Three of these ships were built, HMS Indefatigable, HMAS Australia and HMNZS New Zealand, and these were completed in 1911. Only one ship was to be built, but one each was paid for by Australia and New Zealand.
The three Invincible class ships were the first battle cruisers built in the world. Begun in 1906, these ships sacrificed armour for speed and gun power, designed to scout for the fleet, sink enemy cruisers and to be able to escape from battleships.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were built and commissioned in the late 1930s for Adolf Hitler's Navy, and were truly elegant ships. Despite being very wet ships in almost any weather and overloaded so their armour belts were almost submerged, these ships caused havoc in the Atlantic on Allied convoy routes.
The 4 ships of the Kirov class heavy guided missile cruisers, sometimes referred to as Battle cruisers, were built to combat U.S. Aircraft carriers. In response the Americans re-commissioned the Iowa class battleships.
The Alaska and Guam were to be a class of six ships built for the USN during WW2, but the war ended before any more than 2 could be completed. These ships were designed as enlarged heavy cruisers to take on Light, Heavy and Battle Cruisers of the German and Japanese Navies.