Figure 1.--This is the crew of a British merchant ship sunk by "Scharnhotst". The civilities of saving the crews of merchant ships were practiced early in the War. The German Navy was totally unprepared for War. Thus after the Norway operation (1940), its only possible use was commerce raiding. This meant commiting valuable surface units to high risk operations-a terribly wasteful tactic. And the Royal Navy with help from the RAF gradually destroyed it ship by ship.

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935) permitted Germany to again begin building both battleships and U-boats. The Navy focused primarily on surface ships. Hitler launched the War only 4 years later. The Navy which had been given relatively meager resources was totally unprepared for War. The Navy had limited resources and the resources it had were in the perspective of history very poorly utilized. Creating a surface fleet in 4 years that could wage war against the Royal Navy was an impossible task. The German Navy had some excellent ships and well trained crews, but simply did not have a force capable of challenging the Royal Navy. The most successful German surface ship was the battle cruiser Scharnhorst, launched (1936). It the fighting off Norway, aided by German code breakers managed to sink the British carrier HMS Glorious (1940). This was the only carrier sunk by a battleship during the War. (Several carriers were sank by submarines.) Even so the Germany Navy was seriously weakened as its destroyer fleet was largely destroyed by the Royal Navy in the Norwegian campign. After Norway, the large German ships (battleships and battle cruisers) were deployed piecemeal in commerce raiding operations. This meant commiting valuable surface units to high risk operations-a terribly wasteful tactic. This was especially the case when the United States began building merchants ships, the venerable Liberty Ships were not perty. And they were an inplausible war-winning craft. But they were built so rapidly and in such numbers that the German Navy could simply not contnd with them. The German surface units were gradually destroyed by the Royal Navy and Royal air Force. Hitler always liked to think big. Two of the principal projects were Bismarck and Tripitz. Both were designed in violation of the the size terms of the Naval Agreement with Britain. Neither were ready when the war began and each was more than a match for any single British battleship. In the end neither had an important impact. Bismarck after sinking Hood was sunk by the Royal Navy in a desperate sea engagement (1941). Tripitz was sunk in a Norwegian fjord (1944). Both of these were massive building projects. If the resources had been put in U-boats they would have had a very significant impact on the War.

Created: 5:38 AM 7/31/2008
Last updated: 5:38 AM 7/31/2008