Mrstrategy
Banned
Could a german battleship that left germany during ww2 get to japan without sinking by British warships?
Early in the war? Yes. Middle of the war? Probably. Late in the war? They tried it with a u-boat, didn't work out. I believe there were German ships actively fighting in the Indian Ocean, but I could be wrong.
Doubtfull, given the problems of getting enough fuel to her whil on the ocean. Such a thing would require a very advanced level of logistics and supply ships send out in advance of the voyage of the warship itself. The operation of Bismarck in may 1941 was possibly the only time the Kriegsmarine did get the needed number of supportships at sea in advance of teh sortie, so it remains debatable. A lesser, much less demanding warship was more likely, as the HSK-4 (Thor) and several U-Boote proved.
It may have been possible in the early part of the war (pre-Barbarossa) with the help of Russia.
Send the ship north around the Russian coast, refuelling as necessary.
The Graf Spee did divert into the Indian Ocean in November 1939. At that point it had run up 30,000 nm since departing Germany & refueled,/resupplied at sea. So, technically it was possible.
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The armed merchant raiders Pinguin-Aug 40, Komet-Dec 40, Orion & Komet-March 41, Atlantis-Aug 41, Kormoran Oct-41 all raided Australian waters. Others may have made it to the Pacific, but I'd have to check to confirm my notes.
In late 1942 the disguised cargo ship Ramses made it to the Pacific & swapped cargo in Indonesia. It was sunk shortly after departing Batavia on its return voyage. I dont have a list of cargo submarine voyages between Germany & Japan. Two Japanese efforts saw the submarines sunk on the return voyage & I think there were others attempted. A few German subs sucessfully made the round trip & several others sunk along the way. Last attempt was in mid 1945. The German sub was in the Atlantic when Germany surrendered. It went to a US port where 1,500 lbs of partially refined Uranium ore (Yellow cake) was found among the cargo.
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Evidently my posts were obscure.
1. The Graf Spee was refueled at sea.
2. The Germans had no trouble getting cargo ships to the UK or the Pacific.
They don't need assorted port calls along the way. Three supply ship should be redundant enough.
It's not nearly as difficult to get a German warship to the Pacific as it might seem. There just does not seem to be much point to it. The Japanese don't need another undersized fuel hog. For German purposes the merchant raiders are more efficient & productive.
It may have been possible in the early part of the war (pre-Barbarossa) with the help of Russia.
Send the ship north around the Russian coast, refuelling as necessary.
The only concern was that the Graf Spee was having serious boiler issues, which prompted it's historically attempt to get home and fatal showdown with the British pursuers.Evidently my posts were obscure.
1. The Graf Spee was refueled at sea.
2. The Germans had no trouble getting cargo ships to the UK or the Pacific.
They don't need assorted port calls along the way. Three supply ship should be redundant enough.
It's not nearly as difficult to get a German warship to the Pacific as it might seem. There just does not seem to be much point to it. The Japanese don't need another undersized fuel hog. For German purposes the merchant raiders are more efficient & productive.
Would the German crew potentially defect from a Japanese fleet and try to surrender rather than doing a 'death ride'?... gets sunk off Guadalcanal tangling with a US cruiser TF. Or a pair of BB.
Come to think of it, I don't think in the entire history of German naval forces (~60 x BB/BC/PBS commissioned) that a German-built battleship has ever entered the Pacific. It wouldn't have been a shocker for a Deutschland class to visit Japan after the Anti-Comiterm Treaty was signed.
The closest I think they got to a heavy warship in the region was Prinz Eugen's visit to Bikini Atol.
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