Military Model Scene

Title: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
Author: Daniel Knowles
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN: 978-1-78155-887-4

Another excellent naval history book from author Daniel Knowles and publishers Fonthill Media. A 256-page hard-cover book, with the histories of the sister ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
As detailed in the opening chapters, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were the second largest battleships in Hitler's Kriegsmarine, with only Buimarck and Tirpitz being bigger. There is the background to their construction, and details of their designs, including armour, engines, armament, aircraft, radar etc, and even issues with being rather 'wet' ships, a situation which was improved by the addition of an 'Atlantic Bow'. Then once war had begun, there is the story of the unequal between the Scharnhorst and the armed merchant cruiser 'HMS Rawalpindi'. Also in the battles off the coast of Norway, the sinking of the Royal Navy carrier HMS Glorious along with her destroyer escorts, HMS Acasta and Ardent. It moves on to Operation Berlin, which was a foray into the North Atlantic that had some success though ended with both ships bottled un in port at Brest, and needing repair. They were still a major target for the RAF while they were there, and which ended with the famous Channel Dash, when they successfully got through the narrow English Channel despite the Royal Navy and RAF being prepared for just such a move. The book goes on to explain how they were both destined to threaten the supply convoys from the UK to Russia by being stationed in Norway. What we have is then the stories telling us of the fate of these 2 battleships, the post-war search and discovery of the the wreck of the Scharnhorst. After further damage while at Kiel, the Gneisenau was moved to Gotenhafen, where work was halted and the ship used for spares to keep other vessels operational while her main armament was removed, and two of the turret installed as coastal batteries before the remains of the hull were finally sunk as a blockship in the closing stages of the war.
A fascinating story detailing the history of these two ships, informative text supported with some colour artwork illustrating the different appearances/colour schemes of both ships over the time of their service history, and a lot of archive photos illustrating the stories and with one section of colour pictures which also show fantastic detail inside the turrets that can still be seen today. Amongst the images are some taken of the wreck of the Scharnhorst, with even torpedoes still clearly seen in their tubes amidst the wreck. Some marvellous detail in the book as a whole, plus the 5 appendices, that feature the Commanders of each vessel, the list of vessels sunk by them during Operation Berlin, a list of the survivors of the Scharnhorst and rolls of honour for both ships. An excellent book all round I thought, and from which I learnt a lot about their careers.
Thanks to Fonthill Media for the review copy.

Robin