Graf Spee's brief cruise marked the start of a German campaign that extended far beyond the Atlantic. Auxiliary raiders, Type IX submarines, and later Penang-based boats kept the Indian Ocean tied to the same global struggle over shipping. That threat made an Indian Ocean counter-raider concentration a plausible role for Force Z and the R-class battleships. In this alternative, the force would react from the ocean rather than sit dangerously exposed at Singapore.
Notable Point · 24:48-26:05
A global commerce war and an alternative role for Force Z
Surface raiders and submarines carried the Atlantic commerce war east, prompting a counterfactual case for concentrating Force Z and the R class in the Indian Ocean.