Gneisenau was launched on 8 December 1936 and completed in May 1938

Gneisenau and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During their first operation, the two ships sank the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi. Gneisenau and Scharnhorst participated in the German invasion of Norway when the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMSGlorious. Gneisenau was damaged in the action with Renown and later torpedoed by a British submarine, HMS Clyde, off Norway. Gneisenau and her sister put in to Brest and the two battleships were the subject of repeated bombing raids by the RAF. Gneisenau was hit several times during the raids, though was repaired.

In early 1942, the two ships made a daylight dash up the English Channel from Brest to Germany, which became known as the "Channel Dash"  After reaching Kiel in early February, she went into drydock. On the night of 26 February, the British launched an air attack on the ship; one bomb penetrated her armored deck and exploded in the forward ammunition magazine, causing serious damage and a large number of casualties. 

On 27 March 1945, she was sunk as a blockship at Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in German-occupied Poland. 

She was eventually broken up for scrap in 1951.