Finally Finished One - Alternate Gneisenau

[Joe C-P]

The Last "Predreadnought"

Lingering for months in drydock, Gniesenau was the last remnant of the once-feared German surface navy. Idled by Hitler's overreaction amid her upgrade to 15" guns, she sat forlornly at Gotenhaven.

Late in 1943, when it became clear that the Allies intended to invade the continent via France, Adm. Doenitz managed to convince Hitler to revive the remaining surface fleet, which would be used to attack the invasion fleet from the rear as the Army stopped and drove back the invaders on land, thereby catching the Allies in an pincer and destroying their landing ships and preventing another Dunkirk.

Work was recommenced on Gneisenau, along with other, smaller elements. As the 11" triple turrets had already been removed and sent away for coastal defense, 15" guns were to be used. However, only two turrets were ready, and so "Bruno" position was emplaced with a twin 8" meant for the cruiser Seydlitz, and to improve firepower aft, another such was placed above turret "Caesar". The remaining armament was a mixture of various weapons as could be found from current supplies, since the Kriegsmarine could not wait for new guns to be produced. Her armament ended up:

4 38.0cm, twin turrets
4 20.8cm, twin turrets
8 15.0cm, twin turrets
6 12.7 cm, single mounts
8 57mm AA, twin mounts
23 20mm AA, twin and single mounts

The odd-looking vessel was ready for sea trials by 13 April 1944. After problems were shaken out, he sat in Kiel awaiting the invasion.

When it came, Hitler had another of his brilliant moments, and ordered the surface fleet to _not_ sail, as to him this assault was merely a diversion for the "real". Doenitz fought to convince Der Furher that it would be good for some elements to put to sea, as the real assault would likely follow close upon. It took over a week before Hitler reluctantly agreed, even then allowing only a small group.

Doenitz ordered Gneisenau to sail, along with cruisers Prinz Eugen and Leipzig and two destroyers. Prinz Eugen was not ready to sail immediately, so she was left behind. Once at sea, Leipzig's engines broke down as she tried to switch from diesel to turbines, and so Gneisenau was left to sail with just the two destroyers.

He managed to make it down to near Calais before being detected. Free French cruisers Montcalm and George Leuyges had temporarily withdrawn from supporting the Allied invasion forces to refuel and rearm, and detected the enemy group on radar at 2:30AM on the morning of 13 June. Uncertain of the identity of the oncoming vessels, but certain they could not be Axis vessels, the French cruisers raised a standard challenge. The challenge was replied with a volley of shells, and the cruisers, realizing the shells were battleship-caliber, immediately turned and radioed for help.

On board Gneisnenau, her captain was uncertain what vessels they had encountered, but as they were just off Calais, and of cruiser class, he reasoned he had found the pickets for the expected Allied invasion fleet. Knowing his position would be more vulnerable when morning came, he aimed his ship at the fleeing enemy vessels, expecting to be able to chase them into the midst of the landing transports, where his small battlegroup would wreak as much havoc as they could.

However, waiting for him were not lightly armed transports, but USS Arkansas, the oldest battleship in the Allied fleet, moving to take up a new position off Grandcamp les Bains. The Free French ships headed for her, firing at the unknown vessel pursuing them and zigzagging to avoid the giant shells being launched at them.

Aboard Arkansas the call for aid from the French cruisers was heard, and she immediately turned to their aid. The report of battleship-caliber guns worried her captain, who believed the only battleship in Nazi service was Tirpitz, a ship that outgunned his considerably. However, it was his duty to protect the fleet from the oncoming foe, and so turned his vessel to starboard to open her broadside, enabling her full 12 gun battery to engage the enemy battleship.

Gneisenau continued pursuing the French cruisers. Her radar could not see the larger vessel behind them, until in a prearranged maneuver they split course, one to port, one to starboard. The cruisers circled back on their course, so to engage the mystery battleship's escort, while Arkansas let loose her first broadside. Two weeks of experience and a superior radar system allowed her to straddle Gneisnau on the first shot.

The sudden appearance of a battleship on radar, combined with the landing of 12 battleship shells close on stunned the German crew, and they did not respond in kind immediately. This gave time for Arkansas to reload, adjust, and fire again, straddling Gneisenau once more. Shocked, the kaptain ordered a turn to starboard to unmask the after main guns, and a reduction in speed until he could better ascertain the tactical situation.

Arkansas loaded and fired again, this time striking the German battlecruiser on the prow and in the empty hangar. Her captain ordered the ship to begin maneuvering in anticipation of the return volleys, which were not long in coming.

The more primitive German radar units could not provide the same guidance as the American system, so Gneisenau's first volleys went well over Arkansas. At the same time, the French vessels opened up, complicating the German's firing by spreading her attention. Gneisenau's captain ordered his escorting DDs to engage the cruisers, but also assigned the gunners for the 8" and 5.1" weapons to fire on them instead of the battleship.

Arkansas had radioed for further assistance, but the nearest battleship, HMS Ramilles, was several hours away, so the aged battleship was on her own. Gneisenau's firing was increasing in frequency and accuracy, but Arkansas' officers were puzzled by the small number of shells arriving with each salvo.

In the meantime, Gneisenau's crew were frantically searching their radar picture for the second battleship, not realizing they were facing the only battleship in the world with a dozen main guns. Those guns were taking their toll, too; Gneisenau was not armored to face battleship guns, even old ones, and with each hit she took significant damage.

Finally, Gneisenau's kaptain decided to make an end run around his foe, having realized the Allied battleship had not exceeded 20 knots during their battle. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, for there was not sufficient room to maneuver in the English channel, and the battlecruiser ran aground on a sandbank.

Arkansas' captain, with better knowledge of the waters from his English allies, soon realized what had happened, and slowed his vessel to allow for more accurate firing. Just three more salvos were required before one of the 12" shells struck and penetrated the after 8" turrets, setting off a massive explosion that broke off the stern of the hapless vessel. Realizing his ship was lost, Gneisenau's kaptain ordered "abandon ship", but himself refused to leave the vessel, prefering to die with his ship.

The Allies moved in to rescue Gneisenau's crew, and as dawn broke they were surprised to see the strange-yet-familiar outline. The German sailors were equally surprised to discover they had been engaging only one vessel.

The model shows Gneisenau as she turned to engage Arkansas, just after the second salvo, based on reports from the ship's logs and interviews with the crew.

[Joe C-P]

Note that all the main guns and the lighter weapons on the port side are turned toward Arkansas' position, while the lighter weapons on the starboard side are turned toward Montcalm. Shortly after this, Gneisnau was hit by Arkansas, and soon thereafter her kaptain would order the 8" and lighter weapons to engage the two cruisers, leaving just the four 15" guns to counter Arkansas' twelve 12".

JoeP

[Brian da Basher]

Woah she's gorgeous, Joe! I particularly like the way you used a lighter color of paint on the fore and aft decks. Sweet!

Brian da Basher

[BlackOps]

Dang! It's times like this I wish I knew more about ships so I could truly appreciate what you have done. I like what I see here though and I too like the paint scheme

[Radish]

Gorgeous.
I just love battlewagons.

Got one or two in the stash and hope sometime to buoild them....eventually.

[NARSES2]

Great story and model Joe,  

[proditor]

Great story and model Joe,

Agreed 100%.

I could literally see the cruiser split manuever and the opening broadside in my mind's eye.  Excellent work on both Joe!    

[Archibald]

Awesome backstory, even if

Dang! It's times like this I wish I knew more about ships so I could truly appreciate what you have done

, too  

[Joe C-P]

Dang! It's times like this I wish I knew more about ships so I could truly appreciate what you have done. I like what I see here though and I too like the paint scheme

Well, there are plenty of websites out there to enhance your knowledge of the watery realm.  ^_^ Including sites about pirates! Arr!  :ar:

JoeP

[Joe C-P]

Here's a quicky intro/background:

In WW2 the German/Nazi Kriegsmarine (Navy) had 7 capital ships in active service, plus two very old vessels.

The eldest two were a pair of pre-WW1 "pre-dreadnought battleship". Before HMS Dreadnought was launched, all battleships carried 4 main guns of 12" or 13" caliber and a number of guns of smaller caliber. HMS Dreadnought was the first to be commissioned that carried many guns of one main caliber, ten 12", with a number of guns of much smaller size. (The US and Japan actually started theirs first, for the idea had already been proposed, but the Royal Navy was the first to get one to sea. Plus, "Dreadnoughts" sounds cooler than "Satsumas" or "South Carolina".  :ar:

The first three, called "panzerschiffes" or armored ships, were the Deutchland (later Lutzow), Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee. They were basically extra-large cruisers, armed with six 11" guns - less than battleship caliber, bigger than cruisers. They were designed and used as commerce raiders. They all had successful cruises, though the Graf Spee was caught and damaged by three Royal Navy cruisers, and though the battle was rather even, went to hide in Montevideo harber. Her crew was tricked into thinking that a greater naval force had arrived, so the ship was scuttled. The other two were put "on the shelf" early in the war, as were all German capital ships.

The next pair were upsized panzerschiffs, with three triple 11" turrets. They were Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, named after a pair of WW1 commerce raiders. They basically were light battleships, being armed and armored on the pattern of battleships, though with smaller guns and thinner armor than their contemporaries. Some call them battlecruisers, but those were armed like battleships while armored like cruisers, giving them faster speed at the cost of protection.

A plan was in place to up-gun these two ships to three twin 15" guns, which would then have made them battlecruisers. However, after early successes as raiders, working as a pair, Scharnhorst was sunk, and Gneisenau was damaged while in harbor.

The last two were true battleships, Bismarck and Tirpitz. They were infamous for being the "most powerful in the world" when they were launched, but Bismarck had only one success, sinking the famed WW1 battlecruiser HMS Hood, before being put down, and Tirpitz basically sat in harbor and said "Boogie boogie!"

As I stated, early in the war Hitler decided the surface fleet was useless and ordered them all into harbor, leaving the sea war to the submarines, known as U-boats, and light surface craft like "E-boats" and "S-boats", which were similar in role to US PT boats.

To quote Paul Harvey: "And know you know the rest of the story".

JoeP