Scharnhorst-Class
Germany's Fast Battleships with Gun Compromise - Based on WWI Ersatz Yorck design, built 1936-1939. 31.5 knots (fastest WWII battleships with Richelieu/Iowa), 350mm belt (thickest German WWII armor!). Armed with 9× 28cm guns (compromise—designed for 6× 38cm, Hitler demanded rapid construction). Sank HMS Glorious + escorts (8 Jun 1940, 1,207 killed). Operation Berlin (Jan-Mar 1941): 22 merchant ships sunk (115,622 GRT). Channel Dash (Feb 1942): Most audacious German operation, escaped Brest to Germany through English Channel (242 RAF bombers, 0 hits). Scharnhorst sunk Battle of North Cape (26 Dec 1943, last European battleship duel, 1,932 killed, 36 survivors = 1.8%). Gneisenau: Magazine explosion (Feb 1942), 80% complete with 38cm refit when Hitler canceled 1943, scuttled 1945.
Specifications
- Displacement (std)
- 32100 t
- Displacement (full)
- 38900 t
- Length
- 771 ft
- Beam
- 98.4 ft
- Crew
- 1673 (up to 1968 as flagship)
- Ships built
- 2
- Commissioned
- 1938-1939
- Decommissioned
- 1943-1945 (sunk/scuttled)
Performance
- Top speed
- 31 kn
- Range
- 8800 nm at 19 knots
Armament
- Main guns
- 9× 28cm (11-inch) SK C/34 L/54.5
- Secondary guns
- 12× 15cm (5.9-inch) SK C/28
- Torpedoes
- 2× triple 53.3cm submerged (broadside)
Armor & Systems
- Belt
- 350mm Krupp cemented (thickest German WWII belt!)
- Deck
- 80-105mm
- Fire control
- Dual directors (forward/aft), FuMO radar (late-war)
In-Game
- Tier
- T5
- Game power
- 142.36
- Research cost
- 78,298
- Credit cost
- 99,652
Notable
- Fastest WWII battleships (31.5 knots, matched only by Richelieu/Iowa)
- Thickest German WWII belt armor (350mm, exceeds Bismarck's 320mm)
- Based on WWI Ersatz Yorck-class design (validated 1918 plans)
- Channel Dash (most audacious German surface operation, Feb 1942)
- Battle of North Cape (last European battleship duel, Dec 1943)
- 28cm gun compromise (designed for 38cm, Hitler demanded rapid construction)