German cruiser Admiral Scheer Admiral Scheer was a " Deutschland " - class heavy cruiser ( often termed a pocket battleship ) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II . The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer , German commander in the Battle of Jutland . She was laid down at the " Reichsmarinewerft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by November 1934 . Originally classified as an armored ship ( " Panzerschiff " ) by the Reichsmarine , in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruiser s . The ship was nominally under the limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles , though with a full load displacement of , she significantly exceeded it . Armed with six guns in two triple gun turret s , " Admiral Scheer " and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them . Their top speed of left only a handful of ships in the Anglo - French navies able to catch them and powerful enough to sink them . " 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 Almería . Her first operation during World War II was a commerce raiding operation into the southern Atlantic Ocean ; she also made a brief foray into the Indian Ocean . During the operation , she sank 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 interdict shipping to the Soviet Union . She was part of the abortive attack on Convoy PQ - 17 and conducted Operation Wunderland , a sortie into the Kara Sea . After returning to Germany at the end of 1942 , the ship 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 and partially scrapped ; the remainder of the wreck lies buried beneath a quay . Construction . " Admiral Scheer " was ordered by the Reichsmarine from the " Reichsmarinewerft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . Naval rearmament was not popular with the Social Democrats and the in the German Reichstag , so it was not until 1931 that a bill was passed to build a second " Panzerschiff " . The money for " Panzerschiff B " , which was ordered as " Ersatz Lothringen " , was secured after the Social Democrats abstained to prevent a political crisis . Her keel was laid on 25 June 1931 , under construction number 123 . The ship was launched on 1 April 1933 ; at her launching , she was christened by Marianne Besserer , the daughter of Admiral Reinhard Scheer , the ship ' s namesake . She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 12 November 1934 , the day she was commissioned into the German fleet . The old battleship was removed from service and her crew transferred to the newly commissioned " panzerschiff " . " Admiral Scheer " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . The ship had a design displacement of and a full load displacement of , though the ship was officially stated to be within the limit of the Treaty of Versailles . " Admiral Scheer " was powered by four sets of MAN 9 - cylinder double - acting two - stroke diesel engines . The ship ' s top speed was , at . At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for . As designed , her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men , though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers and 921 – 1 , 040 sailors . " Admiral Scheer " s primary armament was six SK C / 28 guns mounted in two triple gun turret s , one forward and one aft of the superstructure . The ship carried a secondary battery of eight SK C / 28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships . Her anti - aircraft battery originally consisted of three L / 45 guns , though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8 . 8 cm L / 78 guns . By 1940 , the ship ' s anti - aircraft battery was significantly increased , consisting of six C / 33 guns , four twin - mounted C / 30 guns and up to twenty - eight Flak 30 guns . By 1945 , the anti - aircraft battery had again been reorganized and comprised six 4 cm guns , eight 3 . 7 cm guns , and thirty - three 2 cm guns . The ship also carried a pair of quadruple deck - mounted torpedo launchers placed on her stern . The ship was equipped with two Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult . " Admiral Scheer " s armored belt was thick ; her upper deck was thick while the main armored deck was thick . The main battery turrets had thick faces and 80 mm thick sides . Radar initially consisted of a FMG 39 G ( gO ) set , though in 1941 this was replaced with an FMG 40 G ( gO ) set and a FuMO 26 system . Service history . At her commissioning in November 1934 , " Admiral Scheer " was placed under the command of " Kapitän zur See " ( " KzS " ) Wilhelm Marschall . The ship spent the remainder of 1934 conducting sea trials and training her crew . In 1935 , she had a new catapult and landing sail system to operate her Arado seaplanes on heavy seas installed . From 1 October 1935 to 26 July 1937 her first officer was Leopold Bürkner , later to become head of foreign intelligence in the Third Reich . By October 1935 , the ship was ready for her first major cruise , when on 25 – 28 October she visited Madeira , returning to Kiel on 8 November . The following summer , she cruised out through the Skagerrak and the English Channel into the Irish Sea , before visiting Stockholm on the return voyage . Spanish Civil War . " Admiral Scheer " s first overseas deployment began in July 1936 when she was sent to Spain to evacuate German civilians caught in the midst of the Spanish Civil War . From 8 August 1936 she served together with her sister ship " Deutschland " on non - intervention patrols off the Republican - held coast of Spain . She served four tours of duty with the non - intervention patrol through June 1937 . Her official objective was to control the influx of war materiel into Spain , though she also recorded Soviet ships carrying supplies to the Republicans and protected ships delivering German weapons to Nationalist forces . During the deployment to Spain , Ernst Lindemann served as the ship ' s first gunnery officer . After " Deutschland " was attacked on 29 May 1937 by Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft off Ibiza , " Admiral Scheer " was ordered to bombard the Republican - held port of Almería in reprisal . On 31 May 1937 , the anniversary of the Battle of Jutland , " Admiral Scheer " , flying the Imperial War Flag , arrived off Almería at 07 : 29 and opened fire on shore batteries , naval installations and ships in the harbor . On 26 June 1937 , she was relieved by her sister " Admiral Graf Spee " , allowing her to return to Wilhelmshaven on 1 July . She returned to the Mediterranean between August and October , however . In September 1936 , " KzS " Otto Ciliax replaced Marschall as the ship ' s commanding officer . World War II . At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 , " Admiral Scheer " remained at anchor in the Schillig roadstead outside Wilhelmshaven , along with the heavy cruiser " Admiral Hipper " . On 4 September , two groups of five Bristol Blenheim bombers attacked the ships . The first group surprised the anti - aircraft gunners aboard " Admiral Scheer " , who nevertheless managed to shoot down one of the five Blenheims . One bomb struck the ship ' s deck and failed to explode , and two detonated in the water near the ship . The remaining bombs also failed to explode . The second group of five Blenheims were confronted by the alerted German defenses , which shot down four of the five bombers . " Admiral Scheer " emerged from the attack undamaged . In November 1939 , " KzS " Theodor Krancke became the ship ' s commanding officer . " Admiral Scheer " underwent a refit while her sister ships set out on commerce raiding operations in the Atlantic . " Admiral Scheer " was modified during the early months of 1940 , including the installation of a new , raked clipper bow . The heavy command tower was replaced with a lighter structure , and she was reclassified as a heavy cruiser . Additional anti - aircraft guns were also installed , along with updated radar equipment . On 19 – 20 July , RAF bombers attacked " Admiral Scheer " and the battleship " Tirpitz " , though they failed to score any hits . On 27 July , the ship was pronounced ready for service . Atlantic sortie . " Admiral Scheer " sailed in October 1940 on her first combat sortie . On the night of 31 October , she slipped through the Denmark Strait and broke into the open Atlantic . Her " B - Dienst " radio intercept equipment identified the convoy HX - 84 , sailing from Halifax Nova Scotia . " Admiral Scheer " s Arado seaplanes located the convoy on 5 November 1940 , The armed merchant cruiser , the sole escort for the convoy , issued a report of the German raider and attempted to prevent her from attacking the convoy . The convoy was ordered to scatter under cover of a smoke screen . " Admiral Scheer " s first salvo scored hits on " Jervis Bay " , disabling her wireless equipment and steering gear . Shells from her second salvo struck the bridge and killed her commander , Edward Fegen . " Admiral Scheer " quickly sank " Jervis Bay " , but the delay allowed the majority of the convoy to escape . The Germans sank only five of the convoy ' s 37 ships . On 18 December , " Admiral Scheer " encountered and sank the refrigerator ship " Duquesa " , of some displacement . The ship sent off a distress signal , which the German raider deliberately allowed , to draw British naval forces to the area . Krancke wanted to lure British warships to the area to draw attention away from " Admiral Hipper " , which had just exited the Denmark Strait . The aircraft carrier s and , the cruisers , , and , and the armed merchant cruiser converged to hunt down the German raider , but she eluded the British . Between 26 December and 7 January , " Admiral Scheer " rendezvoused with the supply ships " Nordmark " and " Eurofeld " , the auxiliary cruiser " Thor " , and the prizes " Dugnesa " and " Storstad " . The raiders transferred some 600 prisoners to " Storstad " while they refueled from " Nordmark " and " Eurofeld " . " Admiral Scheer " captured three British merchant ships totaling between 18 and 20 January . She spent Christmas 1940 at sea in the mid - Atlantic , several hundred miles from Tristan da Cunha , before making a foray into the Indian Ocean in February 1941 . On 14 February , " Admiral Scheer " rendezvoused with the armed merchant raider " Atlantis " and the supply ship " Tannenfels " about east of Madagascar . The raiders resupplied from " Tannenfels " and exchanged information on Allied merchant traffic in the area , parting company on 17 February . " Admiral Scheer " then steamed to the Seychelles north of Madagascar , where she located two merchant vessels with her Arado floatplanes . She took the transport " British Advocate " as a prize and sank the Greek - flagged " Grigorios " . A third ship , the " Canadian Cruiser " , managed to send a distress signal before " Admiral Scheer " sank her on 21 February . The raider encountered and sank a fourth ship the following day , the Dutch steamer " Rantaupandjang " , though she too was able to send a distress signal before she sank . The British cruiser , which was patrolling in the area , received both messages from " Admiral Scheer " s victims . " Glasgow " launched reconnaissance aircraft that spotted " Admiral Scheer " on 22 February . Vice Admiral Ralph Leatham , the commander of the East Indies Station , deployed the carrier " Hermes " and cruisers , , , , and the Australian to join the hunt . Krancke turned to the south - east to evade his pursuers , reaching the South Atlantic by 3 March . The British , meanwhile , had abandoned the hunt on 25 February when it became clear that " Admiral Scheer " had withdrawn from the area . " Admiral Scheer " then sailed northwards , breaking through the Denmark Strait on 26 – 27 March and evading the cruisers and . She reached Bergen , Norway on 30 March , where she spent a day in the Grimstadfjord . A destroyer escort joined the ship for the voyage to Kiel , which they reached on 1 April . In the course of her raiding operation , she had steamed over and sank seventeen merchant ships for a total of . She was by far the most successful German capital ship commerce raider of the entire war . After returning to Germany , Krancke left the ship and was replaced by " KzS " Wilhelm Meendsen - Bohlken in June 1941 . The loss of the battleship " Bismarck " in May 1941 , and more importantly , the Royal Navy ' s destruction of the German supply ship network in the aftermath of the " Bismarck " operation forced a planned Atlantic raiding operation for " Admiral Scheer " and her sister " Lützow " at the end of 1941 to be abandoned . On 4 – 8 September , " Admiral Scheer " was briefly moved to Oslo . There , on 5 and 8 September , No . 90 Squadron RAF , equipped with B - 17 bombers , mounted a pair of unsuccessful attacks on the ship . On 8 September , the ship left Oslo and returned to Swinemünde . Deployment to Norway . On 21 February 1942 , " Admiral Scheer " , the heavy cruiser " Prinz Eugen " , and the destroyers " Richard Beitzen " , " Paul Jakobi " , " Z25 " , " Hermann Schoemann " , and " Friedrich Ihn " steamed to Norway . After stopping briefly in Grimstadfjord , the ships proceeded on to Trondheim . On 23 February , the British submarine torpedoed " Prinz Eugen " , causing serious damage . The first operation in Norway in which " Admiral Scheer " took part was Operation " Rösselsprung " , in July 1942 . On 2 July , the ship sortied as part of the attempt to intercept Arctic convoy PQ - 17 . " Admiral Scheer " and " Lützow " formed one group while " Tirpitz " and " Admiral Hipper " composed another . While en route to the rendezvous point , " Lützow " and three destroyers ran aground , forcing the entire group to abandon the operation . " Admiral Scheer " was detached to join " Tirpitz " and " Admiral Hipper " in Altafjord . The British detected the German departure and ordered the convoy to scatter . Aware that surprise had been lost , the Germans broke off the surface attack and turned the destruction of PQ - 17 over to the U - boat s and Luftwaffe . Twenty - four of the convoy ' s thirty - five transports were sunk . In August 1942 , she conducted Operation Wunderland , a sortie into the Kara Sea to interdict Soviet shipping and attack targets of opportunity . The length of the mission and the distances involved precluded a destroyer escort for the operation ; three destroyers would escort " Admiral Scheer " until they reached Novaya Zemlya , at which point they would return to Norway . Two U - boats — " U - 251 " and " U - 456 " — patrolled the Kara Gate and the Jugor Strait . The Germans originally intended to send " Admiral Scheer " with her sister ship " Lützow " , but since the latter had run aground the previous month , she was unavailable for the operation . The operational plan called for strict radio silence to ensure surprise could be maintained . This required Meendsen - Bohlken to have total tactical and operational control of his ship ; shore - based commands would be unable to direct the mission . On 16 August , " Admiral Scheer " and her destroyer escort left Narvik on a course to pass to the north of Novaya Zemlya . Upon entering the Kara Sea , she encountered heavy ice ; in addition to searching for merchant shipping , the Arado floatplane was used to scout paths through the ice fields . On 25 August , she encountered the Soviet icebreaker " Sibiryakov " . " Admiral Scheer " sank the icebreaker , but not before she sent a distress signal . The German ship then turned south , and two days later , arrived off the port of Dikson . " Admiral Scheer " damaged two ships in the port and shelled harbor facilities . Meendsen - Bohlken considered sending a landing party ashore , but firing from Soviet shore batteries convinced him to abandon the plan . After breaking off the bombardment , Meendsen - Bohlken decided to return to Narvik . She reached port on 30 August without having achieved any significant successes . On 23 October , " Admiral Scheer " , " Tirpitz " , and the destroyers " Richard Beitzen " , " Friedrich Eckoldt " , " Z23 " , " Z28 " , and " Z29 " left Bogen Bay and proceeded to Trondheim . There , " Tirpitz " stopped for repairs , while " Admiral Scheer " and " Z28 " continue on to Germany . " Fregattenkapitän " Ernst Gruber served as the ship ' s acting commander at the end of November . In December 1942 , " Admiral Scheer " returned to Wilhelmshaven for major overhaul , where she was attacked and slightly damaged by RAF bombers . Consequently , " Admiral Scheer " moved to the less exposed port of Swinemünde . In February 1943 , " KzS " Richard Rothe - Roth took command of the ship . Until the end of 1944 " Admiral Scheer " was part of the Fleet Training Group . Return to the Baltic . " KzS " Ernst - Ludwig Thienemann , the ship ' s final commander , took command of " Admiral Scheer " in April 1944 . On 22 November 1944 , " Admiral Scheer " , the destroyers " Z25 " and " Z35 " , and the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla relieved the cruiser " Prinz Eugen " and several destroyers supporting German forces fighting the Soviets on the island of Ösel in the Baltic . The Soviet Air Force launched several air attacks on the German forces , all of which were successfully repelled by heavy anti - aircraft fire . The ship ' s Arado floatplane was shot down , however . On the night of 23 – 24 November , the German naval forces completed the evacuation of the island . In all , 4 , 694 troops were evacuated from the island . In early February 1945 , " Admiral Scheer " stood off Samland with several torpedo boats in support of German forces fighting Soviet advances . On 9 February , the ships began shelling Soviet positions . Between 18 and 24 February , German forces launched a local counterattack ; " Admiral Scheer " and the torpedo boats provided artillery support , targeting Soviet positions near Peyse and Gross - Heydekrug . The German attack temporarily restored the land connection to Königsberg . The ship ' s guns were badly worn out by March and in need of repair . On 8 March , " Admiral Scheer " departed the eastern Baltic to have her guns relined in Kiel ; she carried 800 civilian refugees and 200 wounded soldiers . An uncleared minefield prevented her from reaching Kiel , and so she unloaded her passengers in Swinemünde . Despite her worn - out gun barrels , the ship then shelled Soviet forces outside Kolberg until she used up her remaining ammunition . The ship then loaded refugees and left Swinemünde ; she successfully navigated the minefields on the way to Kiel , arriving on 18 March . Her stern turret had its guns replaced at the Deutsche Werke shipyard by early April . During the repair process , most of the ship ' s crew went ashore . On the night of 9 April 1945 , a general RAF bombing raid by over 300 aircraft struck the harbor in Kiel . " Admiral Scheer " was hit by five Tallboy bombs and capsized . She was partially broken up for scrap after the end of the war , though part of the hull was left in place and buried with rubble from the attack in the construction of a new quay . The number of casualties from her loss are unknown . Footnotes . Notes Citations