Heavy Cruiser Seydlitz

[johnboy]

I have never understood why this ship, some 95% complete, was not finished by the Kriegsmarine. It's not like they had a surplus of units, after all. Would it have made any difference to have three ships in the Denmark Strait battle?

 

[Monk78]

I have never understood why this ship, some 95% complete, was not finished by the Kriegsmarine. It's not like they had a surplus of units, after all. Would it have made any difference to have three ships in the Denmark Strait battle?

No probably not , it would have been just another casualty later in the war.
It might have been useful in the Baltic , hammering the soviet fleet or shore bombardment.

 

[thaddeus]

I have never understood why this ship, some 95% complete, was not finished by the Kriegsmarine. It's not like they had a surplus of units, after all. Would it have made any difference to have three ships in the Denmark Strait battle?

they continued working on the ship, just very slowly, and after Pearl Harbor schemed a conversion to an aircraft carrier, renamed Weser, by this point the shipyards were being bombed constantly, so it was towed east, remaining unfinished.

I'm not the naval expert to fully answer the question, but "95% complete" is somewhat inaccurate description as it has to have a crew, be brought up to operating status, and most critically they have to fuel it. of course the intention was probably to finish it as wartime conditions allowed.

having a third ship with the Bismarck has to make some difference, IDK if they would have ever deviated from trying to break out into the Atlantic (one or all), in which case the battleship seems doomed.

 

[Driftless]

Did that state of completion include installed weapons and the appropriate breakout of ammunition? Though, I can imagine there was some stockpiled ammo for the prior KM capital ships.

 

[Obfuscated]

Hitler basically assumed that steel = steel and, especially after Bismark was sunk, steel spent of surface units was wasted, better built more tanks, airplanes or u-boats with that.

The Kriegsmarine was basically locked into a twin deathstruggle after the Bismark was sunk. Goering coveted anything that flew while Hitler thought that demounting every turret to use them in fortresses - Westwall etc. - was the only way to get some use out of the steel wasted on surface units.

 

[alspug]

To be honest the German Battleships had more effect on the course of the war than any other WW2 warship in my opinion. THe resources consumed hunting them, watching them and preparing for a Sortie is huge. The reason of course was the capacity of a Battleship or Heavy Cruiser to get into a convoy and literally tear it apart. Imagine KM Tirpitz finding Queen Mary on a troop carrying voyage, In one case she carried the men to form a complete Armoured Division. Then their are the convoys. Imagine a 60 ship convoy with Bismarch or Tirpitz finding it.

Seydlitz wouold have shoould have been completed as should Graf Zeppelin.

A Kriegsmarine surface raider group with the Twins and supported by Graf Zeppelin would have been the RN nightmare. Even Bismarck having CV support could have altered things drastically. Imagine the Swordfish don't get that torpedo hit. Bismarck makes it home.