Scharnhorst and Gneisenau participated in Operation Weserubung, the German invasion of Norway. During her first operation, Scharnhorst sank the auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi in a short engagement. 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. Plans to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never carried out. 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.

The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven she was laid down on June 15th, 1935, and launched a year and four months later on October 3rd, 1936.

She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine.

DeAgostini DAKS02 German Kriegsmarine Scharnhorst Class Battleship - DKM Scharnhorst (1:1250 Scale) 'For a captain with a sense of honor,' he wrote in his suicide note, 'it goes without saying that his personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship.' - Captain Hans Langsdorff, commander of the Admiral Graf Spee, in his suicide note

World of warships scharnhorst review