More Battleships and No Aircraft Carriers for Germany Version 2.0

Part One - Introduction
  • The POD is 31st January 1933 the day after Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor.

    In this timeline the newly installed Nazi Government gives the Rechsmarine instructions to initiate a two-stage expansion. The first stage was the largest fleet that could be built in five years and then in the next five years transform the emergency fleet into the balanced fleet that Raeder and co wanted.

    This forced the admirals to order improved versions of existing designs in the first five years which were armed with existing weapons and propelled by existing machinery to expedite production. The new designs incorporating new technology would have to wait until the second phase. However, this did have the advantage that innovations like high pressure boilers would were properly tested and the faults corrected before they were put into production.

    Anglo German Naval Agreement.png
     
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    Part Four - Battleships
  • Capital Ships

    Point of Departure


    IOTL Raeder wasted a lot of time deciding what sort of warships he actually wanted for his navy. An excellent example is the design to follow on from Graff Spee. In November 1932 (according to Whitley) he and Groener the Defence Minister had come to an agreement of the future size of the fleet. By 1938 it was to have 6 battleships or armoured ships, 6 cruisers, 6 half-flotillas of destroyers or torpedo-boats, 3 half-flotillas of S boats and when the political situation permitted, 18 U-boats.

    The next 15 months were spent producing a design for an enlarged panzerschiffe armed with six 28cm, eight 15cm and eight 8.8cm guns on a displacement of 18,000 tons. Armoured Ships D and E were both ordered on 25/01/1934 and laid down on 14/02/1934.

    However, Admiral Raeder was not satisfied with the design and pressed Hitler to allow the designs to be altered to accommodate a third 11" turret. This was necessary to match the French Dunkerque class battlecruisers ordered in 1932, which were in turn built to counter the German Deutschland class armoured ships. Hitler did not authorize the change until 05/07/1934. As a result the keel of Ship D was re-laid on 15/06/1935 and that of Ship E on 06/05/1935 about 15 months after both ships were originally laid down.

    The point of departure ITTL is that Raeder decided that Ships D and E would be replies to the French battle cruisers by November 1932. Having made that decision he stuck to it. As the 18,000 ton design originally produced IOTL broke the Treaty of Versailles anyway he decided that he might as well go all the way with a much larger ship mounting nine 11" guns. The incoming Nazi Government agreed with him.

    This effectively put the German capital ship programme 15 months ahead of OTL because it led to the Anglo-German Naval Agreement being negotiated 15 months earlier.

    The Agreement gave Germany the legal right to build a capital ship fleet that was 35% the size of the United Kingdom's. As the British Empire was allowed 525,000 tons of capital ships Germany now had a legal right to 183,750 tons of capital ships. After the 3 armoured ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were deducted there was sufficient tonnage left to build three ships displacing 35,000 tons.

    IOTL the Germans used that tonnage allowance to build Bismarck and Tirpitz straight away, but a shortage of slipways and a change of design delayed the laying down of the third ship to July 1939. ITTL the third ship was ordered as a repeat of Bismarck in place of the aircraft carrier Graff Zeppelin.

    Scharnhorst (Ship D)

    According to Whitely Armoured Ship D was laid down Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven on 14/02/1934, but following the change of design her keel was re-laid 16 months later on 15/06/1935. She was launched on 03/10/1936 as Scharnhorst and completed on 07/01/1939 which was 43 months after her keep was re-laid.

    ITTL Armoured Ship D was still laid down on 14/02/1934, but because she had been ordered as a 35,000 ton battle cruiser in the first place she was launched on 03/06/1935 and completed on 07/09/1937. That is like the OTL Scharnhorst she was launched 16 months after being laid down and completed 43 months after she was laid down.

    In both timelines Tirpitz was laid down on the same slip as Scharnhorst. Therefore bringing the launch of Scharnhorst from 03/10/1936 to 03/06/1935 allowed the laying down of Tirpitz to be brought forward from 02/11/1936 to 02/08/1935.

    Gneisenau (Ship E)

    According to Whitely Armoured Ship E was laid down at Deutsche Werke (Kiel) on 14/02/1934, but following the change of design her keel was re-laid 15 months later on 06/05/1935. She was launched on 08/12/36 as Gneisenau and completed on 21/05/38 which was 37 months after he keel was re-laid.

    ITTL Armoured Ship E was still laid down on 14/02/1934, but because she had been ordered as a 35,000 ton battle cruiser in the first place she was launched on 08/09/1935 and completed on 21/02/1937. That is like the OTL Gneisenau she was launched 19 months after being laid down and completed 37 months after she was laid down.

    IOTL the aircraft carrier Graff Zeppelin was built on the same slipway as Gneisenau and ITTL Battleship H was built there in her place. Therefore bringing the launch of Gneisenau forward from 08/12/1936 to 08/09/1935 allowed the laying down of Battleship h to be brought forward from 28/12/1936 to 28/09/1935.

    Bismarck (Battleship F)

    This ship was ordered from Blohm und Voss (Hamburg) on 16/08/1934 instead of 16/11/1935. She was laid down on 01/04/1935 instead of 01/071936 and launched 31 months later on 14/11/1937 instead of 14/05/1939. Her planned completion date was 01/07/1938 in May 1934 instead of 01/10/1939 as planned in October 1935, both of which were 39 months after she was laid down. However, she was actually completed on 28/05/1939 instead of 28/08/1940, both of which were 50 months after she was laid down so that the ship was completed 11 months late in both timelines.

    Tirpitz (Battleship G)

    This ship was ordered from Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven on 14/03/1935 instead of 14/06/1936. She was laid down on 02/08/1935 instead of 02/11/1936 and launched 29 months later on 01/01/1938 instead of 01/04/1939. Her planned completion date was 01/11/1938 in May 1935 instead of 01/02/1940 as planned in October 1939, both of which were 39 months after she was laid down. However, she was actually completed on 25/11/39 instead if 25/02/41, both of which were 52 months after she was laid down so that the ship was completed 13 months late in both timelines.

    Moltke (Battleship H)

    According to the OTL plan of October 1935 Battleship H was to be laid down in October 1937 as a repeat of Bismarck for completion on 01/02/41 which was 40 months later. This was not possible due to a lack of suitable slipways and it was decided to use the time to build her to a new design. However, due to the usual prolonged design process Battleship H was not ordered from Blohm und Voss (Habmurg) until 14/04/1939 and she was not laid down until 15/07/39.

    My original plan for this TTL was for the ship to be ordered from Deutsche Werke (Kiel) on 16/11/35 and laid down on 28/12/36 in place of Aircraft Carrier A (Graff Zeppelin). She was going to be launched 30 months later on 28/06/1939 and completed on 01/04/1941 because Bismarck and Tirpitz were launched and completed an average of 30 and 51 months respectively after laying down.

    However, now the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau have been brought forward about 15 months Battleship H was ordered on 16/08/34 (the same day as Bismarck), laid down on 28/09/35, launched on 28/03/38 and completed on 01/01/40.

    Goeben (Battleship J)

    In January 1937 when the British announced the construction of the 3 battleships which became Duke of York, Anson and Howe. This increased the German battleship quota under the Anglo-German Naval Agreement from 183,750 tons to 220,500 tons. The original plan was to use the extra 36,750 tons to build a fourth Bismarck which would be laid down on 01/05/1938 and completed on 01/11/1941. In common with the OTL Battleship H that timetable could not be met due to a shortage of shipways and the decision to build them to a new design mounting eight 16" guns. Therefore she wasn't ordered until 14/04/39 and was laid down at Deschimag A.G. (Bremen) on 15/08/1939.

    The K Class Battleships and O Class Battlecruisers
     
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    Part Five - Cruisers
  • Cruisers

    Cruiser Construction to January 1933


    ITTL cruiser construction was the same as OTL up to when the Nazis came to power. Therefore Emden, Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Köln and Leipzig had all the faults that belonged to the OTL ships. Only the Karlsruhe had her hull strengthened to cure those faults IOTL, but it might be possible to do better than that ITTL.

    The Breslau class Cruisers

    The POD is Cruiser F. The Reichsmarine wanted to build an enlarged Cruiser E (Leipzig) with the displacement increased to 8,000 tons, but the designers were preoccupied with what became the Hipper class heavy cruisers. Therefore she had to be a repeat of Leipzig.

    In both timelines Cruiser F was ordered on 16/03/1933, laid down at Deutsche Werke (Kiel) on 04/11/1933, launched 13 months later on 08/12/1934 and completed on 02/11/1935 or 2 days short of 2 years after she was laid down. As she was a considerably different ship from the OTL Cruiser F she was name Breslau ITTL to avoid confusion with the OTL ship (Nürnberg).

    IOTL Cruiser G (Blücher) and Cruiser H (Hipper) were ordered on 30/10/1934 well before Hitler denounced the Treaty of Versailles. ITTL they were ordered 18 months earlier than OTL as Breslau class light cruisers. However, at this stage the ordering of the seventh and eighth cruisers allowed by the Peace Treaty so far ahead of the real world was an unemployment measure by the Nazis as much as anything else. To avoid confusion with the OTL ships which were considerably different and because it fits in better with the German practice of naming their light cruisers after towns Cruiser G was named Stuttgart and Cruiser H was named Dresden.

    The TTL Cruiser G was laid down at Deutsche Werke (Kiel) on 15/02/1934 a full 18 months before the ship. She was launched 16 months later on 08/06/1935 (the real ship was launched 22 months after she was laid down). She was completed on 20/09/1937, which was 11 months later than her planned completion date of 10/10/1936. However, the real Cruiser G was not completed until 20/09/1939 and was also finished 11 months late.

    The TTL Cruiser H was laid down at Blohm und Voss (Hamburg) on 06/01/1934 a full 18 months before real ship. She was launched 13 months later on 06/02/1935 (the real ship was launched 19 months after she was laid down). She was completed on 29/04/1937, which was 10 months later than her planned completion date of 14/04/1936. However, the real Cruiser H was not completed until 29/04/1939 and was also finished 10 months late.

    The earlier building of the Scharnhorst and Gneiseanau, the denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles and the subsequent Anglo-German Naval Agreement meant that Cruisers J, K and L were also ordered and laid down 18 months earlier than OTL. As time was the essence they were ordered as additional units of the Breslau and were given town names like their sisters.

    Cruiser J (Mainz) was ordered from Germainiawerft (Kiel) on 30/06/1934 and laid down on 23/10/1934 both a full 18 months earlier than the real ship (Prinz Eugen). However, she was launched on 22/08/36 which was 22 months after she was laid down when the real ship was launched 28 months after laying down. She was completed on 01/08/1938, which was 15 months later than her planned completion date of 15/05/1937. However, the real Cruiser J was not completed until 01/08/1940 and was also finished 15 months late.

    Cruisers K (Rostock) and L (Wiesbaden) were both ordered from Deschimag A.G. (Bremen) on 18/01/1935 both a full 18 months earlier than the real ships (Seydlitz and Lützow).

    Cruiser K was laid down on 29/06/1935 which was 18 months earlier than the OTL ship, but in common with her sisters was ready to launch 6 months earlier than the real Cruiser K. Therefore she was launched on 19/01/1937 instead of 19/01/1939. She was to have been completed on 31/12/1937 which was 30 months after she was laid down. However, she was actually completed 15 months late on 29/03/1939. The real Cruiser K was never completed, but had she taken as long to build as Prinz Eugen she would have been completed on 29/03/1941.

    Cruiser L was laid down on 02/08/1936 which was 18 months earlier than the OTL ship, but in common with her sisters was ready to launch 6 months earlier than the real Cruiser L. Therefore she was launched on 01/07/1937 instead of 01/07/1939. She was to have been completed on 01/07/1938 which was 29 months after she was laid down. However, she was actually completed 16 months late on 02/11/1939. The real Cruiser L was never completed, but had she taken as long to build as Prinz Eugen she would have completed on 02/11/1941.

    The OTL Cruiser F was built in 24 months and although the TTL ship was built to a larger design I have had her built in the same length of time ITTL. 5 Hipper class of OTL were scheduled to take an average of 36 months to build. However, the average for the first 3 was 48 months. Seydlitz and Lützow were not completed IOTL, but for the purposes of this essay I have said that they would have been built in 51 months like Prinz Eugen. The estimated time for the 5 Breslau class built in their place ITTL was 30 months because that was the projected building time for the OTL Kreuzer M of similar displacement. Unfortunately, because I have brought the rest of the increase in new construction forward 15-18 months the overloading of the German naval shipbuilding industry was brought forward by 15-18 months too. Therefore the OTL and TTL ships were both delayed by an average 13½ months. However, because they were all begun 18 months earlier ITTL 4 ships were completed before the war began and the fifth about 2 months afterwards. IOTL only 2 had been completed before war broke out and only one more would be completed 11 months after war broke out.

    OTOH the five 8,000 ton light cruisers of TTL consume fewer resources than the two 14,050 and three 16,974 ton cruisers of OTL. For a start they used less steel with a combined standard displacement of 40,000 tons compared to 79,022 of the OTL ships which was nearly twice as much. The combined main armament of forty five 6" guns in 15 triple turrets would use fewer gun pits than the OTL ships forty 8" in 20 twin turrets.
     
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    Part Six - Destroyers
  • Destroyers


    An enlargement of the 1920s classes instead of the F, T and some of he Z-boats.
     
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    Part Eight - Minor War Vessels
  • Make the pre-war M-boats easier to produce and concentrate on building these versatile vessels.
     
    Part Nine - Auxiliaries
  • Try to build more tankers of the Altmark type. This is because Germany will need all the tankers it can get to support the surface raiders and they should form the basis of a useful escort carrier.
     
    Part Ten - Miscellaneous
  • Make torpedoes that work and because they are told to prepare for a war in January 1938 a bigger stock of magnetic mines.
     
    Part Eleven - The Maritime Luftwaffe
  • The Maritime Luftwaffe

    27 land based G.R. squadrons instead of 14 squadrons of floatplanes and flying boats by the Spring of 1939.
    12 aircraft carrier squadrons by September 1939 instead of 3
    2 catapult aircraft squadrons by September 1939 as OTL.

    369 aircraft in 41 squadrons of 9 plus 123 aircraft in immediate reserve (3 aircraft per squadron)

    2 full strength "see bomber" geschwader with a torpedo that worked in September 1939 - it expands into X. Fliegerkorps.
    1 full strength kampfgeshwader for minelaying in September 1939 - it expands into IX. Fligerkorps.
     
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