Scharnhorst and the disputed battleship boundary

Scharnhorst is treated here as a fast battleship whose 11-inch armament reflected the weapon available to the designers. Dunkerque's thinner protection produces a less settled classification. Alex Clarke recalls a compromise with Drachinifel in which Strasbourg counts as a fast battleship and Dunkerque lies just inside battlecruiser territory, while stating that he does not fully accept that technical distinction. This disagreement concerns the French ships' protection; Scharnhorst's gun calibre alone does not put her on the battlecruiser side of that boundary.