[Seydlitz]

Luckily for us, Hitler started the war six years before the Kriegsmarine building plan (the 'Z-Plan') was completed. When the war began, Adm. Raeder's comment was, "There is nothing left for us to to but die with honor."

As US Gen. Carl Spaatz so eloquently put it, "I'd hate to see how it would have gone if Hitler hadn't been on our side."

[redgolum]

So true.

Hitler lost the war. The Allies were given enough time to regroup and build up. If Germany had built a good surface navy, D Day would have been impossible.

[Charlespg]

Its good for the allies and the Human race that hitler was a meddling fool when it came to new weapons

[Stonewall Jackson]

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.