April 11, 1908 the cruiser Blücher was launched at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel. Named in honor of Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard von Blücher (later Fürst von Wahlstatt) one of the victors of the Battle of Waterloo. The ship was christened by Gräfin Blücher von Wahlstatt with Prinz Henry of Prussia in attendance. The keynote speech was given by General Rüdiger von der Goltz, in it he paid tribute to the man for which the ship was named saying "I hope the ship which bears his name might always have men like him on her bridge, men who would never doubt that victory would be theirs". In only a few short years the ship would be sunk with a large loss of life in the Battle of Dogger Bank. A second Blücher, launched for Hitler's navy, shared the same fate in the Second World War.