Schnellboote as a second dimension of German sea power

Germany cannot quickly build enough destroyers to contest the Royal Navy conventionally, so the proposal moves one step down to simpler Schnellboote. Used in numbers, these boats could screen breakouts, support surface raiders, and threaten British capital ships with torpedoes. Their expendable construction would allow relatively junior officers and lightly trained crews to operate them in swarms, a grim economy imposed by Germany's industrial limits. Even the possibility of their presence would compel the Royal Navy to attach scarce destroyers to forces that might otherwise sail independently.