After the loss of the battleship Bismarck, the requirements for a new battleship were defined by the Kriegsmarine construction office. Based on the original H39 design, the result was a battleship besign based on four main requirements:

1. Strong horizontal armor protection
2. a top speed of at least 30 knots
3. a main artillery best fitting to the ship size
4. a good protection against mine hits

There was no given limit in the ship displacement and the ship was about the same size than the Japanese Yamato class. Compared to previous designs the ship had a thicker horizontal armor protection. To achieve the required speed, a mixed diesel / steam turbine engine system was chosen, as it was also used in the H40A and H40B design studies.

A quite intersting fact is that the main artillery should have been the same as in the H39, the idea that was followed in the H40A and H40B to increase the main artillery size was not followed in this ship anymore. The secondary and flak armament was also the same as it was in the original H39 design.

For the first time, it was planned to equip the battleship with an armored hull bottom to defend the ship againse mine hits.

Compared with further design studies, the planning for the H41 reached a level that would it make possible to build such a ship after the war.