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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the GERMAN NAVY --

Scharnhorst (Armored Cruiser, 1907-1914)

Scharnhorst, a 11,616-ton armored cruiser built at Hamburg, Germany, was commissioned in October 1907. After her initial service, she generally was assigned abroad. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, Scharnhorst was the German flagship in the Far East. For nearly five months, she and her consorts in the squadron led by Vice Admiral von Spee conducted a campaign in the Pacific ocean against Germany's enemies. This included a lopsided victory over a British cruiser force in the Battle of Coronel, off the west coast of South America on 1 November 1914. Five weeks later, on 8 December 1914, von Spee's squadron encountered a greatly superior British force, including the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, when it attempted to attack Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands. In the running gunfire action that followed, Scharnhorst was sunk with the admiral and her entire crew.

This page features our only views of the German armored cruiser Scharnhorst.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 46837

SMS Scharnhorst
(German armored cruiser, 1907-1914)

Photographed by Arthur Renard, 30 Brunswickerstrasse, Kiel, possibly while running trials. The ship entered service on 24 October 1907.
This print was received by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence on 7 May 1908.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59638

German Vice Admiral von Spee's cruiser squadron


Leaving Valparaiso, Chile, circa 3 November 1914, following the Battle of Coronel. The German ships are in the distance, with the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the lead, followed by light cruiser Nürnberg.
Chilean Navy warships in the middle distance include (from left to right): cruisers Esmeralda, O'Higgins and Blanco Encalda and old battleship Capitan Prat.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 485 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 15 March 2001