Generally speaking, I don't think carriers would have done much for the Germans, but as you post, Karlos, naval bombers AND, probably more important, special pilot training for naval operations, might have given the Germans some victories at sea and the Brits a few rather nasty shocks. Dunkirk and Norway could have been especially bloody, had the Germans possed better trained and equiped naval aviators or ordinary Luftwaffe fly-boys.Karlos said:The germans did not need carriers, but a strong naval-air force, land based. I I think they could never impose a real blockade to the UK, with the USA eager to enter the war and willing to escort their convoys. But if the germans can keep the Royal Navy outside channel waters, they have a chance, at least in 1940. I wonder what could they have done with a decent torpedo bomber or their Ju87 properly trained against ships.
Actually the Germans had some pretty decent naval planes, the elderly Hs-59B-2 and the newer Fieseler Fi-167 torpedo bombers and, of course, the famous FW-200 Condor naval bomber and long range reconnaissance plane, but they never quite got the attention they deserved (problably because German all in all was a land power and the Luftwaffe thus focused on fighting a land war).
I more or less based my The Death of Herman Göring and the Victory of the Luftwaffe-thread on the premise that without Der Dicke, naval air operations along with a stronger focus on fighters would win the the day for Germany in regards to its conflict with Britain (The installment "Dunkirk, bloody Dunkirk" should be up in a week or so).
Best regards!
- Bluenote.