SMS Scharnhorst was an 11,616 ton armoured cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned in October 1907.
When the First World War broke out she was Admiral Maximilian von Spee's flagship in the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron. The squadron initially engaged in attacks on enemy commercial and troop transports with great success, and on 1 November 1914 engaged and sank two British cruisers at the Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile.
On 8 December 1914 the five cruisers of the squadron attempted to attack Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, unaware of the presence of two British battlecruisers and five cruisers. In the ensuing Battle of the Falkland Islands, SMS Scharnhorst was lost with her entire crew, together with all of her squadron except the SMS Dresden.