Scharnhorst

After commissioned, the Scharnhorst is Flagship of the reconnaissance forces.

The ship is sent to South East Asia as Flagship of the cruiser squadron, stationed at Tsingtau.

The armored cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and the small cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig make a stop at Simpson Harbor in Rabaul.

At the outbreak of the war, the far east squadron under Admiral Graf von Spee was on sea. Since Japan entered the war on Allied side, the ships could not return to their base in Tsingtau. Instead it was decided to operate in the Eastern Pacific and Southern Atlantic.

Battle of Coronel: Off the Chilean coast, the German squadron of Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and the CLs Dresden, Leipzig and Nürnberg are approached by the British armored cruisers Good Hope, Monmouth, the CL Glasgow and the auxiliary cruisers Otranto. Battle starts at 18:30 in a distance of 11000m, because of the heavy seas, only the armored cruisers were able to fire. Both British armored cruisers were sunk without survivors, while the German ships did not suffer any significant damage, but have used 42% of their ammunition. In order to refill their coal supplies, the German ships decide to raid the British base on the Falkland island

Scharnhorst and the other ships pass Cape Horn.

Battle of the Falkland Islands: After a reconnaissance operation neat the British base by the Gneisenau early in the morning, the Germans knew about the British ship refueling at Port Stanley: The battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, the armored cruisers Carnarvon, Kent and Cornwall, two CLs and an auxiliary cruisers. Because of the superior British forces the German ships turn south, but because of their higher speed, the British ships came into battle distance by 12:50. On 13:20 the CLs Dresden, Nürnberg and Leipzig were detached and were ordered to escape, while Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would cover them. As the British 30,5 cm guns had a greater range than the German 21 cm guns, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were destroyed without any chance, Scharnhorst sunk on 16:17, with 880 casualties. All other ships except the Dresden were sunk, too.