alternatehistory.com

OK, I did get this from the wikipedia article on the Deutschland-class cruisers, better known as the pocket battleships Admiral Speer, Graf Spee and Lutzow, but this little paragraph stood out . . .

When the particulars of the design became known by the Allies, they attempted to prevent Germany from building them. The Reichsmarine offered to halt construction on the first ship in exchange for admittance to the Washington Treaty with a ratio of 125,000 long tons (127,000 t) to Britain's allotment of 525,000 long tons (533,000 t) of capital ship tonnage. In doing so, this would effectively abrogate the clauses in the Treaty of Versailles that limited Germany's naval power. Britain and the United States favored making concessions to Germany, but France refused to allow any revisions to the Treaty of Versailles. Since the ships did not violate the terms of the Treaty, the Allies could not prevent Germany from building them after a negotiated settlement proved unattainable.
125,000 tonnes, with a maximum tonnage of 33,000 tonnes each, would have allowed 4 ships of about 31,000 tonnes. Careful design, and construction similar to that used in the Deutschlands could have produced some impressive ships - any ideas on specifications?

What would have been the effect of these ships when WW2 broke out? They would probably remove the need for the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and maybe even the Bismarck and Tirpitz - or maybe the Kriegsmarine would see them as the foundation of a balanced fleet and concentrate more on the surface navy?
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