German leaders may have hoped to avoid war with Britain and France while preparing for conflict with the Soviet Union. In that setting, the fleet could help blockade Leningrad, contain the Soviet Northern Fleet, influence access to the Black Sea, protect Germany's Baltic coast, and dominate the Polish Baltic shoreline. Light cruisers and torpedo boats that look inadequate for an Atlantic contest become useful in a confined regional theater. This interpretation treats the professional officers' force totals as responses to plausible missions rather than arbitrary numbers attached to political rhetoric.
Chapter · 46:10-49:01
An alternative Plan Z concept: Baltic control against the Soviet Union
Plan Z's mix of battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats makes more operational sense as a Baltic-control fleet than as a force intended to dominate Britain.