German battleship Scharnhorst
Service
- as Scharnhorst7 January 1939 — 26 December 19431,577 days of the war
- Name
- Scharnhorst
- Namesake
- Gerhard Johann von Scharnhorst (1755–1813)
- Builder
- Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven
- Laid down
- 15 June 1935
- Launched
- 3 October 1936
- Commissioned
- 7 January 1939
- Fate
- Sunk at the Battle of the North Cape on 26 December 1943 (1943)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 32,100 long tons (32,615 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 38,100 long tons (38,711 t)
- Length
- 234.9 m (770.7 ft)
- Beam
- 30 m (98.4 ft)
- Draught
- 9.9 m (32.5 ft)
- Speed
- 31 knots (57.4 km/h, 35.7 mph)
- Range
- 7,100 nmi (13,149 km)
- Complement
- 1,669
- Main gun
- 280 mm (11 in)
Scharnhorst was a Scharnhorst-class battleship of the Kriegsmarine. The ship was named after Gerhard Johann von Scharnhorst. Her keel was laid at Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven on 15 June 1935. Launched on 3 October 1936, she entered service on 7 January 1939.
She was one of two ships of her class. The class followed the L 20e α-class battleship and was succeeded by the Bismarck-class battleship.
Displacement was 32,100 long tons standard and 38,100 long tons at full load. She measured 234.9 m (771 ft) long with a beam of 30 m (98 ft). Her designed speed was 31 knots, and she carried a complement of 1,669.
Her main battery was nine 280 mm (11.0 in) guns. Her belt armour was 320 mm (12.6 in). She carried three aircraft.
She was in commission for 1,577 days of the Second World War.
She was sunk on 26 December 1943, at 72°16′N 28°41′E. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 3 Brown, Boveri & Co geared steam turbines
- Power
- 161764 PS
- Armament
- 9 × 28 cm/54.5 (11 inch) SK C/34
- 12 × 15 cm/55 (5.9") SK C/28
- 14 × 10.5 cm SK C/33
- 16 × 3.7 cm SK C/30
- 10 (later 16) × 2 cm C/30 or C/38
- 6 × 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes
- Armour
- Belt: 320 mm
- Deck: 50 to 105 mm
- Turrets: 200 to 360 mm
- Conning tower: 350 mm
- Aircraft
- 3 Arado Ar 196A
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from German battleship Scharnhorst on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Unknown author — This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project . The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive — CC BY-SA 3.0 de — Wikimedia Commons