Scharnhorst-class cruiser

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The Scharnhorst class was a class of armored cruisers built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The ships were the culmination of a series of designs that began with the cruiser Prinz Heinrich. The class comprised two ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which were built between 1904 and 1908. They were about 20% larger than the Roon-class cruisers that preceded them. The increase in size permitted an increase in the main armament of 21 cm (8.2 inch) guns from four to eight and to improve armor protection and raise top speed. As a result of these changes, historians have assessed the Scharnhorst class to be the first German armored cruiser design to reach equality with their foreign counterparts. After briefly serving in home waters, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were assigned to the East Asia Squadron in 1909 and 1910, respectively. Scharnhorst relieved the old armored cruiser Fürst Bismarck as the squadron flagship. While in East Asia, the two Scharnhorst-class cruisers patrolled the region to protect German interests, including during the Xinhai Revolution in China. Both ships had short careers; after the outbreak of World War I, they departed East Asia and crossed the Pacific with the rest of the East Asia Squadron in an attempt to return home, bombarding the French town of Papeete on the way. After arriving off the coast of South America, the ships destroyed a British force at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914 and inflicted upon the Royal Navy its first major defeat in a century. The defeat spurred the British to send superior forces to hunt down and destroy the East Asia Squadron. Most of the squadron, including both Scharnhorst-class ships, was annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December.