The Deutschland class construction programme had so far been unofficially and systematically altered under influence of changes in political situation, both in Germany and in the world. These contributed to construction of three different warships. Formally all there units had the same characteristics but these figures, especially displacement, were the same only on paper. It was not a real secret, as a close look at their appearance and dimensions revealed the truth that the real characteristics did not correspond to those in the official documents. However, such comparison was only possible after all three units had been commissioned. It took place in 1936 when Hitler was powerful enough as not to bother with such “details”, as abiding previously signed treaties.
As far as differences among the units were concerned, the most noticeable was that in the construction of the control tower (“Kommandoturm” in German). The first version installed on the Deutschland was cylindrical and turned out to be too small, if the warship had to act as a flagship. The next unit, Admiral Scheer, had a larger and more functional control tower. However, after first trials it was observed that in strong headwinds it acted as a sail, reducing the ship’s speed by approximately 1 to 2 knots. A decision was quickly made to rebuild it into a more cylindrical one, similar to that on the Deutschland. The Admiral Graf Spee, as the last to be commissioned, incorporated more internal changes then her predecessors. These, however, were soon found to be insufficient. It is worthy of mention that her control tower was also supposed to be rebuilt, but the outbreak of the war and the scuttling of the ship in 1939 made that impossible.