In the early 1930s a new artillery training ship was built to drill the gunnery personal of the Kriegsmarine to replace the existing old ships.

The Bremse was a destroyer sized ship that was planned with a second role besides artillery training: To be used as a testbed for diesel engines which were later installed in the new build Panzerschiff Deutschland .

Because of its high top weight, the mast of the ship was reduced in size in 1932. In 1939, the ship was used in the movie "Der letzte Apell" where it played the British cruiser Amphion , for this role it was equipped with two additional dummy funnels.

During wartime, the ship was mainly used n the Baltic Sea and in Norway. During an escort operation in September 1941, the Bremse was sunk in a battle with two British cruisers.