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To: Seydlitz; redgolum; Charlespg
Here's a list of what the German Navy would have had if Hitler had waited until 1944 as he'd promised his admirals.

Six H-class battleships- At 140,000-tons and armed with eight 20-inch main guns, these monsters would have been twice as big as the Japanese Yamato-class super-battleships.

Three battlecruisers- slightly larger and faster than the Bismarck-class battleships, these vessels would have the same armament, but not as much armor.

Four aircraft carriers- Roughly the same size as the American Lexington-class carriers, these vessels would carry only half the aircraft of their American counterparts, but would have heavier armor to allow it to survive battle damage that would have sunk an American carrier.

Twelve panzerschiffe> or pocket-battleships- The Deutchland-class pocket battleships were one of the most unique warship designs in modern times. Essentially a junior-weight battlecruiser, these ships were designed to out fight anything they couldn't out run. While this wasn't always the case (ie the Graf Spee), these vessels were extremely effective as commerce raiders and forced the Royal Navy to divert much of its battlefleet to deal with them.

In addition, large numbers of cruisers and destroyers were intended to be constructed, along with a U-boat fleet of two hundred fifty submarines.

16 posted on 07/28/2006 10:01:10 AM PDT by Stonewall Jackson ("I see storms on the horizon.")
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To: Stonewall Jackson

"Six H-class battleships- At 140,000-tons and armed with eight 20-inch main guns, these monsters would have been twice as big as the Japanese Yamato-class super-battleships."

I believe the H-Class that would have been ready by 1944 would have been 56200 tons(68000 full load), 8x16in guns, the rest similar to Bismarck, except for 4 shafts, with deisels on the center shafts.

"Three battlecruisers- slightly larger and faster than the Bismarck-class battleships, these vessels would have the same armament, but not as much armor."

The O-Class Battlecruisers, as projected in 1939 would have been about the size of Sharnhorst, with 15in guns.

The designs you are refering to are later expansions of these designs that served only to placate Hitler. (and to keep the design staff from going to fight Russians)

data from "German Warships of the Second World War" by H.T.Lenton,1975


22 posted on 07/28/2006 10:40:04 AM PDT by Hiryusan
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