German battleship Gneisenau
1936 Scharnhorst-class battleship
Gneisenau (German pronunciation: [ˈɡnaɪ̯zənaʊ̯]) was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included her sister ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935 and launched on 8 December 1936. Her outfitting was completed in May 1938: she was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets. At one point after construction had started, a plan had been approved to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets, but when it was realized that this would involve a lot of redesign, that plan was abandoned, and construction continued with the originally planned lower-calibre guns. The upgrade had been intended to be completed in the winter of 1940–41, but instead, due to the outbreak of World War II, that work was stopped.
Gneisenau and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, for example making sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant ships. During their first operation, the two ships sank the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi in a short battle. Gneisenau and Scharnhorst also participated in the German invasion of Norway: Operation Weserübung. During operations off the coast of Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious.
The public source identifies “German battleship Gneisenau” as 1936 Scharnhorst-class battleship. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around German, battleship and Gneisenau.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “German battleship Gneisenau”, the useful work is to connect “1936 Scharnhorst-class battleship” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q156903. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1935, 1936, 1938 and 1940.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “German battleship Gneisenau”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow German battleship Gneisenau primary sources, German battleship Gneisenau archive and German research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “German battleship Gneisenau”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “German battleship Gneisenau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.