The Admiral-class battlecruisers were a group of four British Royal Navy battlecruisers designed near the end of World War I. These ships were intended to counter the German Kaiserliche Marine Mackensen-class battlecruisers that were then under construction. The class was originally intended to consist of HMS Anson, Howe, Rodney, and Hood. After the Germans stopped working on the Mackensen class, HMS Anson, Howe, and Rodney were cancelled. Hood, however, was sufficiently advanced in construction that she was completed and later saw service in World War II.