[CCIP]

The question is not which ones were best, but what for and how they were used. In a sense, ALL battlecruisers were relatively ineffective. They got almost no use in their intended role of hunting down lesser ships, and fleeing from bigger ones. The role they were actually mainly used in suited the German battlecruiser design better. They were certainly a better ship-of-the-line, and did prove themselves. The British had an additional problem where their operating practices wasted away some of their potential advantages. Brittle shells, poor propellant storage, and poor long-range gunnery were all problems, but not by design.

Personally, I love the battlecruisers, I think they were the best-looking and most adventurous warships of their time, but even I'll be first to admit that, in retrospect, the whole concept of the battlecruiser was a folly and failure. It was one of the least intelligent investments ever made by any navy.