 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 113 @,@ 223 gross register tons ( GRT ) 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 . 
