Can Germany win the Battle of the Atlantic during WWII? If so what would need to be done before and during the war to acheive this victory? What vessels would need to be built or not built? I'm generally trying to get an idea of what Germany could have done better, than they did in our timeline.
In the 1930s, Hitler's aim was to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and gain lebensraum in the east.
On a political level, his main opponents were likely to be Poland, France and the USSR. While Britain had fought Germany in WW1 there was no enthusiasm in either country for a repeat of the experience.
Particularly given that Hitler's aim was expansion in eastern Europe rather than a colonial empire overseas, it seemed there was no reason for Britain and its empire to feel threatened this time around. Thus Hitler saw little chance of the two countries coming into conflict.
On August 25 1939, just days before the war started, Britain gave Poland the "Polish guarantee". This stated that Britain would offer all the assistance in its power if Germany attacked Poland. Hitler went ahead and invaded anyway, convinced that Britain would not start another world war over Poland. He was wrong.
Thus in the Second World War Hitler found himself at war with the wrong enemy. War with Britain had never been planned nor wanted. He made several peace offers (as late as 1941 if recent books about Rudolf Hess are to be believed) but these were rejected.
It is in this context that we must consider the battle of the Atlantic. It was essentially a battle that never should have happened. Had both countries managed their diplomacy more effectively, Germany and Britain would not have gone to war.
Britain's entry into the war was a disaster for Britain, for Germany, and for Poland. Six years later the continent lay in ruins, and Poland ended up under the iron fist of Stalin, a dictator no better than Hitler.
This thread is asking the wrong question. Instead of asking whether Germany could have won the battle of the Atlantic, it makes more sense to ask how Germany could have avoided fighting it at all.