SMS Gneisenau
SMS "Gneisenau" was an armored cruiser of the German navy, part of the two-ship . She was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was laid down in 1904 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and completed in March 1908, at a cost of over 19 million goldmarks. She was armed with a main battery of eight guns, had a top speed of , and displaced at full combat load.
German battleship Gneisenau
"Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst" operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During their first operation, the two ships sank the British auxiliary cruiser in a short battle. "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst" participated in Operation "Weserübung", the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser and sank the aircraft carrier . "Gneisenau" was damaged in the action with "Renown" and later torpedoed by a British submarine, , off Norway. After a successful raid in the Atlantic in 1941, "Gneisenau" and her sister put in at Brest, France. The two battleships were the subject of repeated bombing raids by the RAF; "Gneisenau" was hit several times during the raids, though she was ultimately repaired.