Scharnhorst-class cruiser

The Second Naval Law in Germany, passed in 1900, projected a force of fourteen armored cruisers for both overseas service in Germany's colonial empire and as scouts for the main battle fleet in German waters. The naval expansion program was primarily directed against the British Royal Navy, then the world's preeminent naval force. Germany's armored cruiser force followed a series of iterative developments based on the cruiser and continued through the and es; the class represented the culmination of that evolutionary development. During the design process for the class, the of the Imperial Naval Office issued a request that the new cruisers be capable of fighting in the line of battle in the event that German battleships were damaged and unable to continue fighting. Up to this point, this had not been a consideration in German armored cruiser construction, and so a significant increase in both firepower and armor protection would be required to accommodate it. Additionally, firing tests with the belt armor used in previous German armored cruisers at the test-firing range at Meppen demonstrated that it was unable to defeat medium-caliber shells at expected battle ranges. The necessary improvements to meet the General Department's requirements in turn meant much larger ships, and the s were accordingly about heavier than the preceding -class cruisers, amounting to a 20% increase in displacement. The weight increase secured a doubling of the number of main battery guns, a 50% increase in belt armor, and an increase in top speed by more than a knot over the class. The speed increase was achieved by the addition of two boilers that provided more power for the propulsion system. Several other minor changes were introduced, including a strengthening of the tertiary battery of guns to the level used in contemporary battleships like the . The design staff considered adding a pair of these guns to the conning tower roof abreast of the bridge, but experience with the same arrangement on the s demonstrated the excessive blast effect interfered with control of the ships, and so those guns were removed in the design. As a result of these improvements, the two -class ships— and —were the first German armored cruiser design that compared favorably to its foreign counterparts, according to the historian Adrian Dodson. According to the naval historian David Lyon, speaking on all of the armored cruisers built in Germany in the early 1900s, "when compared to their British contemporaries they do not show up particularly well, in fact, with the possible exception of the last pair, and , it is probably true to say that the armored cruisers were Germany's worst designed and least battleworthy ships in service in 1905." General characteristics The ships of the class were long overall, and long at the waterline. They had a beam of , a draft of , and displaced standard, and at full load. The ships' hulls were constructed of transverse and longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plating was riveted. The vessels had 15 watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 50% of the length of the hull. Their hulls featured a pronounced ram bow and a whaleback-type forecastle. The upper deck extended from the forecastle up to the aft gun turret, where it stepped down to main deck level. The ships had a fairly minimal superstructure, consisting primarily of an armored conning tower forward, along with an open bridge, and a smaller, secondary conning tower aft. Both ships were fitted with a pair of heavy military masts. Like the preceding classes of armored cruisers, and were good sea boats, though the ships had superior seakeeping to the earlier vessels. They also maneuvered well and were responsive to the helm; steering was controlled with a single rudder. With the rudder turned to its maximum extent, the ships lost up to 60 percent of their speed, which was consistent with the previous German armored cruisers. The ships' design placed the casemates too low, and as a result they were exceedingly wet, which rendered them impossible to use in heavy seas. The ships had a standard crew of 38 officers and 726 enlisted men. When served as a squadron flagship, she had a larger crew, including an additional 14 officers and 62 men of the commanding admiral's staff. , when serving as the squadron deputy commander flagship, had an extra staff of 3 officers and 25 men. The ships carried a number of smaller vessels, including two picket boats, two launches, one pinnace, two cutters, three yawls, and one dinghy. The cruisers carried a pair of large cranes amidships to handle the boats. Propulsion machinery The -class ships used the same powerplant as in the preceding class: three 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines. Each engine drove a single propeller; the one on the center shaft on was in diameter while the outer two were wide. s screws were slightly smaller, at wide on the center shaft and on the outer pair. The triple expansion engines were supplied with steam by 18 coal-fired marine-type water-tube boilers with 36 fire boxes. The boilers were divided into five boiler rooms and were vented through four funnels located amidships. The engines were designed to provide , though on trials they achieved higher figures— for and for . The ships were rated at a top speed of , though on trials steamed at a maximum of , while ran at . The vessels carried of coal normally, though they were capable of storing up to of coal. This provided a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . When the ships decreased speed slightly to , the range increased to . The vessels' electrical plant consisted of four turbo-generators that delivered 260 kilowatts at 110 volts. Armament The ships' main battery armament consisted of eight SK L/40 guns, four in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the main superstructure on the centerline, and the remaining four were mounted in single casemates located amidships. The turrets were the C/01 type, which was hydraulically operated, and the mounts provided a range of elevation from -5 to +30 degrees. The casemates used electric motors to train the guns, but elevation was hand-operated. These guns fired a armor-piercing shell at a muzzle velocity of . The turrets had a maximum range of , while the casemates could only engage targets out to . The guns were supplied with 700 rounds in total. The secondary armament included six SK L/40 guns in individual casemates. These guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . They could be elevated to 30 degrees, which provided a maximum range of . For close-range defense against torpedo boats, the ships carried a tertiary battery of eighteen 8.8 cm SK L/35 guns, which were mounted in individual casemates and pivot mounts in the superstructure. The 8.8 cm guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . These guns had a maximum elevation of 25 degrees and a range of . As was customary for warships of the period, the -class ships were equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes. One was mounted in the bow, one on each broadside, and the fourth was placed in the stern. The ships were supplied with a total of eleven torpedoes. The C/03 torpedo carried a warhead and had a range of when set at a speed of and at . Armor The ships of the class were protected by Krupp armor, which was the typical choice for German warships of the period. They had an armor belt that was thick in the central portion of the ship, extending from abreast the forward conning tower to just aft of the rear tower, where the propulsion machinery areas were located. This was a significant increase in thickness over earlier German armored cruisers. The belt decreased to on either end of the central citadel; this extended all the way to the bow and almost completely to the stern, the extreme end of which was not armored. The entire belt was backed with teak planking. The main armored deck ranged in thickness from over critical areas and down to elsewhere. The deck sloped down to connect to the belt at its lower edge to provide additional resistance to incoming fire; this portion was between thick. The forward conning tower had thick sides and a thick roof. The rear conning tower was less well-armored, with sides that were only thick and a roof that was thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick sides and thick roofs, while the amidships guns were protected with thick gun shields and thick roofs. The barbettes that supported the turrets were thick. The 15 cm battery was protected by a strake of armor that was thick, while the guns themselves were protected with thick shields. ==Ships==

Upon commissioning, both ships of the class served with the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet, briefly serving as the flagship of I Scouting Group from mid-1908 to early 1909. During this period, they conducted routine training exercises, went on cruises with the rest of the fleet, and escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht on visits abroad. This included a major fleet cruise into the Atlantic Ocean in mid-1908. Early that year, was badly damaged after she ran aground, necessitating significant repairs. In early 1909, was assigned to the East Asia Squadron, and joined her there in 1910. served as the squadron flagship upon arriving in East Asia, replacing the older armored cruiser . Over the following four years, the two ships cruised through the region, visiting numerous foreign ports and representing German interests. In 1911, they both moved to China to protect German nationals during the Xinhai Revolution, but no attacks materialized. and were regarded as well-trained vessels; both ships won awards for their excellence at gunnery. By 1914, the squadron was commanded by Admiral Maximilian von Spee. World War I At the start of World War I on 28 July 1914, the two ships were in the Caroline Islands on a routine cruise; the rest of Spee's squadron was dispersed around the Pacific. The hostile attitude of Japan toward Germany convinced Spee to consolidate his force with the cruisers and from the American station, and head for Chile to refuel. The flotilla would then attempt to return to Germany via the Atlantic Ocean. Spee also intended to attack the three British cruisers under the command of Admiral Christopher Cradock, then cruising in South American waters, along with any British shipping encountered. On 22 September, and approached the island of Papeete in French Polynesia with the intention of seizing the coal stockpiled in the harbor. The ships conducted a short bombardment that resulted in the sinking of the old gunboat . However, Spee feared that the harbor had been mined, and decided to avoid the risk of entering the port to take the coal. The French had also set fire to the coal stocks to prevent the Germans from using it. Battle of Coronel on 3 November after the battle, and in the lead and following. In the middle distance are several vessels of the Chilean fleet.|alt=A group of large warships steaming slowly off a city. By late October, the East Asia Squadron had arrived off the coast of Chile; Spee had at his disposal the two s, Dresden, Leipzig, and the light cruiser . On 30 October, Spee received reports that one of Cradock's cruisers was at Coronel, Chile, and he decided to try to attack it. Instead, when the Germans arrived off the port, they encountered Cradock's entire squadron (less the old pre-dreadnought battleship , which had been left behind due to her slow speed). The two sides spotted each other at around 17:00. Because the German ships had an advantage in speed, Spee was able to keep the distance to 18 kilometers, before closing to to engage the British flotilla at 19:00. engaged the armored cruiser , scoring several hits and disabling most of her guns. then closed to point-blank range to attack Monmouth while joined her sister, which was engaged with the armored cruiser . hit Good Hope some 34 times; at least one of the shells penetrated Good Hopes ammunition magazines, which resulted in a tremendous explosion that destroyed the ship. In the meantime, Monmouth disappeared into the haze and then sank some time later. The British light cruiser and the auxiliary cruiser both escaped under the cover of darkness. The defeat was the first to be inflicted on the Royal Navy since the 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh. After news of the battle reached Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin, he ordered 300 Iron Crosses to be awarded to the men of Spee's squadron. Some six hours after news of the battle reached England, Fisher ordered Admiral John Jellicoe, the commander of the Grand Fleet, to detach the battlecruisers and to hunt down the German ships. Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee was placed in command of the flotilla, which also included the armored cruisers , , , and , and the light cruisers and Glasgow, which had survived Coronel. After refueling in Valparaiso, the East Asia Squadron departed to resume its voyage around South America, capturing merchant vessels along the way. As the squadron entered the South Atlantic, Spee made the decision to attack the British naval base in the Falkland Islands to destroy the British wireless transmitter located there. Battle of the Falkland Islands Sturdee's ships reached the Falklands by the morning of 8 December, shortly before Spee's squadron arrived. and were sent to reconnoiter the port and attack British facilities, while the rest of the squadron stood out to sea. The British spotted the East Asia Squadron at 09:40; Spee was unaware that the British had sent the two battlecruisers, and when he observed them, he ordered his ships to withdraw. Despite the head start, the fast battlecruisers quickly caught up with the worn-out German ships, which had just completed a 16,000 mile voyage without repairs, and were no longer capable of their best speeds. Once he had determined that he would not be able to outrun his pursuers, Spee turned his two armored cruisers around to try to delay them long enough for the light cruisers to escape, though Sturdee had foreseen this maneuver and detached his cruisers to chase the German light cruisers while Invincible and Inflexible remained focused on and . At approximately 13:20, the battlecruisers opened fire at a range of . In the course of the battle, Spee repeatedly attempted to outmaneuver Sturdee to either close the range where his own guns would be effective against the battlecruisers, or escape into haze; he failed in both efforts. By 16:15, was dead in the water and listing heavily; she sank shortly thereafter. then came under heavy fire from both battlecruisers and Carnarvon,and by 17:30, was burning badly after having been hit more than 50 times, many of them at close range. The captain ordered the ship be scuttled, and the crew gave three cheers for the Kaiser before the vessel sank. and were also sunk, though managed to escape temporarily, before she too was destroyed off Juan Fernández Island. Some 2,200 men were killed, among them Spee. == Notes ==