User:Folks at 137/S&G debate

This is a proposed addition to the renamed Scharnhorst class (1936) article. It is open for general amendment and correction by the masses.

Battleship or battlecruiser?

Although Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ("the twins") were intended by their designers to be fully-fledged battleships with 15" weaponry, they actually saw service with an 11" battery. This is usually stated to be because of an initial political reluctance to break existing naval treaties and, subsequently, because the wepaons were unavailable. Nonetheless, the design allowed for the larger weapons and incorporated other standards expected in a battleship.

The down-sizing of the weaponry has lead to debate, usually amongst Anglophones, over the most accurate classification of "the twins". German sources almost always use the word schlachtshiffe, translated literally as "battleship". Contemporary British sources (and most modern ones) prefer "battlecruiser", reflecting the perceived dilution of the twins' fighting power, although differing from British implementations of the battlecruiser concept. U.S. sources usually favour the "battleship" label, citing the "the twins'" design and displacement and also perhaps reflecting U.S. aversion to the battlecruiser concept and label. Their non-conformity to the "classic" battlecruiser design (speed gained by light armour) is also an argument against their classification as battlecruisers.

The relative weight given to the available sources has also driven the debate as has the relative weight between British and U.S. ones.

After debate, Wikipedia does not favour one description over the other on either technical or common usage grounds.