Gneisenau Battlecruiser
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Specifications
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Gneisenau was a famous World
War II 31,100 ton Gneisenau class battlecruiser
of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second
to carry the name of the Prussian general August
von Gneisenau; the first was the World War I armored
cruiser SMS Gneisenau, destroyed near the Falkland
Islands in 1914.
Gneisenau, originally listed as Panzerschiff ("Armored Ship") E, she was planned to be enlarged "pocket battleship". She usually sailed into battle accompanied by her sistership, the equally famous Scharnhorst. |
| Ordered | January 25, 1934 |
| Laid down | May 6, 1935 |
| Launched | December 8, 1936 |
| Commissioned | May 21, 1938 |
| Decommissioned | |
| Fate | Sunk as blockship in Gotenhafen, 23 March 1945 |
| Displacement | 31,500 tonnes (standard) 38,900 tonnes (full load) |
| Length | 235 m (772ft) overall 226 m (741.5ft) waterline |
| Beam | 30 m (98.4ft) |
| Draft | 9.69 m (31 ft 9 in.) at 37,303 tons |
| Armament | Nine 280 mm (11 in) (3x3) Twelve 150 mm (5.9 in) (4x2, 4x1) Fourteen 105 mm (4.1 in) AA (7x2) Sixteen 37 mm AA (8x2) Ten 20 mm AA (later Sixteen) Six 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes |
| Armor | Main belt: 350 mm (13.78 in) |
| Aircraft | 3 Arado Ar 196A-3, 1 catapult |
| Propulsion | 3 Germania geared turbines with single
reduction 3 three-bladed propellers, 4.8 m (15 9 inch) diameter 151,893 shp = 33 kts |
| Range | 8,400 nm at 19 kts |
| Complement | 1,669 (56 officers, 1613 enlisted) |
| See Also |