"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 nine-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.