Fleet Admiral David Beatty: ""There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today."
Yup.
Battle cruiser HMS Invincible blowing up at Jutland. 
Battle cruiser HMS Indefatigable sinking at Jutland. 
Battle cruiser HMS Queen Mary blowing up at Jutland. 
WWII Italian navy also had that false concept. Think Cape Matapan
Not really. Early interwar Italian cruisers were fast and lightly armoured, but that was a counter to French ship design. Specfically fast "super destroyers" with near cruiser sized guns. Now if "The Threat" is building fast unarmoured fauxcruisers, building fast real cruisers (if lightly armoured) is a reasonable counter.
And the Zaras lost at Mapatan were fast, but also the most heavily armoured of any nations's interwar cruisers (the Italians cheated), but against aircraft torpedoes, and battleship guns, neither speed or armour were effective