Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping.

[6] Scharnhorst 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.

[7] On 1 April 1942, Hoffmann, who had been promoted to Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) and awarded the Knight's Cross, transferred command of the ship to KzS Friedrich Hüffmeier.

[16] The intent of the operation was to draw out British units and ease the pressure on the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, which was being pursued in the South Atlantic.

At 17:03, Scharnhorst opened fire, and three minutes later a salvo of her 28 cm guns hit Rawalpindi's bridge, killing the captain Edward Kennedy, and the majority of the officers.

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.

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were the covering force for the assaults on Narvik and Trondheim; the two ships left Wilhelmshaven on the morning of 7 April[15] under the command of vice admiral Günther Lütjens.

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 flooding caused a 5 degree list, increased the stern draft by almost a meter, and forced Scharnhorst to reduce speed to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

There she joined Gneisenau, in preparation for Operation Berlin, a planned raid into the Atlantic Ocean designed to wreak havoc on the Allied shipping lanes.

Repairs were quickly completed, and on 22 January 1941, the two ships, under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens on Gneisenau, left port for the North Atlantic.

In the passage between Iceland and the Faroes, the Germans' radar detected the patrolling British cruiser Naiad at long range, which allowed Lütjens to retreat unseen, with the aid of a squall.

[62] Facing increasing losses during the Battle of the Atlantic, Winston Churchill ordered that Bomber Command temporarily halt its campaign against German industry and focus on the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor threat and the U-boat ports and production instead.

Scharnhorst was not hit, but in the night of 4 April a dud bomb close to Gneisenau forced her to leave dock, and next day the battleship was torpedoed in her exposed position in the harbour.

Since the British feared Scharnhorst was preparing for an Atlantic sortie, an immediate attack by six Stirling heavy bombers was ordered but the aircraft achieved nothing and one was shot down by German fighters.

The RAF had planned a large daylight raid on the capital ships in Brest on 24 July, but the departure of Scharnhorst to La Pallice caused last-minute alterations to the operation: three forces of three Flying Fortress, eighteen Hampden and 36 Blenheim bombers attacked several coastal targets in order to draw up German fighters prematurely.

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

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

[75][76] Scharnhorst did not make the voyage unscathed, however; at 15:31 she struck an air-dropped magnetic mine in the mouth of the Scheldt, abreast of the forward superfiring turret (Bruno).

At around the time the last turbine was restarted, a single bomber dropped several bombs approximately 90 m (98 yd) off Scharnhorst's port side, which caused no damage.

Scharnhorst steamed to Gotenhafen in late October for a new rudder, the design of which was based on the lessons learned from the torpedoing of Prinz Eugen and Lützow earlier in the year.

[81] During the operation, Scharnhorst destroyed a battery of two 76 mm (3.0 in) guns and shelled fuel tanks, coal mines, harbour facilities, and military installations.

[89] With the rapidly deteriorating military situation for the German Army on the Eastern Front, it became increasingly important to interrupt the flow of supplies from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union.

Unbeknown to the Germans, the British were able to read the ciphered Enigma radio transmissions between Scharnhorst and the Fleet Command; Admirals Robert Burnett and Bruce Fraser were aware of Bey's plan for the attack on the convoy and could position their forces accordingly.

[85] Fraser in the powerful battleship Duke of York, along with the cruiser Jamaica and four destroyers, moved to a position southwest of Scharnhorst to block a possible escape attempt.

[94] The battleship was hit twice by 20.3 cm (8 in) shells; the first failed to explode and caused negligible damage, but the second struck the forward rangefinders and destroyed the radar antenna.

[100] Shortly thereafter, another 14 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened.

[101] At around 18:00, another 14 inch shell struck the ship on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room.

Extensive damage from shellfire and torpedoes is evident; the bow was blown off, presumably from a magazine explosion in the forward turrets, and lies in a tangled mass of steel some distance from the rest of the hull.