The discussion excludes armoured vehicles, aircraft, and a wholesale redesign of German industry. Only warship propulsion changes, allowing the consequences to be traced from one controlled premise. Steam-boosted plants, gas turbines, carrier completion, and other additions are excluded because they would multiply the counterfactual assumptions. This makes the exercise a test of diesel machinery, range, layout, and fleet operations rather than unrestricted historical fiction.
Chapter · 11:20-12:53
Keeping the diesel counterfactual to naval propulsion
The deliberately narrow counterfactual gives German warships diesel propulsion without assuming an entirely redesigned German war economy.