Gneisenau

Gneisenau at anchor, date and location unknown.

History

Design

With the commissioning of the last Deutschland-class vessel in 1936, the Kriegsmarine found itself in possession of warships that could outrun almost every ship that outgunned them, while being able to outgun almost every ship that could outrun them. The few exceptions to this were the British battlecruisers HMS Renown, HMS Repulse, and HMS Hood, and the Japanese battleships of the Kongo class. The entry of Deutschland and her sister ships into service led the French begin designing a new class of battlecruisers — the Dunkerque class — which would be larger, stronger, and faster.

Having learned the intended operational specifications of Dunkerque and her sisters, German designers began development on improved versions of the Deutschland-class, known as Panzerschiff D and Panzerschiff E. Shortly after, however, the French laid down Strasbourg, which was a more heavily-armored Dunkerque and would again outclass the nascent German designs. The Kriegsmarine responded by designing an even more powerful ship, this time with a third turret — to help overcome the difference in firepower between the two classes — a tougher armor scheme, and a stronger propulsion to allow high speeds.

This step was — strictly speaking — not entirely legal. The Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany from possessing any warship in excess of 10,000 tons displacement. With the new class being designed for a displacement in excess of 30,000 tons, they were in clear violation of their treaty obligations. Subsequently, Hitler reached out to Great Britain and initiated negotiations of a new Anglo-German Naval Treaty, which partially legitimized the construction of the new ships. Whether the treaty fully covered the legitimacy of the new ships remains topic of discussion even today.

The armament of these ships consisted of three triple turrets with 283mm guns, the same caliber as those found on the Deutschland class. However, these guns were modified to increase their performance: the barrel was lengthened, and the weight of the shell increased. Additionally, the reloading and hoist system saw an improvement to allow a faster rate of fire, with reloads of 17 seconds being achieved during trials. Despite these improvements, German command knew that the 283mm guns were not competitive against larger surface units and planned early on to replace these guns with more powerful 380m twin turrets (the same as would later be mounted on the Bismarck class). One of the reasons to not install the turrets from the get-go was to not provoke the ire of their British neighbors, as negotiations with them were ongoing.

The secondary armament was a mixed load out of twelve 150mm guns, mounted in four twin and four single mountings, and a dual purpose battery of seven twin 105mm guns. In 1942 — following the usage of these ships as merchant raiders — both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau received two triple torpedo launchers that had been removed from light cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig. The mid-range anti aircraft armament consisted of eight twin 37mm Flakzwilling 30, which were designed as a weapon against medium bombers; against mono planes, however, these guns would have limited effectiveness. Short range AA was provided by a steadily increasing number of 20mm guns in both single and quad mountings.

The propulsion was upgraded from the Deutschlands. Unlike the diesel propulsion of their immediate predecessors, the Scharnhorst class went back to traditional steam propulsion, able to crank out 125,000 shaft horsepower across three shafts; output could be pushed up to over 160,000 in times of great need. This gave the Scharnhorst class a design speed of 31 knots, with the highest noted speed being above 33 knots. A stern catapult would allow them to operate seaplanes for the purposes of scouting.

The protection of the Scharnhorst class was drastically improved. The main armor belt was 350mm thick, and behind it followed a 105-110mm strong turtleback, which would deflect shells away from the vitals at short combat ranges. The horizontal protection consisted of a 50mm strong main deck, and the vital areas had an additional 80-95mm strong armored deck.

During their service these ships saw several modifications. The most important ones were the addition of an Atlantic bow in 1939 to improve the seaworthiness, the removal of the optical rangefinders of the A-turret in 1941 due to the lenses being constantly coated with water, the aforementioned addition of triple-tube torpedo launchers in 1942, and the continual addition of radar and sensory equipment for the purpose of detecting and engaging opposing vessels.

Service

Gneisenau and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During their first operation, the two ships sank the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi in a short battle. Gneisenau and Scharnhorst participated in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. Gneisenau was damaged in the action with Renown and later torpedoed by a British submarine, HMS Clyde, off Norway. After a successful raid in the Atlantic in 1941, Gneisenau and her sister put in at Brest, France. The two battleships were the subject of repeated bombing raids by the RAF; Gneisenau was hit several times during the raids, though she was ultimately repaired.

In early 1942, the two ships made a daylight dash up the English Channel from occupied France to Germany. After reaching Kiel in early February, the ship went into drydock. On the night of 26 February, the British launched an air attack on the ship; one bomb penetrated her armored deck and exploded in the forward ammunition magazine, causing serious damage and a large number of casualties. The repairs necessitated by the damage were so time consuming that it was determined to rebuild the ship to accommodate the 38 cm guns as originally intended. The 28 cm guns were removed and used as shore batteries. In 1943, Hitler ordered the cessation of conversion work, and on 27 March 1945, she was sunk as a blockship in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in German-occupied Poland. She was eventually broken up for scrap in 1951.

Historical Inaccuracies

• Gneisenau’s original 283mm main battery guns are not available in-game. See Scharnhorst for the historical version.
• Hull (A) represents Gneisenau’s planned configuration after refitting with 38.0 cm SK C/34 main guns; these are the same 15-inch guns found on both Bismarck and Tirpitz. She and her sister Scharnhorst were to be fitted with them historically, but this upgrade never actually occurred. However, the tripod mast that had been constructed and planned to be fitted to Gneisenau aft of the hangar during her major refit is not present. This mast would take the same position as it does on Scharnhorst.
• Her historical secondary battery has been replaced by a hypothetical set of 12.8 cm KM40 guns on Hull (B). The tripod mast is still missing from this upgrade.
• Stock propulsion is fictitious. There was no 125,000 hp downgrade.

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  The wappen (coat of arms) of Gneisenau.

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  Gneisenau fitting out at Kiel, 1937.

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  Gneisenau during gun trials off Rugen Island in the Baltic Sea, summer 1938.

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  Gneisenau anchored at Kiel, May 1939.

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  Gneisenau anchored at Kiel, June 1939.

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  Gneisenau refueling off the Portugese coast, July 1939.

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  Gneisenau at sea, circa 1939.

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  Großadmiral Erich Raeder visiting Gneisenau in 1941 while she is inside the Laninon drydock number 9 in Brest, France.

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  Gneisenau as she appeared in February 1942.

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  Aerial reconnaissance photo of Gneisenau in dry dock, March 1942.

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  Gneisenau after her second bow alteration in 1942.

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  Gneisenau’s 283mm turret "Caesar" on display at Austrått Fort, Norway.

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  An SK C/28 150mm turret mounted as a shore battery. This type of turret was installed aboard Gneisenau.

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  The interior of an SK C/28 150mm turret, similar to one of those installed aboard Gneisenau.