Gallery

 
Gotenhafen, Korridor & North Atlantic.
From the Beginning - - - to the End - - - 1938 - 1945.
Danzig's Westerplatte War extends around the World;

The March to Hela; the stop after Westerplatte - Gdynia is next :
 
The Scharnhorst and Gniesenau were indeed duplicates in design and concept, but they earned a reputation as "Ugly Sisters" because of theire actions against merchant shipping to England. Even so , their armament was said to be a weak point, with both battle cruisers listing nine 11" guns in three turrets. These were left from cancelled pocket battleships. They would have both made a formidable fighting ship if a later plan to upgrade the present main armament with six 15" guns. With the higher fire-power and their 32-knot speed, which would be greater than any British battleship, and almost as well armoured, this improvement may tip the scales to favor the Kriegsmarine. Unfortunately for Germany, with their economy during the 1930s and troughout the war being in the dumps, these upgrades never left the planning stage, and they didn' expect any help from the Führer. Scharnhorst met its end at the bottom of the Arctic Sea, during the Norwegian campaign, white the Gneisenau's crew scuttled her, in an attempt to block the harbor entrance at Gotenhafen.  

Danzig Study Group U.S.A.
Danzig Report Nr. 155 - January - February - March - 2012, Page 8.