 SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser built by the German Empire . She was designed to match what German intelligence incorrectly believed to be the specifications of the British Invincible @-@ class battlecruisers . Blücher was larger than preceding armored cruisers and carried more heavy guns , but was unable to match the size and armament of the battlecruisers which replaced armored cruisers in the British Royal Navy and German Imperial Navy ( Kaiserliche Marine ) . The ship was named after the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher , the commander of Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 . 
