"Admiral Scheer" was ordered by the Reichsmarine from the "Reichsmarinewerft" shipyard in Wilhelmshaven. Naval rearmament was not popular with the Social Democrats and the Communists 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" , 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 pre-dreadnought battleship was removed from service and her crew transferred to the newly commissioned "panzerschiff".