 Graf Spee was named for Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee , the commander of the German East Asia Squadron ; he was killed when his squadron was annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 . Graf Spee was laid down on 30 November 1915 in the Schichau yards in Danzig ( now Gdańsk , Poland ) , under the provisional name Ersatz Blücher , to replace the large armored cruiser Blücher that had been sunk at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915 . She was launched on 15 September 1917 . At the launching ceremony , Großadmiral Prince Heinrich gave the speech and Spee 's widow Margarete christened the ship . Construction stopped about 12 months away from completion ; Graf Spee was the furthest along of all four ships when work was halted . She too was struck on 17 November 1919 ; on 28 October 1921 the unfinished hull was sold for 4 @.@ 4 million Marks and broken up in Kiel @-@ Nordmole . 
