Construction
Scharnhorst was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany in 1905, under construction number 175. She was launched on 23 March 1906, and commissioned into the fleet a year and a half later on 24 October 1907. The ship cost the German government 20,319,000 goldmarks. The ship had been designed for service with the High Seas Fleet, though they were found to be too weak for service with the battle fleet; instead they were deployed overseas, a role in which they performed well.
Scharnhorst was 144.6 meters (474 ft) long overall, and had a beam of 21.6 m (71 ft), a draft of 8.37 m (27 ft 6 in). The ship displaced 11,616 metric tons (11,433 long tons; 12,804 short tons) standard, and 12,985 t (12,780 long tons; 14,314 short tons) at full load. Scharnhorst's crew consisted of 52 officers and 788 enlisted men; of these, 14 officers and 62 enlisted men were assigned to the squadron commander's staff, and were additional to the standard complement.
Scharnhorst's primary armament consisted of eight 21 cm (8.2 inch) SK L/40 guns, four in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the main superstructure, and the remaining four were mounted in single wing turrets. Secondary armament included six 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns in MPL casemates, and eighteen 8.8 cm (3.45 inch) guns mounted in casemates. She was also equipped with four 44 cm (17 in) submerged torpedo tubes. One was mounted in the bow, one on each broadside, and the fourth was placed in the stern.
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