The Ships of Battlegroup: Germany Gneisenau (BC)

Displacement	31,850 tons	Belt Armor	6.7 to 13.8 inches
Overall Length	753 feet	Deck Armor	4 inches
Beam	98 feet	Main Turret Armor	14.2 inches
Speed	32 knots	Main Guns	9 × 11″

Originally planned as additional "pocket battleships", the weaknesses of that type of ship led to a complete enlargement and redesign intended to match the French Dunkerque battlecruiser class then being constructed. Laid down on May 3, 1935, launched on December 8, 1936 and commissioned in May 1938, she was the sister ship of the Scharnhorst . The ship was named after Field Marshal August Wilhelm Anton Gneisenau (1760–1831). Following Prussia’s defeat by Napoleon (1769–1820) in 1806, he worked closely with General Gerhard von Scharnhorst (1755–1813) to reform the army. He was later Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher’s (1742–1819) chief of staff from 1813 through 1815, including the Battle of Waterloo.

The ship carried a main armament of nine 11 inch main guns mounted in two centerline superfiring triple turrets forward and one aft. Quoted as being a 26,000 vessel, the small publicized tonnage and relatively puny 11-inch guns were a sop to British fears. Secretly, the gun mounts were designed to be capable of being up-gunned to twin 15 inch turrets. Indeed this refit was underway for Gneisenau with the 11 inch triple turrets being removed starting November 1942 and being emplaced in the Netherlands and Norway as shore batteries. The work was later cancelled and the hulk towed to Gotenhafen (Gydnia in modern Poland) and eventually scuttled as a block ship in 1945.

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for most of the early part of the war and became known as "The Twins". In April 1940, during the German invasion of Norway, the pair ran into British battlecruiser Renown and Gneisenau took three 15 inch hits that failed to cause serious damage. On a more successful note, the pair caught the British aircraft carrier Glorious with only two destroyers for escort off the Norwegian coast on June 8, 1940 and sank the whole lot. Later, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst (along with heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen ) participated in the celebrated "Channel Dash" (Operation "Cerberus") in February 1942, when they steamed successfully through the English Channel from Brest, France. Nicknamed "Glückstein" by the RAF.

For other "battlecruisers" that served in World War II, see: Guam, Haruna, Hiei, Hood, Kirishima, Kongo and Repulse .

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for the culprits.