Kreigsmarine Battleships, and the what ifs.

The German navy, Kreigsmarine, had some impressive ships. The Bismarck and the Tirpitz being the best known. These two sister ships were really very good. Mounting eight 15" guns a peice, and a good armor and speed complement, they were very capable surface ships. The Bismarck actually sank the HMS Hood, blowing the mighty British Battlecruiser to peices with a single salvo from her guns. However, these ships could have been much better usesd. Had the Bismarck and Tirpitz, Prinz Eugen, and Scharnhorst broken out all together, they could have met with U-boats, and become a true anti-commerce raiding party, breaking the lone raider concept for safety in numbers and big guns. However, the Bismarck class had one major disadvantage, besides the single rudder configuration ( Bismarcks downfall ) and it was the AA compliment. The Bismarck proved this when it couldnt shoot down Swordfish from the carrier Ark royal, ( the Swordfish was an old biplane torpedo bomber, used by the Royal Navy). So if the AA was stepped up, and the ships afore mentioned broke out, it could have meant deep trouble for the commerce of Great Britain. The U-boats and aircraft from the ships being the scouts, and the "raiding party" moving in for the kill. The U-Boats could also be used to draw escorts away, leaving the convoy wide open. Just imagine sixteen 15" guns, and more, along with Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen patrolling the sea routes. That spells trouble.

[Jim Oxley]

Supposedly the reason behind the rushed planning and execution of the Bismarck sortie was the Kreigsmarine's fear that radar-equipped ships of the Royal Navy would make the unobserved breaking out into the Atlantic from bases in Germany all but impossible. They were too late.

Nevertheless, if they had planned better eg co-ordination of the Luftwaffe and the U-Boat arm, and waited for the Tirpitz to be ready, those two battleships alone would have been an incredibly powerful force to reckon with. And with the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Admiral Scheer sailing from Brest, the Kreigsmarine would have fielded a Fleet that could have taken on anything the RN could have thrown against it.

An interesting scenario.

Thank you, wow, i know more about the Kreigsmarine than the Luftwaffe, last time i proposed a scenario there, i was an idiot, nice to know something i say isnt scoffed at by every reader. thanks for the compliment.

[drgondog]

Lol - you are obviously not "an idiot" about posing the threat posed by Kreigsmarine against the Royal Navy, and even more to surface transportation from America which was lifeblood of England in 1941-1943.

Having said that, none of the capital ships on both sides of the war survived when absent air superiority, particularly after 1942.

Airpower killed the notion of BB's and cruisers dominating naval operations.

A specific good example is the Tirpitz which was rendered ineffective, hounded into port and destroyed because the Luftwaffe could not protect it. Ditto Yamoto, etc.

Subs and carriers dominated control of the seas. Even with lousy torps the USN subs were extremely effective in the early days when most of the US heavy fleet was under water or in dry dock. German subs were devasting until radar equipped long range partols from land and aircraft carriers provided the coverage needed to destroy them.

Regards,

Bill