 SMS Scharnhorst
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Scharnhorst-class cruiser |
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | Roon class |
| Succeeded by | SMS Blücher |
| Built | 1905–1908 |
| In service | 1907–1914 |
| Lost | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement | 12,985 t (12,780 long tons) full load |
| Length | 144.60 m (474 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 21.60 m (70 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 8.37 m (27 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 22.7 knots (42 km/h) |
| Crew |
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| Armament |
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| Armor | |
The Scharnhorst class was the last class of traditional armored cruisers built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The class comprised two ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They were larger than the Roon-class cruisers 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 cruisers to reach equality with their British counterparts.[1] 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 Fürst Bismarck 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 Qingdao. 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.[2] The East Asia Squadron, including both Scharnhorst-class ships, was subsequently annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December.