She was launched on 1 April 1933 and completed by November 1934. 

Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including a deployment to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, where she bombarded the port of Almeria. Her first operation during World War II was a commerce raiding operation into the southern Atlantic but she also made a brief foray into the Indian Ocean. She sank 113,223 tons of shipping, making her the most successful capital ship surface raider of the war. 

Following her return to Germany, she was deployed to northern Norway to intercept shipping to the Soviet Union. She was part of the abortive attack on Convoy PQ17. After returning to Germany at the end of 1942, she served as a training ship until the end of 1944, when she was used to support ground operations against the Soviet Army. 

She was sunk by British bombers on 9 April 1945