As British and American air raids increased in intensity through 1943, the Germans decided to move the ship to Königsberg in an attempt to place her out of the reach of Allied bombers. She could not be moved until March 1944, however, when she was towed to Kiel. She was then towed from Kiel to Königsberg between 30 March and 2 April. She remained there for the rest of the war, and likely little work was done; in December, she was classified as a hulk. On 29 January 1945, the ship was scuttled before the advancing Soviet Red Army could seize her. The Soviet Navy nevertheless considered using the wreck for parts to complete the cruiser , a sister-ship of Seydlitz the Soviets had purchased unfinished before the outbreak of war. This was not carried out, however, and the ship was eventually raised before being broken up beginning in 1958.
