The Z-Plan

The Z-Plan was Germany's fleet construction program, developed shortly before the Second World War. During the mid-1930s, the naval command debated two competing approaches. One favored a large submarine force supported by a relatively small surface fleet for coastal defense. The other proposed a balanced fleet of surface warships with a smaller U-boat arm, broadly comparable to the Imperial Navy of the First World War or the contemporary Royal Navy. After several revisions, this second approach became the Z-Plan.

The completed fleet was intended to comprise about 800 vessels: 13 battleships and battlecruisers, four aircraft carriers, 15 Panzerschiffe, 23 cruisers and 22 Spähkreuzer, which were essentially large destroyers. Numerous smaller vessels were also planned. Construction was scheduled between 1939 and 1946, while Kriegsmarine strength was to rise to 201,000 personnel. The new ships alone were expected to cost more than 33 billion Reichsmarks.

Whether German industry could ever have supplied the necessary resources is doubtful, as is the assumption that other European naval powers would not have responded with programs of their own. Implementation officially began on 29 January 1939. Two H-class battleships were laid down, but Germany withdrew from the Anglo-German Naval Agreement three months later. The invasion of Poland followed only four months after that, and work on every Z-Plan project stopped. The incomplete ships were subsequently dismantled and their material redirected to additional submarines.