Building of German 20.000 tons battleships according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1935 no. 3

French battle cruiser Dunkerque

German battle cruiser Scharnhorst

An item referred to the magazine R.U.S.I. dated February 1935 reporting that the keels of the Ersatz Hannover and Ersatz Elsass were laid down and which seemed to be larger and heavier armed as the Deutschland and Admiral Scheer.(2)

Notes
1. This must be a reference to the 20.000 ton ships based on a modified design of the Deutschland-class as a response of France building the Dunkerque-class. The Ersatz Elsass was with contract name ‘D’, laid down on 14 February 1934 at the Krieigsmarinewerft at Wilhelmshaven but on 5 July was the building cancelled. The building of the Ersatz Hessen contract name ‘E’ was never started. In February were the designs again changed and the displacement increased for what later became the Scharnhorst battle cruisers-class consisting of the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. The battleship Bismarck was later built as the (Ersatz Hannover) Bismarck.
2. The Deutschland-class of heavily armoured cruiser also called pocket-battleships consisted of the Deutschland (later renamed Lutzow), Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee. Their machinery consisted of 4x9cylinder double-acting two stroke diesels manufactured by MAN.