Erich Gröner's German-warship volumes place Scharnhorst and Gneisenau among battleships, while the battlecruiser section ends with the unbuilt Yorck designs. This classification supports the argument for calling the Scharnhorst class fast battleships. In that argument, the 11-inch armament reflected the largest guns Germany could build at the time. It is treated as a technological limitation rather than evidence of an intention to build battlecruisers. The classification case therefore considers the reference work and available technology together.
Notable Point · 1:10:29-1:12:20
Why Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are fast battleships
German reference classifications and the limits of available gun technology support reading the Scharnhorst class as fast battleships rather than battlecruisers.