German naval development faced infrastructure limits and the loss of institutional knowledge after the treaty restrictions. Procurement arrangements compounded those problems by involving many committees and decision-makers. A kitchen analogy distinguishes consultation from the need for one person to make the final decision. Scharnhorst and other designs illustrate the criticism that too many participants could shape a ship without accepting a subordinate role. Even Raeder is presented as lacking decisive authority within procurement arrangements that also involved Göring.
Notable Point · 1:59:52-2:01:50
German procurement and the absence of final design authority
The German problem combines lost design continuity with a procurement system in which responsibility for the final decision remained divided.