 On 26 May 1906 , the Reichstag authorized funds for Blücher , along with the first two Nassau @-@ class battleships . Though the ship would be much larger and more powerful than previous armored cruisers , Blücher retained that designation in an attempt to conceal its more powerful nature . The ship was ordered under the provisional name " E " . Her design was influenced by the need to match the armored cruisers which Britain was known to be building at the time . The Germans expected these new British ships to be armed with six or eight 9 @.@ 2 in ( 23 cm ) guns . In response , the German navy approved a design with twelve 21 cm ( 8 @.@ 3 in ) guns in six twin turrets . This was significantly more firepower than that of the previous Scharnhorst @-@ class of German armored cruisers , which only carried eight 21 cm guns . 
