Battleships of the Scharnhorst Class: The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau: the Backbone of the Paperback – Illustrated, 30 August 2014

I bought this book as a 95th Birthday gift for my Great Uncle who was not only a Kriegsmarine, but also had family who was crew of the Scharnhorst. My great uncles first cousin was Corvette Captain Rolf-Wilhelm Woytschekowsky-Emden of the Scharnhorst. He recalled the last time he saw the Scharnhorst leaving port in Norway and what a beautiful ship it was. With no real reference to the details my great uncle would describe to me, I decided to purchase this book for him. I sat with him for over 5 hours we went through the book. We drank a pot of coffee, half a bottle of Asbach and ate a fresh mohnstrudel, while I listened to his stories of being a cadet officer in the Kriegsmarine. His detailed recollection of not only the Scharnhorst as he pointed out in the book but the other ships of the Kriegsmarine was astounding! From his training on the Prinz Eugen to his short duty on the Tirpitz followed by his transfer to the German Army, all sounded as if he was speaking of events that happened yesterday and not 80 years ago! This was the second book in the series that I have purchased for my great uncle, the first one being, Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class. I plan on buying the rest of the series of books from this author and look forward to many more long discussion with my great uncle.

This series of books is still good for the information

As advertised it arrived in excellent condition!! Though these ships were classified as Battle Cruisers cause of their light armor plating, they still maintained the main armament of 11 inch guns (28cm/L54.5-C34), which to some were classified as Battleships!! The photos in the book were very informative and showing each ship's actions from launching to their fates!! I liked the history of the military men from which each ship were named after!! The statistics of each ship's armament, weight, armor, fire control system, equipment (air craft) and the complement (crews/ personnel) was a special feature I liked! The scale plans showed the compartmentation but the footnotes explaining each feature were unreadable!!! However, the book is still informative and as such a valuable addition to my collection!!

Great book.

I purchased this book to check my own translation of wartime German records documenting the RAF attacks on both battleships in Brest harbor during April 1941. I was pleasantly surprised to find the authors used the same primary sources. Indeed, their entire book is based on German wartime records, to include photographs. This is an exceptionally useful source, divided 50/50 between both vessels. The last minutes of the Scharnhorst, however, are less well documented because she was sunk by British warships with very few survivors in late 1943. Highly recommended for those with specific naval interests. Editing and translating definitely above average.