Plan Z
Plans for an improved "Panzerschiff" were renewed in 1937 with the P class. Initially intended to comprise twelve ships, the P class was a central component of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder's Plan Z fleet, which was designed for a commerce war against Great Britain. Subsequent versions of Plan Z reduced the number of ships to eight and then removed them altogether, replacing them with the s by 1939. The five ships of the "Admiral Hipper" class were authorized under the terms of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, signed in 1935, which permitted Germany of heavy cruisers. Of these ships, only three were completed; the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 caused work to be halted on the last two ships.