Germany - Scharnhorst-class Battleship (redux)

[heuhen]

I'm still trying to lift my jaw

[maomatic]

Hi,

I (think I) finally finished my series on the Scharnhorst:

August 1939
Only a few months after her commissioning, Scharnhorst saw an extensive refit.
Most notably, she recieved an "Atlantic"-bow, a larger aircraft hangar, a funnel cap and a new tripod mainmast.
For reasons unknown, the centerline aft 105mm gun mounting was changed from a Dopp L C/31gE to a Dopp L C/31d.




April - May 1940
Scharnhorst during Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway.
Lessons learned after the friendly fire incident leading to the sinking of Z 1 and Z 3 in February 1940, lead the Kriegsmarine to adopt a system of clearly visible air recognition markings on the turret tops and large Swastikas on the forecastle and quarterdeck. She is shown here with the different coloured markings, that she wore during this campaign.

Scharnhorst also received some minor upgrades in the months prior to Weserübung:

In November 1939, a FuMO 22 Radar was installed on her main 10.5m rangefinder.

The catapult on C-turret was removed in early 1940. Due to its weight and awkward position, it had proven to cause difficulties, both when operating the turret and the catapult itself. The adverse effects of the gun blast on the aircraft and the presence of extremely flammable aircraft fuel directly on top of the turret also played a role in this decision.
Because it caused excessive vibrations, the bow anchor was removed in September 1939.




June 1940
Scharnhorst is shown during Operation Juno. She and her sister Gneisenau sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her escorting destroyers HMS Acasta and Ardent on 8 June 1940. During the battle, Scharnhorst was hit by a torpedo launched from the valiantly fighting HMS Acasta. Fifty sailors were killed, 2.500t of water flooded her and turret C was put out of action.

An antimagnetic degaussing cable "MES"-Schleife (magnetischer Eigenschutz - magnetic self-protection) was added along her hull in mid-1940. It neutralized the ships magnetic field and offered protection against magnetic mines to some degree.




December 1940
The damages sustained in Operation Juno, forced Scharnhorst to return to Trondheim for emergency repairs. She reached Kiel on 23 June and was dry docked. She remained there under repair for most of the rest of 1940.

She is shown here during trials and painted in a rather unusal "Baltic"-camouflage scheme.




February 1942
The next drawing depicts Scharnhorst during the "channel dash" - Operation "Cerberus", with her paint job having seen better days...

Note the increased number of 20mm guns with a temporarily fitted Flakvierling in army mount atop of B-turret.

Her Radars were upgraded:
The FuMO 22 was changed to a FuMO 27 with the antenna on the foretop staying the same. A second set was mounted on the aft 10.5m rangefinder.
Multiple passive FuMB Ant 4 "Sumatra" antennae were installed in January 1942 and a FuMB Ant 7 "Timor" was fitted on the backside of the foretop rangefinder hut.
The latter can not be seen on the drawing, though.

During her stay in Brest, a pair of triple 533 mm torpedo tubes originating from the light cruiser "Nürnberg" were installed amidships.




March 1943
Scharnhorst shown during Operation Paderborn, her succsessful transfer from Gotenhafen to Norway in early 1943.

Her Radar equipment received further changes:
The hut on the main rangefinder was changed and the FuMB Ant 7 "Timor" was placed underneath the FuMO antenna.
Also, a Passive FuMB Ant 6 "Palau" detector was fitted atop the aft rangefinder.




December 1943
Scharnhorsts final appearance during Operations "Sizilien" and "Ostfront".

She was sunk on 26 December 1943 during the Battle of the North Cape by superior British forces led by the battleship HMS Duke of York.
1.932 members of her crew perished - only 36 survived.

A FuMO 26 Radar replaced the FuMO 27 and FuMB 7 in November 1943. Two passive FuMB Ant 3 "Bali" detectros were added to both mast tops.

Since my sources on this elaborate camouflage-scheme were differing in many details, I tried my best to match the different sides of it to the available photos. Take it with the usual grain of salt, though! Also note, that I left out the Swastikas on the top-view.




P.S.:
I made some corrections to the January 1939 drawing and edited the first post.

cheers!
maomatic

[BB1987]

Fantastic work

[heuhen]

I'm not going to check the drawing! it's just to much

rely good work

[emperor_andreas]

Somehow 'awesome' doesn't even come close to describing this series. Amazing job, my friend!

[Hood]

Impressive doesn't even begin to cover this. The paint job on the Feb 1942 drawing looks amazing, let alone all the other drawings!

[maomatic]

Thanks for the kind comments!


A few bonus drawings that I already posted on the discord, but are not necessarily for the archive.
I guess I'll post them anyway:


A drawing of Scharnhorst together with Z 15 Erich Steinbrinck in Norway.

It is based on a well known photo. Always wanted to replicate this! Link to the photo below:
https://www.historyphotos.org/wp-conten ... 5ennYZppZo


Since someone on the discord was interested in a ships rigging, I drew Scharnhorsts rigging with the respective antennae designations as an example.



Scharnhorst in late 1942. My sources only show her port side. I suppose the starboard side was similar, but I didn't want to take a guess.


cheers!
maomatic

[dc1]

Amazing drawings

[emperor_andreas]

Incredible work, especially the overlay artwork with Z-15!

[eswube]

Truly awesome work!