British multi-carrier success at Taranto could encourage Germany to finish Graf Zeppelin and wait until Bismarck and Tirpitz could operate with her as a mutually supporting group. The carrier would become a priority target for repeated RAF attacks while under construction. Germany could not create the required resources from nothing. Cutting destroyer construction would undermine the surface group, which needed an escort force rebuilt to adequate strength. Much of the effort would probably come from the expanding U-boat arm. A six-to-eight-month delay in the U-boat buildup around 1940 could leave German submarines behind the growing numbers of Flower- and Hunt-class escorts.
Notable Point · 53:48-56:28
Finishing Graf Zeppelin diverts resources from U-boats
Germany might complete Graf Zeppelin to sortie with Bismarck and Tirpitz, but the carrier and its escorts would consume resources otherwise available for the U-boat buildup.