Scharnhorst - class cruiser The " Scharnhorst " class was the last traditional class of armored cruiser s built by the Kaiserliche Marine . The class comprised two ships , and . They were larger than the s that preceded them ; the extra size was used primarily to increase the main armament of 21 cm ( 8 . 2 inch ) guns from four to eight . The ships were the first German cruiser to reach equality with their British counterparts . The ships were named after 19th century Prussian army reformers , Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August von Gneisenau . Built for overseas service , " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " were assigned to the East Asia Squadron in 1909 and 1910 , respectively . " Scharnhorst " relieved the old armored cruiser as the squadron flagship , which had been on station since 1900 . Both ships had short careers ; shortly before the outbreak of World War I , the ships departed the German colony at Tsingtao . On 1 November 1914 , the ships destroyed a British force at the Battle of Coronel and inflicted upon the Royal Navy its first defeat since the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 . The East Asia Squadron , including both " Scharnhorst " - class ships , was subsequently annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December . Design . General characteristics . The ships of the class were long overall , and long at the waterline . They had a beam of , a draft of , and displaced standard , and at full load . The ships ' hulls were constructed of transverse and longitudinal steel frames , over which the outer hull plating was riveted . The vessels had 15 watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 50 % of the length of the hull . The ships had a standard crew of 38 officers and 726 enlisted men . " Scharnhorst " , as the squadron flagship , had a larger crew , including an additional 14 officers and 62 men . " Gneisenau " , when serving as the squadron second command flagship , had an extra staff of 3 officers and 25 men . The ships carried a number of smaller vessels , including two picket boats , two launches , one pinnace , two cutters , three yawls , and one dinghy . Machinery . The " Scharnhorst " - class ships used the same powerplant as in the preceding : three 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines . Each engine drove a single propeller ; the center shaft on " Scharnhorst " was in diameter while the outer two were wide . " Gneisenau " s screws were slightly smaller , at wide on the center shaft and on the outer pair . The triple expansion engines were supplied with steam by 18 coal - fired marine - type boilers with 36 fire boxes . The engines were designed to provide 26 , 000 indicated horsepower , though on trials they achieved higher figures — 28 , 782 ihp for " Scharnhorst " and 30 , 396 ihp for " Gneisenau " . The ships were rated at a top speed of , though on trials " Scharnhorst " steamed at a maximum of , while " Gneisenau " ran at . The vessels carried of coal normally , though they were capable of storing up to of coal . This provided a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . The ships had a single rudder . The vessels also carried the same electrical plant as in the older " Roon " - class ships . It consisted of four turbo - generators that delivered 260 kilowatts at 110 volts . The " Scharnhorst " - class ships were the last cruisers built by Germany to be equipped with generators that put out power at 110 volts ; the subsequent design , , had generators that ran at 225 volts . Armament . The ships ' main battery 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 . The 21 cm guns fired a 108 kg ( 238 lb ) armor - piercing projectile at a muzzle velocity of 780 meters per second ( 2 , 559 ft / s ) . The guns had a rate of fire of between 4 – 5 rounds per minute . The guns were supplied with a total of 700 rounds . The guns mounted in the twin turrets could elevate to 30 degrees , which enabled a maximum range of 16 , 300 m ( 17 , 830 yards ) . The single turrets could only elevate to 16 degrees , and so their range was correspondingly lower at 12 , 400 m ( 13 , 560 yards ) . The twin turrets could train to approximately 150 degrees in either direction from the centerline . Secondary armament included six 15 cm ( 5 . 9 inch ) SK L / 40 guns in MPL casemate s . These guns had a fired armor - piercing shells at a rate of 4 – 5 per minute . The ships carried 170 shells per gun , for a total of 1 , 020 rounds total . The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to 20 degrees , for a maximum range of 13 , 700 m ( 14 , 990 yd ) . They were manually elevated and trained . The ships were also armed with eighteen 8 . 8 cm ( 3 . 45 inch ) guns mounted in casemates . They fired 10 kg ( 22 lb ) shells at a muzzle velocity of approximately 620 m / s ( 2 , 034 f / s ) . The ship carried 150 shells per gun , for a total of 2 , 700 rounds . They were capable of engaging targets out to 11 , 000 m ( 12 , 030 yd ) . As with the larger 15 cm guns , the 8 . 8 cm weapons were manually elevated and trained . As was customary for warships of the period , the " Scharnhorst " - class ships were equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes . One was mounted in the bow , one on each broadside , and the fourth was placed in the stern . The ships were supplied with a total of 11 torpedoes . The weapons were the C / 03 type , which weighed 662 kg ( 1 , 460 lb ) and carried a 176 kg ( 388 lb ) high explosive warhead . At a speed of 31 knots , the torpedoes had an effective range of 1 , 500 m ( 1 , 640 yd ) ; when set at a slower speed of 26 knots , the weapons could hit targets out to twice the distance , at 3 , 000 m ( 3 , 280 yd ) . Armor . As was the standard for German warships , the ships of the " Scharnhorst " class were protected by Krupp armor . They had an armor belt that was thick in the central portion of the ship , where the most important areas were located . The belt decreased to on either end of the central citadel , and down to nothing at the bow and stern . The entire belt was backed with teak planking . The main armored deck ranged in thickness from over critical areas and down to elsewhere . The deck sloped down to the belt ; this portion was between thick . The forward conning tower had - thick sides and a - thick roof . The rear conning tower was less well - armored , with sides that were only thick and a roof that was thick . The main battery gun turrets had - thick sides and 30 mm thick - roofs , while the amidships guns were protected with 150 mm - thick gun shields and 40 mm - thick roofs . The 15 cm guns were armored with 80 mm - thick shields . Service history . Upon commissioning , both ships of the class were assigned to the German East Asia Squadron , with " Scharnhorst " serving as Admiral Maximilian von Spee ' s flagship . " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " were regarded as well - trained vessels ; both ships won awards for their excellence at gunnery . At the start of World War I , the two ships were in the Caroline Islands on a routine cruise ; the rest of von Spee ' s squadron was dispersed around the Pacific . The declaration of war by Japan on Germany convinced von Spee to consolidate his force with the cruisers and from the American station , and head for Chile to refuel . The flotilla would then attempt to return to Germany via the Atlantic Ocean . Admiral von Spee also intended to attack the three British cruisers under the command of Admiral Christopher Cradock , and any British shipping encountered . On 22 September , " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " approached the island of Papeete in French Polynesia with the intention of seizing the coal stockpiled in the harbor . The ships conducted a short bombardment that resulted in the sinking of the old gunboat . However , von Spee feared that the harbor had been mined , and decided to avoid the risk . The French had also set fire to the coal stocks to prevent the Germans from using the coal . Battle of Coronel . At approximately 17 : 00 on 1 November 1914 , the East Asia Squadron encountered Craddock ' s ships off Coronel . Because the German ships had an advantage in speed , von Spee was able to keep the distance to 18 kilometers , before closing to 12 km to engage the British flotilla at 19 : 00 . " Scharnhorst " hit some 34 times ; at least one of the shells penetrated " Good Hope " s ammunition magazines , which resulted in a tremendous explosion that destroyed the ship . The light cruiser closed to point - blank range to attack ; after a severe pummeling , " Monmouth " sank as well . The British light cruiser and the auxiliary cruiser both escaped under the cover of darkness . First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher remarked that it was " the saddest naval action of the war . " The defeat was the first to be inflicted on the Royal Navy since the 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh . After news of the battle reached Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin , he ordered 300 Iron Cross es to be awarded to the men of von Spee ' s squadron . After refueling in Valparaiso , the East Asia Squadron departed for the Falkland Islands , in order to destroy the British wireless transmitter located there . Battle of the Falkland Islands . Some six hours after news of the battle reached England , Admiral Fisher ordered Admiral John Jellicoe , the commander of the Grand Fleet , to detach the battlecruisers and to hunt down the German ships . Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee was placed in command of the flotilla , which also included the armored cruisers , , , and , and the light cruisers and " Glasgow " , which had survived Coronel . Sturdee ' s ships reached the Falklands by the morning of 8 December , shortly before von Spee ' s squadron arrived . The British spotted the East Asia Squadron at 09 : 40 ; von Spee was unaware that the British had sent the two battlecruisers , and when he observed them , he ordered his ships to withdraw . Despite the head start , the fast battlecruisers quickly caught up with the worn - out German ships , which had just completed a 16 , 000 mile voyage without repairs . At approximately 13 : 20 , the battlecruisers opened fire at a range of 14 kilometers . After a two hour - long battle , " Scharnhorst " was dead in the water and listing heavily . The ship was sunk shortly thereafter . " Gneisenau " had been hit more than 50 times at close range ; the crew gave three cheers for the Kaiser before the vessel sank . " Nürnberg " and were also sunk , though managed to escape temporarily , before she too was destroyed off Juan Fernández Island . Some 2 , 200 men were killed , among them Admiral von Spee . Notes . Footnotes Citations References . Online sources