Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The last armored cruiser of the Imperial Navy...
On March 22, 1906, Blohm & Voss launched a new "Großer Kreuzer" (as the Germans call their armored cruisers) of the Imperial Navy...:
The ship is christened by a great-granddaughter of the Prussian field marshal of the wars of liberation against Napoleon, Gerhard von Scharnhorst...:
SMS "Scharnhorst" is the second - structurally identical - ship of this class and resembles the somewhat older sister ship SMS "Gneisenau" - built at the Imperial Shipyard in Kiel...
...like one egg in the other.
In order to be able to differentiate at all in the manoeuvre, "Scharnhorst" will in future have the two boat cranes amidships aft...
... and "Gneisenau" lash forwards (see photo above)!
"Scharnhorst" is (like Gneisenau) 144.6 meters long, 21.5 meters wide and, fully equipped with ammunition, displaces 12,985 tons.
The crew strength on "Gneisenau" is 764 men, on "Scharnhorst" it is significantly more, because the ship is intended as a flagship, for which additional personnel are needed: 838 officers and sailors serve there.
Both ships can reach 23.5 kn (44 km/h) top speed (but not for long!) and carry a highly motley hodgepodge of weapons on board:
8 × Sk 21.0 cm L/40 (700 rounds)
6 × Sk 15.0 cm L/40 (1,020 rounds)
18 × Sk 8.8 cm L/35 (2,700 rounds)
4 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45.0 cm (1 bow, 2 sides, 1 stern, underwater, 11 rounds)
Both have armor protection as armored cruisers, of course - with 300 mm, only the protection of the conning tower and the heavy artillery turrets (150 mm) are worth mentioning.
"Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" are the last two armored cruisers that the Imperial Navy put into service, as they have now recognized this class of ship as a constructive mistake!
For what was then called "cruiser warfare" - actions against enemy merchant ships in distant areas, they are too large, technically too complex and consume too much coal!
Small cruisers (such as SMS "Emden"), which are cheaper, faster and more effective, can do this better.
For a real naval battle with enemy units, on the other hand, armored cruisers are too weakly armored and therefore unusable!
(The British, however, continue to build armored cruisers and will lose many of them in the First World War!)
But since the "Scharnhorst" is now in place, after it was put into service (October 24, 1907) the official role of each newbuild as an escort ship for the imperial yacht SMS "Hohenzollern" in the traditional parade paint job follows:
Hull white with a narrow circumferential red stripe at main deck level, superstructure and funnels ochre, funnel caps black, artillery tubes and protective shields white.
On May 1, 1908, the parade role ended and "Scharnhorst" became the flagship of the Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces (B.d.A.) of the High Seas Fleet.
"Gneisenau" also serves in the same formation, the crew of which is excellently trained and has twice won the Imperial Fleet Prize in artillery shooting.
On April 1, 1909, "Scharnhorst" was detached to the "East Asian Station" and stationed as the flagship of the East Asian cruiser squadron at the German base in Tsingtau.
Two years later (March 14, 1911) "Gneisenau" is also moved there:
Their task: "Show the flag", "Protect German interests", fight uprisings in the Pacific colonies of the Germans.
This happens multiple times.
When war broke out in 1914, both ships were in Ponape (Micronesia) - and since their home base in Tsingtau was taken by the Japanese shortly thereafter, they no longer had a base.
**continued next post**
On March 22, 1906, Blohm & Voss launched a new "Großer Kreuzer" (as the Germans call their armored cruisers) of the Imperial Navy...:
The ship is christened by a great-granddaughter of the Prussian field marshal of the wars of liberation against Napoleon, Gerhard von Scharnhorst...:
SMS "Scharnhorst" is the second - structurally identical - ship of this class and resembles the somewhat older sister ship SMS "Gneisenau" - built at the Imperial Shipyard in Kiel...
...like one egg in the other.
In order to be able to differentiate at all in the manoeuvre, "Scharnhorst" will in future have the two boat cranes amidships aft...
... and "Gneisenau" lash forwards (see photo above)!
"Scharnhorst" is (like Gneisenau) 144.6 meters long, 21.5 meters wide and, fully equipped with ammunition, displaces 12,985 tons.
The crew strength on "Gneisenau" is 764 men, on "Scharnhorst" it is significantly more, because the ship is intended as a flagship, for which additional personnel are needed: 838 officers and sailors serve there.
Both ships can reach 23.5 kn (44 km/h) top speed (but not for long!) and carry a highly motley hodgepodge of weapons on board:
8 × Sk 21.0 cm L/40 (700 rounds)
6 × Sk 15.0 cm L/40 (1,020 rounds)
18 × Sk 8.8 cm L/35 (2,700 rounds)
4 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45.0 cm (1 bow, 2 sides, 1 stern, underwater, 11 rounds)
Both have armor protection as armored cruisers, of course - with 300 mm, only the protection of the conning tower and the heavy artillery turrets (150 mm) are worth mentioning.
"Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" are the last two armored cruisers that the Imperial Navy put into service, as they have now recognized this class of ship as a constructive mistake!
For what was then called "cruiser warfare" - actions against enemy merchant ships in distant areas, they are too large, technically too complex and consume too much coal!
Small cruisers (such as SMS "Emden"), which are cheaper, faster and more effective, can do this better.
For a real naval battle with enemy units, on the other hand, armored cruisers are too weakly armored and therefore unusable!
(The British, however, continue to build armored cruisers and will lose many of them in the First World War!)
But since the "Scharnhorst" is now in place, after it was put into service (October 24, 1907) the official role of each newbuild as an escort ship for the imperial yacht SMS "Hohenzollern" in the traditional parade paint job follows:
Hull white with a narrow circumferential red stripe at main deck level, superstructure and funnels ochre, funnel caps black, artillery tubes and protective shields white.
On May 1, 1908, the parade role ended and "Scharnhorst" became the flagship of the Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces (B.d.A.) of the High Seas Fleet.
"Gneisenau" also serves in the same formation, the crew of which is excellently trained and has twice won the Imperial Fleet Prize in artillery shooting.
On April 1, 1909, "Scharnhorst" was detached to the "East Asian Station" and stationed as the flagship of the East Asian cruiser squadron at the German base in Tsingtau.
Two years later (March 14, 1911) "Gneisenau" is also moved there:
Their task: "Show the flag", "Protect German interests", fight uprisings in the Pacific colonies of the Germans.
This happens multiple times.
When war broke out in 1914, both ships were in Ponape (Micronesia) - and since their home base in Tsingtau was taken by the Japanese shortly thereafter, they no longer had a base.
**continued next post**
