These vessels were originally designed to Hitler's concept of a ship possessing the same weapons and speed as the pocket battleships, but weighing 19,000 tons, with the
increase in weight caused by additional armour. The Kriegsmarine's viewpoint was that a ship of this size with only six 11inch guns would be an ill-balanced design, and they
felt that a third triple-barrel 11inch turret was needed and in the end, won the argument, and these two ships were designed with 3 triple turrets.
Hitler had seconds thoughts and ordered that these ships be armed with 380mm guns, but since the 280mm triple turrets were already available, and as developement of a new
15in turret would take too long, the 280mm turrets were used, since Hitler needed these ships as soon as possible for his political ideas. Hitler did agree, however, that they were
to be re-armed with 15in guns at the earliest opportunity.
In the winter of 1938-1939, each ship was fitted with a clipper bow, which increased the overall length to 770ft 8in. Close-range armament was increased during the war with
Scharnhorst getting an additional twenty-four C38 20mm cannon and Gneisenau getting an additonal twelve. During WW2, there were plans to upgrade both ships main
armament but this plan was eventually abandoned in 1943.
VARIANTS OF THE SERIES
Gneisenau - Laid down 1935, Launched 1936, Completed 1938, Scuttled 1945. Scharnhorst - Laid down 1935, Launched 1936, Completed 1939, Sunk 1943.
