Link to Post 124 which is what I think Germany should have built 1919 to c. 1932.
This is Part One of what I think the Kriegsmarine's Cruiser Policy should have been.
It is a continuation of Post 124, which was what I think the Reichsmarine's Building Policy should have been.
It is a continuation of Post 124, which was what I think the Reichsmarine's Building Policy should have been.
The situation at 18.06.35, i.e. when the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed.
- The Agreement, allowed Germany to have 35% of the British Commonwealth's Cruiser Tonnage, which according to the still in force First London Naval Treaty, was 339,000 tons, including 146,800 tons of 8in Cruisers and 192,000 tons of 6in Cruisers. That translated into an allowance for 118,650 tons of Cruisers for Germany, which was divided into 51,380 tons of 8in Cruisers and 67,270 tons of 6in Cruisers.
- ITTL Germany already had 8 ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class Light Cruisers with an official displacement of 6,000 tons (but they actually displaced 7,200 to 7,500 tons) for an official total of 48,000 tons of 6in Cruisers completed or under construction.
- This left 70,650 tons of unused tonnage including 51,380 tons that could be used to build 8in Cruisers and 19,270 tons that could be used to build more 6in Cruisers.
- The Kriegsmarine's leaders decided to use to the unused tonnage to build 5 Heavy Cruisers armed with 8in guns and 3 Light Cruisers of the ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class. When completed that would give Germany a total of 16 Cruisers consisting of 5 Heavy Cruisers and 11 Light Cruisers as illustrated in the table above.
- I think the ALT- Hipper class Heavy Cruisers should be enlarged version of the ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class Light Cruisers proposed in Post 124.
- They would mount nine 8" guns in three triple turrets in A, X and Y positions.
- They would be propelled by a scaled-up ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class Combined (low-pressure) Steam and Diesel (COSAD) machinery.
- I think that giving them ALT-Leipzig-Nürnberg type machinery would produce ships with higher availability rates.
- This is because I think it would be more reliable & need less maintenance than the high-pressure steam machinery that the class had IOTL.
- I think they'd also have much greater ranges than the Real-Hipper class, which would make them more suitable for ocean raiding.
- According to a table on Page 37 of Whitley's book the anticipated completion dates at March 1937 were:
- 10.10.38 - Blücher - Actual completion 20.09.39.
- 14.07.38 - Hipper - Actual completion 29.04.39
- 15.05.39 - Prinz Eugen - Actual completion 01.08.40.
- 31.12.39 - Seydlitz - Which wasn't completed. According to Page 48 of Whitley's book she was almost complete in May 1942, lacking only catapult, cranes, masts and flak outfit. However, construction was stopped the following June due to the decision to complete her as an aircraft carrier.
- 01.07.40 - Lützow - Which wasn't completed, because she was sold to the USSR in 11.02.40.
- To summarise.
- According to the March 1937 schedule each ship would have taken an average of 36 months to build.
- The 3 ships that were completed were built in an average of 49 months.
- The delays were due to the German Naval Armaments Industry not being up to the sudden increase in demand for its products. (On the other side of the North Sea so was the British Naval Armaments Industry had exactly the same problem.)
- I wrote in Post 124 that one of the reasons for the Weimar Republic building all the ships it was allowed to build under the Treaty of Versailles was to increase the capacity of the German Naval Armaments Industry.
- Specifically, IOTL there was a gap of 4 years between the laying down of Leipzig in 1928 and Nürnberg in 1933. However ITTL 6 ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class were laid down 1928-33 at the rate of one a year. That's 4 extra cruiser hulls, 4 extra sets of cruiser armament & fire control and 4 extra sets of cruiser machinery. I think that would translate into the capacity to build 2 or 3 times more cruisers at 1935.
- Therefore, I think that at September 1939:
- ALT- Blücher and ALT-Hipper would have been completed;
- ALT-Prinz Eugen would have been completed by or be nearing completion, and;
- ALT-Seydlitz & ALT-Lützow would have been more advanced than the OTL Seydlitz & Lützow and be completed in the second half of 1940.
- The 3 additional ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class would be ordered in the second half of 1935.
- I think these ships would be built quickly because Germany has a larger Naval Armaments Industry due to the extra ships that were built to 1933 ITTL and because they were built to an existing design.
- The OTL Nürnberg was ordered in March 1933, laid down in November 1933, launched in December 1934 and completed in November 1935, 32 months after she was ordered and 24 months after she was laid down.
- Therefore, I think the 3 ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class ships ordered in 1935 will be laid down in 1936 and be completed by September 1939.
- One Heavy Cruiser (Hipper) and 6 Light Cruisers (Emden, 3 Königsberg class, Leipzig & Nürnberg) completed.
- One Heavy Cruiser (Blücher) nearing completion.
- 3 Heavy Cruisers (Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz & Lützow) under construction and 4 Cruiser M class Light Cruisers on order.
- 2 Heavy Cruisers (ALT Blücher & ALT-Hipper) and 11 Light Cruisers (ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg class) completed.
- One Heavy Cruiser (ALT-Prinz Eugen) nearing completion and 2 Heavy Cruisers (ALT-Seydlitz & ALT- Lützow) under construction.
- There would also be some Light Cruisers under construction or on order. These would be additional ships of the ALT- Leipzig-Nürnberg type or ships armed with twelve 150mm guns in four triple turrets. These ships are what Part Two will be about.
- The 13 Cruisers in service ITTL were better ships than the 7 Cruisers in service IOTL.