GERMAN BATTLE CRUISER GNEISENAU

Gneisenau was a German battleship, also classified as a battleship, with the keel laid in 1935 and launched in December 1936. The battleship entered the rope service in the German Navy (German Kriegsmarine) in May 1938. The ship was 235 m long, 30 m wide, and had a full displacement of 38,900 tons. The top speed of Gneisenau was around 30-31 knots. The main armament was 9 280 mm guns in three triple turrets, and the secondary armament included: 12 150 mm guns or 14 105 mm guns. Gneisenau was the second Scharnhorst class ship. It was ordered to replace in line the old battleship Hessen, completely obsolete in the 1930s. Gneisenau undoubtedly towered above any British heavy cruiser, and at the same time was clearly inferior to the artillery firepower of the Royal Navy battleships. This fact should not come as a surprise, as the ship was built primarily for cruiser service - so it was not to engage in open combat with British heavy ships, but rather to fight British merchant shipping, which was well suited to. Shortly after launching, Gneisenau underwent modernization consisting in increasing its seaworthiness, changing the chimney profile and minor changes to the electrical installation. The baptism of battleship Gneisenau took place in April 1940, when it supported the landing of German forces in Norway. Two months later he was instrumental in sinking the British carrier HMS Glorious. From December 1940 to March 1941 - together with his twin Scharnhorst - he performed a cruising service in the Atlantic, during which he sank 8 merchant ships. In February 1942, together with Scharnhorst and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, he had to flee from the British bombing of Berest to Kiel, during this voyage he was seriously damaged. Shortly thereafter, the damage was increased by a British bombing raid on Kiel. The battleship was then towed to Gdynia. In July 1942 - in the face of very heavy damage - a decision was made to withdraw the ship from service. The ship was sunk by the Germans in March 1945 at the exit from the port in Gdynia. By 1951, the entire wreckage of the battleship was dismantled or recovered from the sea.