The Grand Admiral Raeder had a long standing dispute with a colleague [Wagner] about German naval strategy after WW-I. Wagner argued that to "defeat the dead angle", Germany had to turn the corner on RN blockade . Occupying Norway would help achieve this , but Wagner wanted something more , a direct attack on the UK possibly sea mammal? but he might have been thinking of diversionary bombardments on RN ports to neutralize them long enough to achieve something local like a break out?
Raeder thought of another angle. He argued that raiders operating a hemisphere away, could drag enough RN assets south to allow some king of window of local superiority. In particular combining the effects of Graff Spee's 1914 raid , with possibilities of Scheer's last sortie in 1918 with Hipper's battle cruiser convoy raid.
http://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2228&context=nwc-review
A fantastic pdf that explores the development of the raider concept for WW-II and explains the critical role diesel would have played in this doctrine.
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/last-sortie-german-high-sea-fleet-april-1918/
Raeder thought of another angle. He argued that raiders operating a hemisphere away, could drag enough RN assets south to allow some king of window of local superiority. In particular combining the effects of Graff Spee's 1914 raid , with possibilities of Scheer's last sortie in 1918 with Hipper's battle cruiser convoy raid.
http://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2228&context=nwc-review
A fantastic pdf that explores the development of the raider concept for WW-II and explains the critical role diesel would have played in this doctrine.
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/last-sortie-german-high-sea-fleet-april-1918/
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