order is placed for a ship with 20" guns (18" if the 20" cannot be made ready in time) and a top speed of 35 kots. Side armour 6 inches as one of the admirals begged Fisher to change the specification from the original 3 inches!
More orders are sure to follow.
Around the world the naval architects got the message. Speed trumps armour!
Meanwhile in Germany the Kaiser forbids the HSF from leaving harbour. A few weeks later the order is given to start retraining the crews for service in U boats.