When Germany learned of the construction of new British battlecruisers with 38,1 guns in 1916 (Renown and Repulse ), the three last ships of the Mackensen class were modified to match the new British designs. The then called Yorck class also included 38 cm guns and were the first German capital ships with only one funnel. Besides these differences to the original Mackensen design, the Yorck class was almost identical to them.

Although all three ships -  Yorck , Ersatz Gneisenau (Gneisenau replacement)  and Ersatz Scharnhorst (Scharnhorst replacement) - were laid down in 1916 only very few construction work was done on these ships. almost two years away from completion, they were all broken down after the war