The Forgotten Reason Nazi Germany Never Built a Killer Battleship Fleet

[DemolitionMan]

Sebastien Roblin

Dönitz was right—the mere possibility of a German battleship sortie forced the Royal Navy to devote disproportionately large forces in reserve just to protect against the threat. This is a strategy known as having a “fleet in being.” Even if the Germans couldn’t use their surface fleet, they could tie down British forces and constrict their strategy with the threat that they might use theirs if the British let down their guard.

Hitler’s orders nonetheless had consequences. Nazi Germany did not commission a single additional capital ship for the remainder of World War II, and a refit of the battleship Gneisenau was abandoned halfway through. Many sailors were reassigned to serve in naval infantry divisions. The Kriegsmarine attempted only one more capital ship sortie, which ended with the sinking of the battleship Scharnhorst.

At first glance, the Battle of the Barents Sea seems insignificant, a minor World War II naval battle in which a couple of destroyers were sunk. Yet the New Year’s Eve skirmish in frozen Arctic waters convinced Hitler that he should scrap all of his capital ships and had far-reaching consequences on the leadership of Nazi Germany. The reason why points to the dilemmas inherent to being an underdog in naval warfare.

During World War I, the Imperial German Navy had disposed of dozens of massive battleships, dreadnoughts and battlecruisers—but due to their numerical inferiority vis-à-vis the British Royal Navy, almost never committed them to battle, with the notable exception of the inconclusive clash at Jutland.

In 1939 Hitler conceived of an ambitious “Plan Z” to build a large fleet to rival the British Royal Navy—one that would reach full strength in 1945, the year World War II ended. Instead, the German Kriegsmarine entered the war with around sixteen modern cruisers and battleships and twenty destroyers. The successful invasion of Norway in February 1940 cost the German Navy two light cruisers and half its destroyers, as well as many ships damaged.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-forgotten-reason-nazi-germany-never-built-killer-21131

[DemolitionMan]

I believe that there was a aircraft carrier called the Graf Zepplin. The keel was laid but never completed

[goatprairie]

After the fall of France and the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 the British feared a subsequent German invasion of the home island was imminent.
It never happened.  For one thing Hitler thought the Allies were defeated and would sue for peace. Secondly, he didn't have any plans or the necessary resources to invade Britain  at the time.
By the time he had decided on some sort of action, Britain had built up enough defenses. By December it was simply too late for a German invasion to be anything but an unmitigated disaster.
Germany lost the Battle of Britain. Without controlling the skies the German invasion forces would be at the mercy of not only the superior RAF but the British navy as well.  German troops would have been slaughtered trying to get across the channel.

[Bigun]

Oceans are scarce as hen's teeth in Germany!

[DemolitionMan]

After the fall of France and the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 the British feared a subsequent German invasion of the home island was imminent.
It never happened.  For one thing Hitler thought the Allies were defeated and would sue for peace. Secondly, he didn't have any plans or the necessary resources to invade Britain  at the time.
By the time he had decided on some sort of action, Britain had built up enough defenses. By December it was simply too late for a German invasion to be anything but an unmitigated disaster.
Germany lost the Battle of Britain. Without controlling the skies the German invasion forces would be at the mercy of not only the superior RAF but the British navy as well.  German troops would have been slaughtered trying to get across the channel.

He should of put his resources of making Spain his ally and seizing the Gibraltar port and the Suez Canal.

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2013/09/hitlers-missed-opportunity-failing-to-smash-the-rock-of-gibraltar/

[sneakypete]

Oceans are scarce as hen's teeth in Germany!

@Bigun

And there you have it.

The Germans saw themselves as dominating the European land mass,not as a seagoing power. Thus the had no need for a large and expensive navy. They had tanks and bombers to build.