


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. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship Gneisenau. Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship or battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Scharnhorst immer voran ( Scharnhorst ever onward) Gerhard Johann von Scharnhorst (1755–1813)
