"Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" were long at the waterline; "Scharnhorst" was long overall, while "Gneisenau" had a slightly shorter overall length, at . The ships both had a beam of . They were designed to displace , which would have given the ships a draft of . At standard displacement of , which reduced draft to , while at a full combat load of , draft increased to . The ships' hulls were constructed from longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were welded. Their hulls contained 21 watertight compartments and had a double bottom for 79% of their length.