Commerce raiding and global presence did not obviously require Deutschland's eleven-inch guns when eight-inch cruisers already performed those duties. A proposed alternative uses nine eight-inch guns in three triple turrets and potentially a narrower hull. The stated 10,800-ton standard displacement, 20.69-metre beam, and 186-metre length provide the scale of the existing design. Treating the ship as a replacement for Baltic pre-dreadnoughts adds another requirement without resolving the conflict between coastal and global roles. The Battle of the River Plate provides the practical comparison: Exeter's six eight-inch guns and two Leander-class cruisers, each with eight six-inch guns, damaged Admiral Graf Spee enough to force refuge and eventual scuttling. That result underpins the criticism that the heavier battery had failed to deliver the advantage expected of it.
Chapter · 1:46:01-1:49:14
Deutschland's competing roles culminated in the River Plate test
An alternative eight-inch cruiser and Admiral Graf Spee's fate at the River Plate sharpen the criticism of Deutschland's conflicting global and Baltic roles.