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Gneisenau class battlecruiser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gneisenau class Battleship/Battlecruiser | |
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| Class overview | |
| Type: | Battleship/Battlecruiser |
| Name: | Gneisenau class |
| Builders: | Deutsche Werke Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven |
| Operators: | Kriegsmarine |
| Commissioned: | 21 May 1938 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 Jan 1939 |
| Ships in class: | Gneisenau Scharnhorst |
| Ships active: | 0 |
| Ships sunk: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 31,500 tonnes (standard} 38,900 tonnes (full load) |
| Length: | 235 m (772 ft) overall 226 m (741.5 ft) waterline |
| Beam: | 30 m (98.4 ft) |
| Draught: | 9.69 m (31 ft 9 in.) at 37,303 tons |
| Propulsion and power: |
3 Germania geared turbines with single reduction 3 three-bladed propellers, 4.8 m (15 9 inch) diameter 151,893 shp |
| Speed: | 33 kt |
| Range: | 8,400 nm at 19 kt |
| Armour: | Main belt: 350 mm (13.78 inch) Deck: 95 mm max. |
| Complement: | 1,669 (56 officers, 1613 enlisted) |
| Armament: | 9 × 280 mm (11 inch) 12 × 150 mm (5.9 inch) 14 × 105 mm (4.1 inch) 16 × 37 mm 10 × 20 mm (later 16) 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft carried: | 3 Arado Ar 196A-3 |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 catapult |
The Gneisenau class battlecruisers (or battleships) were the first capital ships built for the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) since World War I. They marked the beginning of German naval rearmament after the Treaty of Versailles.
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They are known as the Gneisenau class since the Gneisenau was the first to be laid down and commissioned but they are also referred to by some as the Scharnhorst class as the Scharnhorst was the one that was launched first. In World War I, the armoured cruiser SMS Scharnhorst had been the lead ship of a class of armoured cruisers.
The two ships of the class were known as battleships by the Kriegsmarine (German "Schlachtschiff"). By contrast, the Royal Navy referred to them as battlecruisers, probably because they traded off large caliber guns for their 32 to 33 knot (60 km/h) speed albeit that they still achieved good armour protection, in the tradition of World War I Kaiserliche Marine battlecruisers. Secondary sources working from either of the two primary sources tend to use the same classifications as the original source.
Like the "pocket battleships" of the Deutschland class, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were political compromises, symbols of international power and prestige for the Nazi regime, but not so big as to overly concern international opinion or inflame the British.
The two ships came about as Hitler's Germany moved away from compliance with the Treaty of Versailles which had limited its military strength since the end of the First World War - specifically that no German battleship should be greater than 10,000 tons. Further building of the pocket battleships of the Deutschland class was curtailed and the guns freed up were used to arm the new ships. They were officially declared to be of some 26,000 tons displacement which while greater than the Treaty demanded was less than the 35,000 tons that the major naval powers had limited themselves to under the Washington Naval Treaty and subsequent treaties. In reality their standard displacement was some 32,000 tons, which was much more than what allowed, as with earlier Deutschlands that were officially only 10,000 tons, but over 16,000 tons in reality.
The launching ceremonies themselves paid tribute to their forebearers - the widows of the captains of the original Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, armoured cruisers that had been lost during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the First World War, performing the christening.
In outward appearance, they were considered beautiful ships, and they looked very similar to the following Bismarck class battleships, although they only had three main gun turrets to the Bismarck's four. Unlike the Bismarck class where the Bismarck had been sunk before having a chance to operate together with her sister ship, Tirpitz, both Gneisenau-class vessels saw combat action together for much of their careers, so they were nicknamed the "Twins". All of the ships were designed for an extended range to allow for commerce raiding.
The ships were built with nine 11 inch (280 mm) guns in three triple turrets, two forward and one aft. Although the number and firepower of guns were an improvement on the preceding Deutschland class, their overall main firepower was inferior to any Royal Navy or French capital ship of the time, although only slightly in some cases, having firepower almost comparable to that of the British Queen Elizabeth and Revenge class battleships 15 inch (380 mm) guns due to the high muzzle velocity of the modern guns.[1][2] The high muzzle velocity of the guns gave the relatively light-weight projectiles long range and good belt penetration power, at a cost of deck penetration power.[3].
If a later proposal to upgrade their main armament to six 15 inch (380 mm) guns in three twin turrets had been implemented, they would have been very formidable opponents, faster than any British capital ship and nearly as well armored. But due to other priorities and constraints imposed by World War II, they retained their 11 inch (280 mm) guns throughout their careers.
The class's military service started soon after the start of World War II, with Gneisenau and Scharnhorst hunting Allied convoys in North Sea. On 23 November 1939, while attempting to break through the Iceland Gap to attack Allied ships in the North Atlantic, the two ships were sighted by British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi. Although Rawalpindi was sunk after a short engagement, she had managed signal the German ships' location back to base, forcing them to return to Germany. The first major operations of the two ships against enemy warships were in the Norwegian campaign in 1940. Thereafter they acted as a constant threat to shipping and did sink a substantial tonnage of merchant vessels. They had the effect, even when in port, of tying down Royal Navy battleships in the convoy support role. They spent a while at Brest on the French Atlantic coast where they were in position to sortie against convoys bringing supplies and materiel from the US to Britain. Here they were exposed to attacks by air, and in the Channel Dash they sped through the English Channel to more protected anchorages in Northern Europe. Once there they were no longer a threat to the Atlantic convoys but they instead posed a deadly challenge to Arctic convoys carrying supplies from Britain to the Soviets through Murmansk.
Gneisenau was badly damaged during a British air raid in Kiel eleven days after Channel Dash and required extensive repairs. Scharnhorst moved further North to partner the Tirpitz, but was sunk after encountering a heavy RN force during an attack on a convoy in the "Battle of North Cape" 26 December 1943. During Gneisenau's repairs, moves were made to rearm the ship with 15 inch (380 mm) guns, but after the sinking of Scharnhorst all work was stopped and Gneisenau was sunk as a blockade ship in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in 1945, at the end of the war.
- ^ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_11-545_skc34.htm Navweaps.com data page for the 28 cm C/34 gun.
- ^ http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_15-42_mk1.htm
- ^ http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_11-545_skc34.htm Navweaps.com data page for the 28 cm C/34 gun
| Gneisenau class battlecruiser |
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| Gneisenau | Scharnhorst |
| List of battleships of Germany |
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|---|---|
| Battleships | Battlecruisers |
| Bismarck | Gneisenau |
| Pre-dreadnought battleships | Aircraft carrier |
| Deutschland | Graf Zeppelin |
| Light cruisers | Heavy cruisers |
| Emden | K | Leipzig | Deutschland | Admiral Hipper |
| Destroyers | |
| Type: 1934 | 1934A | 1936 | 1936A / 1936A (Mob) / Narvik | 1936B | |
| Torpedo boats | |
| Type: 1923 (Raubvogel) | 1924 (Raubtier) | 1935 | 1937 | 1939 (Elbing) | |
| U-boats (submarines) | |
| Type: I | II | VII | IX | X | XIV | XVIIB | XXI | XXII | XXIII | Uncompleted projects | |
| Other | |
| Auxiliary cruisers | |