 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 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 <unk> , 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 Hessen was removed from service and her crew transferred to the newly commissioned <unk> . 
