The German battleship Scharnhorst was built at Wilhelmshaven shipyard. It was initially designed as a heavy cruiser, then battleship, matching up to French Dunkerque-class ship. The ship was laid down on 15 June 1935, launched on 3 October 1936 and commissioned on 7 January 1939; the name Scharnhorst was given by the widow of World War I cruiser Scharnhorst, Capt. Felix Schulz.During her service Scharnhorst underwent numerous rebuildings and modernizations, the most important were: bow reshaping, enlargement of aircraft hangar and relocation of the catapult to the roof of the hangar, removal of the mast from the funnel and construction of new tripod mast situated behind the hangar, installation of degaussing coils along the sides, replacement and strengthening of anti-aircraft armament, rebuild of radio compartments on the main rangefinder (conning tower), installation of FuMo 27 and FuMb 4 radars with antennas, expansion of admiral’s bridge.