The early Battlecruisers were designed as Fleet Scout and as Armored Cruiser killers, they were largely obsolete by WWII because of the events of Jutland
The Alaska class' history is rather ironic, they were designed to counter an imaginary super-heavy Japanese cruiser, but their appearance actually caused the Japanese to design such a cruiser, which became the Super Type A cruiser (B64 and B65), to counter them, so technically the Alaska class was designed to take out the cruiser class that was designed to destroy the Alaskas (Paradox, anyone?)
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