Comparison of three projected battleship classes. From top: H-44 class, Montana class, H-39 class
Posted on 02/16/2021 10:57:15 AM PST by Onthebrink
Two of the warships actually began construction – with Schlachtschiff H laid down by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg on June 15, 1939; while the Schlachtschiff J was laid down by AG Weser in Bremen on August 15, 1939, just two weeks before Germany invaded Poland. Construction was halted in October as the war effort focused on the construction of U-boats rather than battleships. By 1940, the material used in the early construction of the two super battleships was scrapped and then directed to other uses.
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Impressive. That’s bigger than the Bismarck.
“the war effort focused on the construction of U-boats rather than battleships.”
True today, as well.
Thank heaven for the Nazi’s predilection to waste immense resources on “super-weapons” that were nothing but boondoggles. Those German “geniuses” never had the sense to use the standardized industrial production model, but built most of their stuff so that part interchangeability was seldom possible. Having owned several German cars and motorcycles I can attest to the falsity of “superior” German engineering.
Overcomplex doesn’t begin to describe it. The old VW beetles were an anomaly. Once again the Germans are back to building over-engineered unreliable crap. Ask anyone who was foolish enough to buy a used Jetta.
Or the BMW motorcycles with serious driveline and frame breakage problems. Your chance of needing a major repair on a BMW is one and three. Worse than Harley, which is one in 4.
“Construction was halted in October as the war effort focused on the construction of U-boats rather than battleships.”
Yeah, battleships don’t do you much good if they can’t get out of the North Sea in one piece.
Kind of like the American renewable energy industry.
Expected level schoolboy blogger accuracy. The H class battleships laid down weren’t even close to 141,000 tons displacement. Try less than half that at ~63,600 tons displacement fully loaded. They were part of the H-39 plan, not the H-44 for which work never commenced.
Think about how many Mark III and IV tanks they could have built and had on hand instead of either the Bismarck or Tirpiz at the start of the war and the effect on the outcome. It is staggering.
They could have built and manned a couple of hundred extra U-Boots also.
In May of 1941 the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the sea
On her decks were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees
Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood
And every British seaman, he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismarck the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees
We’ll find the German battleship that’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck ‘cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down
The Hood found the Bismarck and on that fatal day
The Bismarck started firing fifteen miles away
“We gotta sink the Bismarck!” was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away, the mighty Hood went down
For six long days and weary nights they tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people: “put every ship asail
Cause somewhere on that ocean, I know she’s gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismarck to the bottom of the sea!”
We’ll find the German battleship that’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck ‘cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down
The fog was gone the seventh day and they saw the morning sun
Ten hours away from homeland the Bismarck made its run
The Admiral of the British fleet said turn those bows around
We found that German battleship and we’re gonna cut her down
The British guns were aimed and the shells were coming fast
The first shell hit the Bismarck they knew she couldn’t last
That mighty German battleship is just a memory
“Sink the Bismarck!” was the battle cry that shook the seven seas
We found the German battleship ‘twas makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a runnin’ and we and spun those guns around
Yeah we found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down
We found the German battleship ‘twas makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a runnin’ and we and spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down
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Johnny Horton - Sink the Bismarck, with lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RTuaqL-eD4
The Yamato class battleships weren’t much of a success.
Best thing the Japanese could have done with them is scuttle in shallow water at a strategic location and use as fixed battery.
Might still have been destroyed, but would not have sank.
Well, I’m convinced. I’m ditching Janes and going with 19FortyFive.
The V2 program is a classic example. All of that money, all of that effort, resulted in a weapon system that delivered the amount of explosives that 2 raids from the 8th Air Force delivered.
And they could manage it about twice a week. So all of that effort basically duplicated two raids from the 8th Air Force. And the V2 is actually famous for actually killing more people who built it then it was used against.
Excerpted blog and no HG in sight. Hope he’s got electricity right now. About a million without power in the Dallas area, 1.3 million in Houston, but I don’t think he’s in either.
the era of the dreadnought, (and the myth of their invincibility) ended on Dec. 7, 1941
Donitz, (and hitler) rightly surmised that the U-boat threat was a much greater weapon than any surface fleet. Donitz, being a former U-boat guy, was even more convinced of it.
I suspect that is why these “superships” (my word) were never completed. all of the schlachtschiff and pockets were completed before the war started.
hitler never was much of an advocate for the Kreigsmarine...he viewed Germany as a land power, primarily, and as such, KM did not get much loving.
True.
When the Yamato was conceived there was a logic for it. At the time no one suspected that battleships would become obsolete overnight. In their favor the Japanese weren’t stupid enough to waste resources on the number of boondoggles the Nazis funded. They were just stupid enough to bomb Pearl Harbor.
Germany never had a prayer of winning. On day one of the war, they were doomed. Victor Davis Hanson has a very good book about that.
Yes. That pretty much sums it up. Japan too.
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