page_title: Scharnhorst-class battleship
section_title: Construction and early actions
hierarchical_section_title: Scharnhorst-class battleship / Service history / Construction and early actions
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Schlachtschiff "Gneisenau" Schlachtschiff "Gneisenau"
context_page_description: The Scharnhorst class were the first capital ships, referred to as either battleships or battlecruisers, built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine after World War I. The class comprised two vessels: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Scharnhorst was launched first, and is considered to be the lead ship by some sources; they are also referred to as the Gneisenau class in some other sources, as Gneisenau was the first to be laid down and commissioned. They marked the beginning of German naval rearmament after the Treaty of Versailles. The ships were armed with nine 28 cm SK C/34 guns in three triple turrets; plans to replace these with six 38 cm SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never realized.
  The two ships were laid down in 1935, launched in late 1936, and commissioned into the German fleet by early 1939. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. The two ships participated in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious on 8 June 1940.
context_section_description: Gneisenau was laid down on 3 May 1935 at the Deutsche Werke in Kiel. She was launched on 8 December 1936, and completed on 21 May 1938. During her launch, the ship sustained minor damage to her stern; the chains slowing her slide down the slipway broke, and the ship drifted too far and became beached on the opposite shore. After her commissioning, Gneisenau spent the first year of her career conducting trials and training cruises in the Baltic Sea. The cruises revealed the wetness of the bow and bridge; in January 1939 her "Atlantic bow" was installed. Scharnhorst was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven, on 16 May 1935. She was launched on 30 June 1936 and completed on 7 January 1939. In mid 1939, the ship conducted trials in the Baltic Sea; as with Gneisenau, the ship's low freeboard necessitated the installation of the "Atlantic bow", which was completed in August 1939. During that refit, a large hangar for the ship's aircraft was added amidships. The ship emerged from the dockyard in October.
  On 21 November, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, the light cruisers Köln and Leipzig, and several destroyers conducted a sweep between Iceland and the Faroe Islands; during the operation, the German ships encountered the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi; Scharnhorst sank the ship, but in the process sustained a hit from one of Rawalpindi's 152 mm guns. Scharnhorst stopped to pick up survivors, but the arrival of the cruiser HMS Newcastle prompted the German ships to withdraw.
caption: Gneisenau in harbor
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