Nazi Germany (1929-43) – 4 Battleships: Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck, Tirpitz. Projects of Plan Z. If PLAN Z was completed in 1946-1950 as scheduled, the Kriegsmarine would have 10 battleships, 3 battlecruisers and 15 Panzerschiffe. However the German Navy was the least of priorities for Hitler and his general staff, mostly focusing on the Wehrmacht and … Read more
Nazi Germany: 1936A and 1936A mob: Z23-Z39 (Built 1938-1943) The Type 1936B destroyers (Z35 class) were the last Kriegsmarine wartime destroyers. They were laid down between June 1941 and September 1943 and due to the wartime difficulties encountered by the conderned yards (Deschimag in Bremen and Germaniawerft in Kiel) only three ships out of the … Read more
Nazi Germany: 1936A and 1936A mob: Z23-Z39 (Built 1938-1943) The Type 1936A destroyers (Z23 class) were probably the best known of the Kriegsmarine wartime destroyer, the most numerous and powerful at the same time. In British literrature they are often known as the “Narvik” class. The initial type 1936A consisted in eight ships instead of … Read more
Nazi Germany: Z17-Z22 (1938-1945) The Type 1936 destroyers (Z17 class) were six destroyers of the Kriegsmarine, ordered in 1936, built from 1937 all at Deschmimag in Bremen, and completely before the war started (apart two). As previous ones they were all named after distinguished German seamen killed in World War I. They strongly derived from … Read more
Nazi Germany: Z5-Z16 (1936-1945) The Z5 class or 1934A Zerstörer (destroyers) were twelve fleet destroyers built in the mid-1930s for the Kriegsmarine, essentially repeats of the Type 1934 but with a clipper bow for improved seakeeping, the staukeil short under transom keel to imporve agility, raise the stern at high speed. But these were criticized … Read more
Nazi Germany: Z1 Leberecht Maas, Z2 Georg Thiele, Z3 Max Schulz, Z4 Richard Beitzen (1934-1945) The 1934 Type destroyers (Zerstörer) were the first Kriegsmarine true fleet destroyers, illegal as per the Versailles Treaty when developed from 1932, and legalized (but by declaring fake tonnage) after the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935… For this important new … Read more
Kriegsmarine, 25 ships (1936-1945) Introduction The Kriegsmarine, or German Navy from 1933 onwards was like the US and Royal Navy interested to provide distant support to its assets, whether they were U-Bootes, S-Bootes (motor torpedo boats) or R-Bootes (minesweepers) and built 12 fleet tenders, 3 gunnery training ships doubling as wartime minelayers, two generic fleet … Read more
Nazi Germany, 980 planned, 61 completed (1944-45) The true Elektroboot The Type XXI were large scale production Kriegsmarine’s “wunderwaffe” planned by Nazi Germany at the end of the war. Alongside the smaller Type XXIII “Elektobote” and numerous “midgets” at a stage events verged on desperation, the Type XXIII was also supposed to reverse the situation. … Read more
Germany (1925), Light Cruiser First postwar cruiser in Germany, the Emden (from the city, also to honour the famous 1914 corsair cruiser was authorized in 1921 in an unfavourable economic environment and suspicious allies. Emden was directly modelled after the last german cruisers built in WWI, the “Königsberg II” and the projected 1916 Flottenkreuzer (FK1) … Read more
Kriegsmarine Kreuzer 17* cruisers between the Reichsmarine and 1945 Germany Day ! The development of ww2 german cruisers started in interwar Germany, restarted in 1933 but cut short by the war, with plan Z postponed and cancelled later. It left the Kriegsmarine with just ten light cruisers and three heavy cruisers just completed, the remainder … Read more
