A ship history : Gneisenau

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

and we conclude the 'schlactschiff' with the : Gneisenau












Of course my reference tables are intended to provide a set of infos to enable the whole ship discussion about her life, operations, technical modifications and camouflage changes, plus anything you may want to add, .. and have fun .. hoping to be able to improve them too ..

So,.. lets start,....


Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

many will be interested I hope,.... especially modeler,. ... but also some history researcher,.... I hope.

Here is the Gneisenau full life, '' a special THANK ! '' to Terje, for the support and help,..a real '' Gneisenthusiast ! '' :

http://forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index. ... 967.0.html


Ciao Antonio

[Hartmann10]

Congratulations Antonio, It´s great this review of the "Gneisenau" with those drawings .
Best regards

[Antonio Bonomi]

Many thanks Hartmann,

I am glad people like the effort,...

..... hope to be able soon to add something more on the other ships,....

Ciao Antonio

[Terje Langoy]

Ciao all,

many will be interested I hope,.... especially modeler,. ... but also some history researcher,.... I hope.

Here is the Gneisenau full life, '' a special THANK ! '' to Terje, for the support and help,..a real '' Gneisenthusiast ! '' :

http://forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index. ... 967.0.html


Ciao Antonio

It is me who should be thanking you, Antonio! These plans are excellent guides to the Gneisenau, regarding modifications, colours and operations. To quote the title of a song by Rush... "Show, don't tell"

Very best regards

[Karl Heidenreich]

Terje:

It is me who should be thanking you, Antonio! These plans are excellent guides to the Gneisenau, regarding modifications, colours and operations. To quote the title of a song by Rush... "Show, don't tell"

Very best regards

Anyone that quotes Rush must be someone of exceptional good taste (and knowledge) in regard of great old "progressive" rock. For those who are about to rock: we salute you!

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

thanks Terje and Karl,... I need to find a CD of that music,...

But ' Show, don't tell !' ...and here we are :

Gneisenau 1938 :



and here related drawings.

Please notice the initial hangar ( common with Scharnhorst ) later reduced on the Gneisenau.

Of course initially straight bow.





so initial year of Gneisenau was with straight bow, catapult on C turret ( with a small dedicated crane for the airplane on starboard side ), the crest and an hangar reduction as main work done on her.

Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

here the 1939 evolution :



Here we can see that initially they fitted the atlantic bow keeping the anchors closed, with a very big raked funnel cap.



Than they placed the anchors on the main deck and changed the funnel cap with a smaller one.



Before the start of the war a radar was fitted on Gneisenau main tower top.




Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

a big problem for KM warship was to be recognized from the Luftwaffe airplanes.

Initial trials were conducted at the end of 1939 to facilitate the ship correct spotting by the friendly airplanes.

At first they thought to use same system used at the end of first world war ( please refer to Kaiserliche marine ships for confirmation ) or during the Spanish war campaign ( national flag colours ).






Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

at the beginning of the year Gneisenau had the admiral bridge closed ( Scharnhorst only had this on 1942, so very easy to recognize the 2 ships on front photos of this period ).





... than on 1940, they went for a full colour solution for the air recognition spotting.

Here the solution adopted by Gneisenau during Operation Nordmark on February.



Only the 2 forward turret coloured, not the C turret with the catapult still on her.

Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

than the catapult on C turret was removed.

Please notice that on Gneisenau the eagle on the stern was kept for some time during the war period.



So during the Norway invasion, operation Weserubung they painted all the 3 turrets and the secondary 150 mm too.

Initially it was YELLOW :



Than the British spotted it, and used it too, so they changed to RED :




... to go back to normal 2 colours while home ...




Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all

.. than remove the eagle from the stern ....



.... and sail again for another mission, Operation Juno, .. Gneisenau biggest success mission, sinking the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, plus the destroyer HMS Acasta ( HMS Ardent was sunk by Scharnhorst ).




Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

but than the ship was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Clyde.

A very big hole in the bow.

Gneisenau repaired into Trondheim, making initial repairs, getting ready to sail back home, and go into dry dock for more repair in Kiel.

They changed top turret colour in RED, but before sailing home, ... here what they did on the hull.



Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

end of 1940, repair works been completed and the Gneisenau was operational again, sailing for trials into Baltic Sea with the usual baltic camo scheme used by KM warships :




Than she sailed at the end of the year with Scharnhorst for Operation Berlin under command of Admiral Lutjens.

They painted the turret RED and the ship with normal 2 tone grey RAL 7000 and 7001.




..but the sea was heavy, ... the ships got damaged and they went back into Bergen in Norway.
The sea water removed part of the colours, so under the normal colours you an see the old dark shadow of the baltic dark grey on some photos.



Ciao Antonio

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

now Admiral Lutjens flagship sailed again on 1941 for Operation Berlin, a succesfull raid into the Atlantic ocean together with her sister ship Scharnhorst.



...not before a small work done,... a frame with a 20 mm quadruple ( vierling ) A/A gun added on the aft, between the funnel and the catapult.





..and the turret colour change in YELLOW :




Ciao Antonio