SMS Scharnhorst SMS " Scharnhorst " was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy , built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg , Germany . She was the lead ship of her class , which also included her sister . " Scharnhorst " and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding ; they were equipped with a greater number of main guns and a higher top speed . The ship was named after the Prussia n reformer General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and commissioned into service on 24 October 1907 . " Scharnhorst " was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron based in Tsingtao , China , along with " Gneisenau " , in 1911 . They served as the core of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee ' s fleet . After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , the two ships , accompanied by three light cruiser s and several colliers , sailed across the Pacific ocean — in the process evading the various Allied naval forces sent to intercept them — before arriving off the southern coast of South America . On 1 November 1914 , " Scharnhorst " and the rest of the East Asia Squadron encountered and overpowered a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel . The stinging defeat prompted the British Admiralty to dispatch two battlecruiser s to hunt down and destroy von Spee ' s flotilla , which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914 . Construction . " Scharnhorst " was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg , Germany in 1905 , under construction number 175 . She was launched on 23 March 1906 , and commissioned into the fleet a year and a half later on 24 October 1907 . The ship cost the German government 20 , 319 , 000 goldmarks . The ship had been designed for service with the High Seas Fleet , though they were found to be too weak for service with the battle fleet ; instead they were deployed overseas , a role in which they performed well . " Scharnhorst " was long overall , and had a beam of , a draft of . The ship displaced standard , and at full load . " Scharnhorst " s crew consisted of 52 officers and 788 enlisted men ; of these , 14 officers and 62 enlisted men were assigned to the squadron commander ' s staff , and were additional to the standard complement . " Scharnhorst " s primary armament consisted of eight 21 cm ( 8 . 2 inch ) SK L / 40 guns , four in twin gun turret s , one fore and one aft of the main superstructure , and the remaining four were mounted in single wing turrets . Secondary armament included six 15 cm ( 5 . 9 inch ) SK L / 40 guns in MPL casemate s , and eighteen 8 . 8 cm ( 3 . 45 inch ) guns mounted in casemates . She was also equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes . One was mounted in the bow , one on each broadside , and the fourth was placed in the stern . Service history . In 1909 , " Scharnhorst " was assigned to the " Ostasiengeschwader " ( East Asia Squadron ) ; " Gneisenau " followed in 1910 . The two ships formed the core of the squadron , with " Scharnhorst " serving as the flagship . They were crack gunnery ships ; " Gneisenau " had won the Kaiser ' s Cup twice , and " Scharnhorst " finished in second place in 1913 and 1914 . In June 1914 , the annual summer cruise of the East Asia Squadron began . " Gneisenau " rendezvoused with " Scharnhorst " in Nagasaki , Japan , where they received a full supply of coal . They then sailed south , arriving in Truk in early July where they would restock their coal supplies . While en route , they received news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the throne of Austria - Hungary . On 17 July , the East Asia Squadron arrived in Ponape in the Caroline Islands . Von Spee now had access to the German radio network , and he learned of the Austro - Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia and the Russian mobilization against Austria - Hungary and possibly Germany . On 31 July word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire . Von Spee ordered his ships be stripped for war . On 2 August , Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered German mobilization against Russia and its ally , France . World War I . When the First World War broke out , " Scharnhorst " was Admiral Maximilian von Spee ' s flagship in the East Asia Squadron . The squadron consisted of " Scharnhorst " , her sister ship , and the light cruiser s , , and . On 6 August 1914 , " Scharnhorst " , " Gneisenau " , the supply ship " Titania " , and the Japanese collier " Fukoku Maru " were still in Ponape . Von Spee had issued orders to recall the light cruisers , which had been dispersed on cruises around the Pacific . " Nürnberg " joined von Spee that day . Von Spee decided the best place to concentrate his forces was Pagan Island in the northern Marianas Islands , a German possession in the central Pacific . All available colliers , supply ships , and passenger liners were ordered to meet the East Asia Squadron there . On 11 August , von Spee arrived in Pagan ; he was joined by several supply ships , as well as " Emden " and the auxiliary cruiser " Prinz Eitel Friedrich " . " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " regrouped with " Emden " and " Nürnberg " ; all four then departed the central Pacific , bound for Chile . On 13 August Commodore Karl von Müller , captain of the " Emden " , persuaded von Spee to detach his ship as a commerce raider . By this time , the squadron had been reinforced by the arrival of " Dresden " and " Leipzig " . " Dresden " was stationed in the Caribbean , but had been in San Francisco when von Spee issued the order to consolidate German naval forces . On 14 August , the East Asia Squadron departed Pagan for Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands , with " Scharnhorst " in the lead . The ships again coaled after their arrival on 20 August . To keep the German high command informed , on 8 September von Spee detached " Nürnberg " to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries . " Nürnberg " returned with news of the Allied conquest of the German colony at Samoa . On 14 August , " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " sailed to Apia to investigate the situation , but found no suitable targets . At the Battle of Papeete on 22 September , " Scharnhorst " and the rest of the East Asia Squadron bombarded the colony . During the bombardment , the French gunboat " Zélée " was sunk by German gunfire . Fear of mines in the harbor prevented von Spee from seizing the coal in the harbor . By 12 October , " Scharnhorst " and the rest of the squadron had reached Easter Island . There they were joined by " Dresden " and " Leipzig " , which had sailed from American waters . After a week in the area , the ships departed for Chile . Battle of Coronel . The British had scant resources to oppose the German squadron off the coast of South America . Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock commanded the armored cruisers and , the light cruiser , and the auxiliary cruiser . The flotilla was reinforced by the elderly pre - dreadnought battleship and the armored cruiser . However , the latter did not arrive until after the Battle of Coronel . " Canopus " was left behind by Cradock , who likely felt her slow speed would prevent him from bringing the German ships to battle . On the evening of 26 October , " Scharnhorst " and the rest of the squadron steamed out of Mas a Fuera , Chile , and headed eastward . Von Spee learned that " Glasgow " had been spotted in Coronel on the 31st , and turned towards the port . He arrived on the afternoon of 1 November ; to his surprise , he encountered " Good Hope " , " Monmouth " , and " Otranto " as well as " Glasgow " . " Canopus " was still some behind , with the British colliers . At 17 : 00 , " Glasgow " spotted the German ships . Cradock formed a line of battle with " Good Hope " in the lead , followed by " Monmouth " , " Glasgow " , and " Otranto " in the rear . Von Spee decided to hold off engaging until the sun had set more , at which point the British ships would be silhouetted by the sun . Cradock realized the uselessness of " Otranto " in the line of battle and detached her . At 19 : 00 , the German ships closed to attack . " Scharnhorst " engaged " Good Hope " and hit her at least 35 times . One of the shells penetrated an ammunition magazine , which destroyed " Good Hope " in a huge explosion at 19 : 57 . At the same time , " Nürnberg " closed to point - blank range of " Monmouth " and poured shells into her . " Glasgow " was forced to abandon " Monmouth " after 20 : 20 , before fleeing south and meeting with " Canopus " . " Monmouth " eventually capsized and sank at 21 : 18 . More than 1 , 600 men were killed in the sinking of the two armored cruisers , including Admiral Cradock . German losses were negligible . However , the German ships had expended over 40 % of their ammunition supply . " Scharnhorst " was hit twice during the engagement , but both shells failed to explode . Battle of the Falkland Islands . Once word of the defeat reached London , the Royal Navy set to organizing a force to hunt down and destroy the East Asia Squadron . To this end , the powerful new battlecruiser s and were detached from the Grand Fleet and placed under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee . The two ships left Devonport on 10 November , and while en route to the Falkland Islands , they were joined by the armored cruisers , , and , the light cruisers and " Glasgow " , and the " Otranto " . The force of eight ships reached the Falklands by 7 December , where they immediately coaled . " Gneisenau " and " Nürnberg " , the first two ships in the German line , approached the Falklands on the same morning , with the intention of destroying the wireless transmitter there . Observers aboard " Gneisenau " spotted the two battlecruisers in the harbor of Port Stanley , and when shells were fired from " Canopus " , which had been beached as a guard ship , the German fleet turned to flee . The Germans took a south - easterly course at . " Scharnhorst " was the center ship , with " Gneisenau " and " Nürnberg " ahead and " Dresden " and " Leipzig " astern . The fast battlecruisers quickly got up steam and sailed out of the harbor to pursue the slower East Asia Squadron . By 13 : 20 , the British ships had caught up with " Scharnhorst " and the other cruisers and began firing at a range of . Von Spee realized his armored cruisers could not escape the much faster battlecruisers , and ordered the three light cruisers to attempt to break away while he turned about to face the British with " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " . However , Sturdee detached his armored and light cruisers to pursue the German light cruisers , while the battlecruisers dealt with the outgunned " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " . " Invincible " opened fire at " Scharnhorst " while " Inflexible " attacked " Gneisenau " . Sturdee attempted to widen the distance by turning two points to the north to prevent von Spee from closing to within the range of his numerous secondary guns . Von Spee counteracted this maneuver by turning rapidly to the south , which forced Sturdee to turn south as well . This allowed " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " to get close enough to engage with their secondary guns . Their shooting was so accurate that it forced the British to haul away . By 15 : 30 , " Scharnhorst " had been holed in several places below the waterline , her third funnel had been destroyed , and she was burning badly . She was also low in the water , drawing some more than normal . At 16 : 04 , " Scharnhorst " was observed from " Inflexible " as having rapidly listed to port , and she sank at 16 : 17 . All 860 officers and men on board , including von Spee , went down with the ship . " Gneisenau " , " Leipzig " , and " Nürnberg " were also sunk . Only " Dresden " managed to escape , but she was eventually tracked to the Juan Fernandez Island and sunk . The complete destruction of the squadron killed about 2 , 200 German sailors and officers , including two of von Spee ' s sons . Notes . Footnotes Citations References . Online sources