As the so-called 'Naval Race' with Germany escalated during the first decade of the twentieth century, the Admiralty devised two stratagems which, it was hoped, would maintain British naval supremacy.  One, the most dramatic, was the development of the 'Dreadnought' battleships whilst the other, far less successful, was the concept of battlecruisers.  Both were 'brainchilds' of the charismatic Admiral Lord 'Jackie' Fisher but whilst the 'Dreadnoughts' proved hugely effective from the outset, the battlecruisers only revealed their flaws in action after 1914.