 The Mackensen class was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in World War I. The design initially called for seven ships , but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class . Of the four ships of the Mackensen class , Mackensen , Graf Spee , and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched , and Fürst Bismarck was not — but none were completed , after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U @-@ boat — and the ships were broken up in the early 1920s . The lead ship of the class was named for August von Mackensen , a prominent military commander during the war . In response to the Mackensen @-@ class ships , the British Royal Navy laid down the Admiral @-@ class battlecruisers , all but one of which would eventually be cancelled ; the sole survivor , HMS Hood , was completed after the end of the war . 
