Figure 1.--The Battle of the Atlantic is arguably the most critical struugle of World War II. Britain was not self sufficent in food production. Here an evacuee boys helps with the harvest, but unless Britain could import food from America and the Dominions, Britain would have starved. Admiral Dönietz calculated that if his U-boasts sank enough British freighters that the could starve Britain out of the War. Churchhill wrote after the war that the U-boats were the threat that worried him the most. And as in World War I, the German Navy believed that its U-boats could prevent the United States from projecting its power overseas. Döneitz came very close to achieving these goals. Fortunartely for the Allies, Hitler and the Naval High Command focused on surface ships. Hitler in particular at first favored large ships like the 'Bismarck'.

The Treaty of Versilles required that all German U-boats be turned over to the Allies and that the German Navy not build or deploy any U-boats in the future. This was in addition to turningbover the major battleships of the highseas fleet. The Highseas fleet saled to Scappa Flow, but instead of rurning over the vesselss to the British scuttled much of the fleet. The Royal Navy had been strongly depleted during the inter-war era by naval limitations treaties. The Depression which began in 1929 affected appropriations. Although the Royal Navy had been weakened by the inter-war naval limitations treaties, it still outclassed the German Kriegsmarine which operated under the limitations of the Versailles Treaty. Even so the Kriegsmarine conducted secret reserarch. They also helped secure cobntracts for German shipyards to build submarines for other countries. The construction of U-boats was not outlawed by the treaty. This mean that Germany even before the NAZI take over was developing U-boat technology during the 1920s. Hitler unilaterally abrogated the Versailles Treay (1935). This could have resulted in war, but neither Britain and France had any desire for a new war. The British response was to negotiate a naval agreement with the NAZI Germany (1935). The agreement allowed the NAZIs begin a naval armaments program at their weakest point. Britain in the agreement ceeded the right of Germany to build U-boats. NAZI Germany's new U-boat fleet was put in the hands of Admiral Karl Doenitz, a fervant NAZI supporter. Doenitz was a decorated World War I U-boat commander who like many other naval commanders had been humiliated by Germany's defeat in World War I. He began to aggressivey build a new German submarine force. Resources were at first limited. Hitler's priorities were his Panzers and the Luftwaffe. Even within the Kriegsmarine resources were focused on surface ships. Yes the NAZI armaments program was so extensive that Doenitz was able to build a sunstantial number of modern U-boats. He worked aggressively on developing improved technology, including saftey measures, and tactics. Hitler gave lttle attention to the U-boat fleet until after the War began. Hitler approved Plan-Z, a secret plan to prepare the Kriegsmarine for war with Britain by 1944. It involved the construction of massive capital ships and two aircraft carriers. Hitler's inclination was to focus on large overwealming weapons. Thus he was attracted to large battleships like Bismarck and Tripitz rather than small U-boats.

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The Treaty of Versilles required that all German U-boats be turned over to the Allies and that the German Navy not build or deploy any U-boats in the future. This was in addition to turningbover the major battleships of the highseas fleet. The Highseas fleet saled to Scappa Flow, but instead of rurning over the vesselss to the British scuttled much of the fleet.

Washington Naval Confrence (1921-22)

The major naval powers (America, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan) agreed to major limitations on their naval strength which at the time was measured in battleships. American Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes organized a conference to address the problem os spiraling naval expendidutres as a result of the naval arms race. Senator William E. Borah, Republican of Idaho, who had ledt the fight againstvAmerican ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and participation in the League of Nations, strongly advocated efforts to limit the arms race. His efforts were not at first favored by the new Harding administration, but was eventually adopted as the Republican alternative to the Democrat's (Wilson's) policy of collective security through the League of Nations. The Confrence opened on Armistice Day 1921--a very meaningful date so close to World War I. he American delegation was led by Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes shocked the other delegates by proposing a major reduction in naval fleets and not just limitations on new construction. This was far beyond what the other countries had anticipated. Some have called this one of the most dramatic moments in American diplomatic history. The American proposals entailed scrapping almost 2 million tons of warships as well as alengthy “holiday” on new building.

The Royal Navy: Inter-war Years

The Royal Navy was been strongly depleted during the inter-war era by naval limitations treaties and economy-minded governments. Government officials believed that the Versailles Treaty removed the German threat and that the Japanese threat was limited by its dependence on raw material imports. Labour formed a Government for a second time (1929). Labour is the British socialist party. MacDonald and his Party were strongly influenced by the traditional pacifist sentiment within the world socialist movement. (A sentiment not shared by the Soviet Union.) MacDonald was not a pacifist, but he seems to have believed that a strong military was more of a danger than a means of preventing future war. MacDonald sponsorded a disarmament conference in London. He suspended work on the Singapore naval base as a goodwill gesture to Japan. And he moved to scale back miitary spending in Britain. In particular he placed a limit of 50 cruisers on the Royal Navy. Cruisers were not covered by the Washington Naval Treaties. MacDonald approved the 50 crusier limit despite the findings of the Admiralty that 70 cruisers were the bare minimum needed. The MacDonald premiership (1929-35) in all fairness began before the rise of Hitler and the Japanese militarists and, as a result, of the Depression had to turn to the Conservatives to form a National Government. But his outlook and budgets had a major impact on the strength of the Royal Navy with which Britain would fight World War II. The Depression which also began in 1929 substantially affected appropriations. Not only was the force structure limited, but Important projcts were delyed. One of many such projects was the upgrading of HMS Hood with needed deck armor.

Reichmarine/Kriegsmarine

Although the Royal Navy had been weakened by the inter-war naval limitations treaties, it still outclassed the German Kriegsmarine which operated under the limitations of the Versailles Treaty. Even so the Kriegsmarine conducted secret reserarchh. They also helped secure cobntracts for German shipyards to build submarines for other countries. The construction of U-boats was not outlawed by the treaty. This mean that Germany even before the NAZI take over was developing U-boat technology during the 1920s.

Grand Adminral Erich Raeder

Erich Raeder who had been respobsible for naval training became the commanding officer of the Reichmarine (1928). He replaced Hans Zenker who had been exposed as being involved in secrret operations outlawed by the Versailles Treaty. He faced many obstacles including the Versailles restrictions and questions as to wheter Germany needed a navy from both military and civilian sources. Rising politician Adolf Hitler ridiculed the Navy not only in Merin Kampf, but in a publidhed article and speehes. Raeder develop a working relationship with President Hindenberg and the Reiuchstag. He not only managed to save the Reichmarine, but obtained funding for pocket battleships as well as secret U-boat projects. Even before the NAZIs came to power, Raeder gained support for a substantial expansion (Umbau) of the Reichmarine. And after Hitler came to power he proved to be surprisingly amenanle to the Reichmasrine which was remaned the Kriegsmarine. Raeder as commander of the Reichmarine had direct access to Hitler. And in those meetings, Hitler again and again reinterated several points: 1) he backed the creatiion of a poweful surface fleet, 2) there would be no war before the fleet was built, and 3) there would be no repeat of Woirld War II where Germany would fight the British and Royal Navy. Even before the War was over, Raeder was subjected to criticism for decitng limited resources on massive capital ships like Bismarck rather than U-boats. But the priorities of Raeder and OKM have to placed in the context of what they were told by Hitler as to the strategic challenges they would face.

Pocket Battleships

The Versailles Treaty prohibited Germany from building battleships. The Germans, however, proceeded to build a series of armoured or heavy cruisers" which the British called pocket battleships. The Treaty restricted the Germans to ships of 10,000 tons. The new German battleships were actually 12,000-14,000 tons. The German pocket battleships were were Deutchland (1929), Admiral Scheer (1931)*, and Graf Spee (1932). The three ships were all launched between 1931-34. The Deutschland was renamed Lützow (November 1939). The reason was the propaganda implications if a ship named eutschland being sunk. As Deutschland was the first of the series, the ships are reffered to as the Deutschland-class. The three ships were similar, but not identical. The Grf Spee, thelast of the three to be built included some importantb innovations.

Anglo-German Naval Treaty (June 1935)

Hitler unilaterally abrogated the Versailles Treay when he announced both the creation of the Luftwaffe and the resumtion of conscription (1935). This could have resulted in war, but neither Britain and France had any desire for a new war. The British response was to negotiate a naval agreement with the NAZI Germany. The agreement allowed the NAZIs to begin a naval armaments program at their weakest point. Britain in the agreement ceeded the right of Germany to build U-boats. The Treaty of Versailles prohbited the Germans from building U-boats. British naval planners were convinced that ASDAC (SONAR) had rendered the submarine obsolete. In addition the U-boat threat had been so completely defeated in 1917 that Royal Navy experts were not concerned with a new U-boat threat. The treaty was a major victory for the NAZIS. The British agreed to levels of parity with the Germans. The Germans were allowed to build a surface fleet equal to 35 percent of the British surface fleet and 45 percent of British submarine fleet. As the Germans had virtually no navy at the time they could begin to build a substantial number of vessels without viloating the terms of the treaty. Of course Hitler reasoned that once the levels were reached, he could negotiate new limits or build in violation of the treaty. The Agreement freed the Germans to build both battleships and U-boats. Hitler was less interested in the navy than the army and air force. He thus interfered less. He left choices on naval armament primarily to the admirals. And they chose to use the limited available resources to build surface ships, especially batleships and battle cruisers. Relatvely limited resources were devoted to U-boats.

Battlecrusiers

The Kreigsmarine moved quickly to take advatage of the Anglo-German Naval Treary (1935). The two Scharnhorst class were the first German capital ships built since World War I. They are often refeered to as battleships, but the less heavily armed term battlecruisser is a more accurate description. The class consisted of two ships: the lead ship Scharnhorst (1935) and Geisenau (1935).

New U-boat Fleet

Admiral Raeder placed NAZI Germany's new U-boat fleet in the hands of Admiral Karl Dönitz, a fervant NAZI supporter. Doenitz was a decorated World War I U-boat commander who like many other naval commanders had been humiliated by Germany's defeat in World War I. He began to aggressivey build a new German submarine force. Resources were at first limited. Hitler's priorities were his Panzers and the Luftwaffe. Even within the Kriegsmarine resources were focused on surface ships. Yes the NAZI armaments program was so extensive that Doenitz was able to build a sunstantial number of modern U-boats. He worked aggressively on developing improved technology, including saftey measures. Doenitz decided to focus on surface attacks at night concluding that surface attacks would counter the British development of ASDAC (SONAR). New torpedoes were developed, first with percussion dentonators and latter with more effective mnafnattic denotanors. He also spent a great deal of time in developing tactics to deal with technological advances. Doenitz by the end of 1935 had 13 U boats which were housed in especially designed concrete submarine pens. The limitations of the 1935 Naval Agreement with the British was on tonnage. Doenitz did not see this as a major limitation, reasoning that a larger number of smaller U-boats was more effective force han a small number of large boats. The new German U-boat force was a volunteer force. There was a very demanding training program through which only the most competent officers and men were allowed into the force. U-boat men came to look on each other as the cream of the German navy.

German U-Boats

Small: Type II (Small)

Type II were small boats of about 250 ton. They were used for training and reconisance. Type 9 was the larger boats ranging from 1,100 1,400 tons.

Type VII (Medium)

Type VII was the principal U-boat deployed by the Kriegsmarine. They were boats from 500-750 ton with a crew of 56. They had twin diesel engines of 1400 HP which could drive the boat on the suface at 17 knots. They also had twin electric engiines 750 HP giving speeds 8 knots under water. They carried 11-14 torpedoes which the Germans called eels. (American submariners called them fish.) There were four bow torpedo tubes and one stern tube. They were armed with the German 88-mm gun, the most effective artillery piece of the War. The Type VIIs was the U-boat Döentiz wanted to fight the Battle of the Atlantic.

Type IX (Large)

OKM insisted on building quite a number of type IX U-boats. They were not the ones was Döentiz wanted.

Type XXI (Electro boats)

These were the most U-boats built by the Germans. They were built with the capability of remaining sunmerged for long periods. Some claim that if introiduced earlier it could have won the Battle of the Atlantic. There were, however, major design and manufacturing flaws. Some resulted from the Allied strategic bombing campaign which greatly complicated manufacruring projects, especially large operatioins. Shipyaards were priority targets for the Allied bombers.

New Battleships

Next Hitler moved to build true battleships. The keels of two new battleships were laid Bismark (1936) and Tirpitz (1936). These were gigantic 51,000 ton ships with eight 15 in guns. The decession to build these ships may have been a decisive step in the war to come. These ships like the German highseas fleet of Wotld war I played no notable role in the War. Battleships were the nost expesive weapons to build. The were enormously expensive ships requiring vast quantities of steel and other materials. If the Germans had put the resources required in building U-boats, Germany would have entered World war II with a U-boat force that almost certainly could have severed Britain's maritime sea lines. Here the blame for this decession can not be place solely on Adolf Hitler who loved nothing more than large over-powering weapons. It was the ledership of the German navy that wanted a powerful surface fleet--especially battleships.

Czecholosvakia (May 1938)

Hitler's plans to destroy Czechoslovakia proved to be the turning point fpr the Kriegsmarine. After seizing Austria in the Anschluss (March 1938), he was rebuffed by Britain and France in his first attempt to seize the Sudetenland (May 1938). He was humiliated and furious and thus began to prepare the grounds for war. One of the steps he took was to summons Admiral Raeder to the Reichs Chancellery. He proceeded to reverse repeated assurances he had made to Raeder. [Blair] He ordered Raeder to begin planning for war with Britain as the principal naval opponent. He also ordered Raeder to submit plans for a massive buildup of nacal forces. (This would lead to the Z Plan. This was in part to disuade Britain from intervening in Germany's continental policy. He assured Raeder that he would attept to court the British and diplomatically avoid confrontation, but the prpspect of war with the Royal Navy now had to be considered.

Plan Z

Hitler gave lttle attention to the U-boat fleet until after the War began. He basically accepted the jusgements of OKM. His mind was primasrily focused on the Heer and land campaigns. He also was impressed with aize. Projects like Mismarck were miuch more appealing. Not only was he impressed with size, but he thought that big battleships had a greater political impact in the British, perhaps disuading them from involvement on the Continent. Hitler approved Plan-Z, a secret plan to prepare the Kriegsmarine for war with Britain by 1944. It involved the construction of massive capital ships including eigh super battleships and five battle cruisers. In addition two air craft carriers were planned. Hitler's inclination was to focus on large overwealming weapons. Thus he was attracted to large battleships like Bismarck and Tirpitz rather than small U-boats. Hitler also planned to build a gigantic 140,000 ton battleship which would have been twice the size of the Japanese Yamato (the largest battle ship class ever constructed) and would be equipped with eight 20 in guns.

Renouncing the Anglo-German Naval Treaty

The German invasion of Czecholslovakia (March 15, 1939)in total violation of the Munich accords was the turning point for the British, shoeing the futility of Primeminister Chamberlain's policy of appeasement. Even Chamberlain saw this. The British response was immddiate--a guarantee to Poland (March 31, 1939). Hitler who alreadyhad his eyes on Poland, was furious. He reportedly said, "I shall brew them a devil's brew". [Maiolo, page 178.] Hitler in a Wilhelmshaven speech at the launching of Tirpitz, he for the first time threatened to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Treaty if the British continued with their "encirclement" policy. He then denounced the Treaty (April 28, 1939). To provoke a British response and an excuse, the Kriegsmarine began refusing to share information about their shipbuilding. Thus the British had to either blindly accept the unilateral German move or reject it. Their rejection provided Hitler his excuse.

Warship Tonnage

Warship tonnages are usually quoted as the displacement - i.e. the weight of water displaced by the ship, which is equal to the weight of the ship. In the years leading up to World War II, this would usually be standard displacement (an artificial figure, invented for treaty purposes) or full load displacement (the displacement when fully prepared for war). Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) is actually a measure of volume (one register ton corresponds to 100 cubic feet), and was only used for cargo ships.

Sources

Blair, Clay. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 19839-1942 (Random House: New York, 1996), 809p.

Maiolo, Joseph. The Royal Navy and Nazi Germany.

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* These dates are the dates the ships were layed down. The actual launching and combat fitting would take a few more years.

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Created: May 5, 2003
Last updated: 8:39 PM 7/25/2010