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From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: The Kriegsmarine in WWII
Message-ID: <6329@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 6 May 89 03:37:27 GMT
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From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)

goofy!Apple.COM!livesey@apple.com (John Livesey) write:

[excellent description of the Kriegmarine's strategic options]

>It has always seemed to me that the German Navy chose the strategy
>that had the highest risk and the lowest payoff.   Comments?

There were many other mitigating factors.  Perhaps foremost is the
success achieved by German convoy raiders in WWI, exemplified by
the Emden.  This led to a large portion of German naval policy
being aimed at surface raiding, and was reinforced by the fact
that Germany could not build a fleet strong enough to seriously
compete with the Royal Navy; it was economically unfeasible, and
Hitler wanted, politically, to keep the British unruffled.  He
personally decided to arm the Scharnhorsts with 11" guns largely
to appease the British.

Further, Admiral Raeder was under considerable pressure to produce results.
Hitler had little love for capital ships, to begin with, and probably
didn't want to wait patiently for Tirpitz' completion; he demanded results.
Bismarck's sortie was to be a propaganda coup, and, if successful, would 
probably had led to the Kriegsmarine gaining considerably more influence
and respect.

Finally, Hitler was riding a nearly unbroken string of successes, and
probably felt that he could do no wrong.

By and large, though, the Kriegsmarine's war efforts seem to be a comedy
of errors.  The Norway operation was terrifically bungled; Graf Spee
suffered an ignonimous fate; Bismarck, then Tirpitz were lost in futile
efforts; Scharnhorst, at least, went down honorably, while her sister
Gneisenau rusted away in port.  The light cruisers saw vitually no
action, being considered unsafe in high seas, and most of the rest of
the fleet was confined to the safe waters of the Baltic, providing 
offshore bombardment for the Army.  

Hidden, though, are numerous successes; the minelayers and minesweepers
performed well in the Channel; torpedo boats and E-boats also gave
heroic service.  And of course, the U-boats are famed.  My impression
is that Raeder, with all due respect, was overly timid; and when pressured
for results, usually bungled the job.  It is, of course, easy to second-
guess after nearly 50 years.



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Bill Thacker      moderator, sci.military      military@att.att.com
		      (614) 860-5294
"War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life
or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be 
thoroughly studied."   -  Sun Tzu