The battleships of the Scharnhorst Class were the German response to the French battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg. The smallest modern battleships built, their main battery consisted of 9 x 28cm guns in three turrets, two forward and one aft. These ships had a very low freeboard and took a lot of seawater forward when steaming a high speeds. The adoption of the atlantic bow didn't do much to improve their seakeeping capability.

Scharnhorst Class
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commd.	Fate
SCHARNHORST	Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven	15.06.1935	03.10.1936	07.01.1939	Sunk after battle off North Cape 26.12.1943
GNEISENAU	Deutsche Werke, Kiel	06.05.1935	08.12.1936	21.05.1938	Decommissioned 01.07.1942 Scuttled in Gotenhafen 27.03.1945