Recognizing the need to match the heavier armaments mounted on British capital ships, designers for the Imperial German Navy took the Derfflinger design and modified it slightly in width and length to accommodate the newly developed 380mm/45 caliber twin turret. Armor protection was again heavier than her British contemporaries, but Graf Spee still would have made 28 knots using 90,000 horsepower. To balance the additional weight of the larger turrets, the casement guns were placed one deck lower. The Mackensen class was originally set to be seven strong, and though Mackensen and Graf Spee were launched, little or no work was done on any of the ships after 1917 due to a lack of material and manpower. The Allies, not knowing this, listed the Mackensen as one of the ships to be interned on November 21, 1918. In its place the SMS Baden, the fleet flagship, was sent in its place and was lost with the rest of the fleet at Scapa Flow. In 1920 Prinz Eitel Friedrich was launched to clear the building ways. All the ships were quickly scrapped after the war. The last three ships were redesigned prior to being laid down and are commonly considered the Ersatz Yorck class.

Because of the quality and the material used for the details on this model, it is believed that the model was from the shipyard, and possibly one of the "builder's" models. However, the ship was never completed.