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''Scharnhorst'' was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine''. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, . The ship was built at the ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15 June 1935 and launched a year and four months later on 3 October 1936. Completed in January 1939, the ship was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets. Plans to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never carried out. ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During her first operation, ''Scharnhorst'' sank the auxiliary cruiser in a short engagement. ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' participated in Operation ''Weserübung'', the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser and sank the aircraft carrier as well as her escort destroyers and . In that engagement ''Scharnhorst'' achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history. In early 1942, after repeated British bombing raids, the two ships made a daylight dash up the English Channel from occupied France to Germany. In early 1943, ''Scharnhorst'' joined the in Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. ''Scharnhorst'' and several destroyers sortied from Norway to attack a convoy; the Germans were instead intercepted by British naval patrols. During the Battle of the North Cape, the Royal Navy battleship and her escorts sank ''Scharnhorst''. Only 36 men were pulled from the icy seas, out of a crew of 1,968. == Construction and characteristics == ''Scharnhorst'' was ordered as ''Ersatz Elsass'' as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought , under the contract name "D." The ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 16 July 1935. The ship was launched on 3 October 1936, witnessed by Adolf Hitler, Minister of War Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg, and the widow of ''Kapitän zur See'' Schultz, the commander of the armored cruiser , which had been sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands during World War I. Fitting-out out work followed her launch, and was completed by January 1939. ''Scharnhorst'' was commissioned into the fleet on 9 January for sea trials, which revealed a dangerous tendency to ship considerable amounts of water in heavy seas. This caused flooding in the bow and damaged electrical systems in the forward gun turret. As a result, she went back to the dockyard for extensive modification of the bow. The original straight stem was replaced with a raised "Atlantic bow." A raked funnel cap was also installed during the reconstruction, along with an enlarged aircraft hangar; the main mast was also moved further aft. The modifications were completed by November 1939, by which time the ship was finally fully operational. ''Scharnhorst'' displaced as built and fully loaded, with a length of , a beam of and a maximum draft of . She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines, which developed a total of and yielded a maximum speed of on speed trials. Her standard crew numbered 56 officers and 1,613 enlisted men, augmented during the war to 60 officers and 1,780 men. While serving as a squadron flagship, ''Scharnhorst'' carried an additional ten officers and 61 enlisted men. She was armed with nine 28 cm (11.1 in) L/54.5 guns arranged in three triple gun turrets: two turrets forward, one superfiring—Anton and Bruno—and one aft—Caesar. The design also enabled the ship to be up-gunned with six 15 inch guns which never took place. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) L/55 guns, fourteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen L/83, and initially ten anti-aircraft guns. The number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to thirty-eight. Six above-water torpedo tubes, taken from the light cruisers and , were installed in 1942. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German battleship Scharnhorst」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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