Scharnhorst B

Ballistics

Armor Model

Overview

Scharnhorst, the lead ship of its class, was built at the Wilhelmshaven shipyards. Almost immediately after entering service, the ship returned to the shipyard, where the straight stem was replaced by an 'Atlantic' bow. With the start of World War II, the battleship, together with the sister ship Gneisenau, began active participation in raid operations. In February 1940, the battleship raided the Shetland Islands; in April, it covered the invasion of Denmark and Norway. In June, as a result of Operation Juno, the battleships sank the British aircraft carrier Glorious. In early 1941, Scharnhorst participated in Operation Berlin—a raid into the Atlantic, during which several British merchant ships were sunk. After repairs, the ship moved to Norway to attack Arctic convoys supplying the USSR. During an attack on a convoy on December 26, 1943, Scharnhorst sustained heavy damage from the British battleship Duke of York and was subsequently sunk by torpedoes from the cruisers Jamaica and Belfast.