German Battleship Gneisenau COBI 4835 - World War II

You know that:

• The construction of the ship started at the Deutche Werke shipyard on 6 May 1935, thus creating the Scharnhorst class of battleships.
• The completed and armed ship was commissioned on 21 May 1938.
• The German Kriegsmarine named the vessel after the Prussian General August von Gneisenau, a participant in the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo.
• The experience of the German Navy from the First World War was used to the maximum during the construction of the ship. The wedge shape, very strong armour and high speed made the cruiser a formidable opponent. 
• In long-range firefights, enemy shells slid down the sloping armour without causing any damage to the vessel. At shorter ranges, the ship was already vulnerable, but the crew tried to avoid such engagements at all costs.
• Gneisenau was one of the first warships ever to be equipped with the FuMO 22 radar, which was actually fatal to her in the end.
• After successful cruises in the North Atlantic waters in 1942, the ship, under the command of the newly appointed Captain Wolfgang Kähler, sailed to the docks in Brest for necessary repairs. Fearing betrayal during the daring passage through the British-French channel, the captain ordered the radar to be turned off, and the blind ship thus failed to detect the presence of Allied vessels, which reported the location to the British RAF. The bombers eventually severely damaged the Gneisenau and sister ship Scharnhorts in Brest itself.
• The damaged ship was towed to Gottenhaven where it was to be repaired and rearmed, but Hitler, unhappy with the Kriegsmarine's performance, stopped trusting the navy and halted the repairs.
• The famous ship thus infamously ended up at the bottom of Gottenhaven harbour, where it was sunk by the Germans themselves to block the entrance to the harbour.
• Until the sinking in 1945, a total of five captains had been on board
• The ship was recovered and scrapped in 1947.

Technical parameters:

• dimensions: length 234.9 m, width 30 m, draught 9.9 m
• displacement 38 700 tonnes
• armouring sides 70-350 mm, main deck 50 mm, armoured deck 20-105 mm, gun turrets 360 mm, conning tower 350 mm
• propulsion unit 12x DeSchiMAG high-pressure boiler, 3x Germania steam turbine of 122 040 kW with power transmission to 3 propellers of 4.8 m diameter
• maximum speed 57 km/h
• range 11 500 km
• armament 9x 280 mm gun + 12x 150 mm + 14x 105 mm + 16x 37 mm anti-aircraft gun and 10 x 20 mm gun
• torpedoes 6x Type II of 533 mm calibre
• installed aerial catapult for Arado Ar 196 reconnaissance aircraft
• crew of 1 669 sailors