[2] Gneisenau and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, for example making sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant ships.

On the night of 26 February, the British launched an air attack on her; one bomb penetrated her armored deck and exploded in the forward ammunition magazine, causing serious damage and many casualties.

[5] Gneisenau had an armor belt that was 350 mm (13.8 in) thick in the central portion, where it protected the ship's ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces.

[9] The ship's first combat operation, under the command of Admiral Hermann Boehm, involved a sortie together with the light cruiser Köln and nine destroyers through the Kattegat and Skagerrak towards the Norwegian coast on 7 October.

Based on the reports of Rawalpindi and Newcastle, the British deployed the Home Fleet with the battleships Nelson and Rodney from the Clyde towards Norway in case the Germans intended to return to Germany, and the battlecruisers Hood and the French Dunkerque left from Devonport towards Iceland to prevent a breakout towards the Atlantic.

Aware of these deployments through the B-Dienst, Marschall retreated northwards and waited for bad weather in order to break through a British cruiser and destroyer patrol line between Shetland and Norway.

[19] The Germans reached Wilhelmshaven on 27 November, and on the trip both battleships incurred significant damage from heavy seas and winds.

She and her sister were the covering force for the assaults on Narvik and Trondheim (Flag Officer Vize Admiral Günther Lütjens).

One shell hit the director tower and passed through it without exploding; regardless, it cut several cables and killed one officer and five enlisted men.

During the high-speed escape, both Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were flooded by significant quantities of water over their bows, which caused problems in both of their forward gun turrets.

The plane was launched at extreme range and could barely reach the outer islands on the Norwegian coast where it managed to send its message.

The float plane was towed to Trondheim where it could also convey Lütjens' order to Admiral Hipper to join the German battleships in the return journey to Germany.

The concussive shock from the blast damaged many internal and topside components, including the starboard low-pressure turbine and the rear rangefinders.

[30] The purpose of Operation Juno was to interrupt Allied resupply efforts to the Norwegians and to relieve the pressure on German troops fighting in Norway.

[30] At 17:45, the German battleships spotted the British aircraft carrier Glorious and two escorting destroyers, Ardent and Acasta, at an approximate range of 40,000 m (44,000 yd).

Though the German battleships had available their Seetakt radar to assist the gunlaying, lack of target visibility required temporary ceasefires due to this smoke.

In the meantime, Marschall sortied with Gneisenau, Admiral Hipper, and four destroyers, though after two days he returned to Trondheim when it became clear that the British convoys were too heavily guarded.

His intention was to give the impression he was attempting to break out into the Atlantic, to draw British attention away from Scharnhorst as she made the return voyage to Germany.

The ship took on a significant amount of water in the two forward watertight compartments, and she was forced to return to Trondheim at reduced speed.

[9] Scharnhorst joined Gneisenau, in preparation for Operation Berlin, the planned breakout into the Atlantic Ocean designed to wreak havoc on the Allied shipping lanes.

Malaya turned on the two battleships and closed to 24,000 m (26,000 yd), well within the range of the Germans' guns, but Lütjens refused to be drawn into an engagement.

[44] The Bristol Beaufort that struck the ship was piloted by Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell, who was killed in the attack, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

[46] Three days later, on the night of 9–10 April, several British bombers dropped around 25 t (25 long tons) of 227 kg AP bombs on the ship, four of which hit.

[48] On 12 January 1942, the German Naval Command, in a conference with Hitler, made the decision to return Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to Germany.

The so-called "Channel Dash", codenamed Operation Cerberus, would avoid the increasingly effective Allied radar and patrol aircraft in the Atlantic.

[49] By 13:00, the ships had cleared the Strait of Dover, though half an hour later, a flight of six Swordfish torpedo bombers, with Spitfire escort, attacked the Germans.

[59] The extensive damage convinced the Naval Staff to rebuild Gneisenau to mount the six 38 cm guns originally planned, rather than repair the ship.

[61] By early 1943, the ship had been sufficiently repaired to begin the conversion process, but Hitler, angered by the failure of German surface raiders at the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942, ordered the cessation of all work.

As the Red Army advanced on the city, the remaining crew took the ship out to the entrance of the harbor and sank the vessel as a blockship on 27 March 1945.

[62][8] The ship was sealed and refloated on 12 September 1951 then completely scrapped,[48] though it is believed that some of her steel was used in the construction of Polish merchant vessels.