Scharnhorst-Class Battleship Model — Handcrafted, 30 in
Scharnhorst-Class Battleship Model — Handcrafted, 30 in
How big is it?
Length about 76 cm / 30.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 30 in / 76 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM449
Germany's fast battleships — the ships that made the Channel Dash, at 30 inches.
Specification
- 30 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Triple main turrets, secondary armament and deck fittings
- Masts, rangefinders, catapult and boats
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
History
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were fast, well-armoured and deliberately under-gunned — nine 28cm guns where a comparable battleship carried 38cm. The intention was always to refit them with heavier weapons, and it never happened.
In February 1942 both ships sailed from Brest straight up the English Channel in daylight, past the Royal Navy and the RAF, and reached Germany. The British press called it the most mortifying failure of naval power in home waters since the seventeenth century.
Scharnhorst was caught off the North Cape on 26 December 1943 by a British force led by HMS Duke of York and sunk in an Arctic winter night. Thirty-six men survived out of nearly two thousand.