How would German naval operations change if the First World War fleet used oil from Austrian Galicia?
Short answerThe ships would be faster and more efficient, but limited oil supply and competition from aircraft and vehicles would make the fleet more expensive and difficult to sustain.
NotesGerman ships already mixed coal- and oil-fired boilers, as the Bayern class demonstrates. Moving fully to oil would produce cleaner and more responsive machinery. Galician production was too limited to support the fleet without taking fuel from aircraft, trucks, and other land systems. Ship fuel could use poor fractions of crude, but the available supply still had competing demands. The fleet would become somewhat more capable tactically and much harder to sustain strategically.