The Prologue
“The British have squandered their Empire. They have failed to keep the native populations in line - they have even armed them to fight against the good German soldier. They deserve to be pulled down and replaced by a nation that will take the Aryan race to its deserved place in the sun.
Britain, like all empires is proud and jealous of its status. It will exert all energies to prevent a rival from rising, only acquiescing into obsequious deference once it has been outmanouvered.
The British do not care for their army. Time and again, they have sent forth a small force and shrugged when it was defeated. Yet its navy! Threaten the navy and you threaten its heart, its soul. Put a hole in the steel wall, break the navy, and Britain will scuttle back into its shell.”
1. In following the Chancellors wishes the leadership of the Reichsmarine has devised a plan to neutralise the British. Its intent is to significantly degrade the Royal Navy Home Fleet, so knocking a hole in the steel walls of the British Isles. Such a hole will force the British to retain more of their army and air-force at home, reducing the force available to support any of their Allies.
2. The Reichsmarine will be unable to deploy a fleet of sufficient size to defeat the Royal Navy in anything more than detail. We must therefore ensure concentration against small elements, the main plan being to utilise the threat of individual surface commerce raiders to split up the Royal Navy into hunting groups which may be destroyed in detail by a strong KM force.
3. The Kriegsmarine Force must win the reconnaissance battle; concentrate enough force to defeat a Royal Navy hunting group; have enough speed to escape a battle fleet; contain individual units whose finding fixing and defeat requires the Royal Navy to produce Hunting Groupss.
4. Proposed Fleet contains 6 Battleships as the main strike force; 2 Aircraft Carriers and a number of light cruisers to win the recce battle; 4 heavy cruiser commerce raiders
5. Such a fleet falls outside of the Treaty of Versailles and agreed limits within the London Naval Treaty and will be met by a reaction by the UK. However, such a reaction is costly, with Britain remaining in a parlous financial state it will likely reduce funding to its other forces, indirectly achieving part of the mission.
6. This is recognised as a significant increase in the requirement for the Reichsmarine, but will return the prestige of the German Volk in naval matters
WvF - Developing such a fleet would leave the army seriously deficient in artillery and with little chance to produce a large panzer arm. Such a direction would leave us weaker than the Soviets, the French, even the Poles and Czechs!
HG - Artillery is obsolete! High explosive can be dropped with greater precision from the skies, and a plane that strikes here this morning may strike here this afternoon. Let my airforce be your artillery, general.
All members of the German Reich are to act in support of the creation of a fleet to number this size in preparation for war no later than 1941. They are to provide all aid required by the bearer of this Note
Adolf Hitler
“The British have squandered their Empire. They have failed to keep the native populations in line - they have even armed them to fight against the good German soldier. They deserve to be pulled down and replaced by a nation that will take the Aryan race to its deserved place in the sun.
Britain, like all empires is proud and jealous of its status. It will exert all energies to prevent a rival from rising, only acquiescing into obsequious deference once it has been outmanouvered.
The British do not care for their army. Time and again, they have sent forth a small force and shrugged when it was defeated. Yet its navy! Threaten the navy and you threaten its heart, its soul. Put a hole in the steel wall, break the navy, and Britain will scuttle back into its shell.”
Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, 1924
1. In following the Chancellors wishes the leadership of the Reichsmarine has devised a plan to neutralise the British. Its intent is to significantly degrade the Royal Navy Home Fleet, so knocking a hole in the steel walls of the British Isles. Such a hole will force the British to retain more of their army and air-force at home, reducing the force available to support any of their Allies.
2. The Reichsmarine will be unable to deploy a fleet of sufficient size to defeat the Royal Navy in anything more than detail. We must therefore ensure concentration against small elements, the main plan being to utilise the threat of individual surface commerce raiders to split up the Royal Navy into hunting groups which may be destroyed in detail by a strong KM force.
3. The Kriegsmarine Force must win the reconnaissance battle; concentrate enough force to defeat a Royal Navy hunting group; have enough speed to escape a battle fleet; contain individual units whose finding fixing and defeat requires the Royal Navy to produce Hunting Groupss.
4. Proposed Fleet contains 6 Battleships as the main strike force; 2 Aircraft Carriers and a number of light cruisers to win the recce battle; 4 heavy cruiser commerce raiders
5. Such a fleet falls outside of the Treaty of Versailles and agreed limits within the London Naval Treaty and will be met by a reaction by the UK. However, such a reaction is costly, with Britain remaining in a parlous financial state it will likely reduce funding to its other forces, indirectly achieving part of the mission.
6. This is recognised as a significant increase in the requirement for the Reichsmarine, but will return the prestige of the German Volk in naval matters
Reichsmarine Briefing Note written shortly after the rise of Hitler
WvF - Developing such a fleet would leave the army seriously deficient in artillery and with little chance to produce a large panzer arm. Such a direction would leave us weaker than the Soviets, the French, even the Poles and Czechs!
HG - Artillery is obsolete! High explosive can be dropped with greater precision from the skies, and a plane that strikes here this morning may strike here this afternoon. Let my airforce be your artillery, general.
Memo, Command Staff Meeting early 1934. From later actions it is assumed Goering was promised control of the carrier force
All members of the German Reich are to act in support of the creation of a fleet to number this size in preparation for war no later than 1941. They are to provide all aid required by the bearer of this Note
Adolf Hitler
