Admiral Hipper was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg.[3] Her keel was laid on 6 July 1935,[6] under construction number 246.[3] The ship was launched on 6 February 1937, and was completed on 29 April 1939, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet.[7] The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder, who had been Franz von Hipper's chief of staff during World War I, gave the christening speech and his wife Erika Raeder performed the christening.[8][9] As built, the ship had a straight stem, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper bow.