Paper strength versus industrial reality

On paper, the H-class designs looked formidable. In practice, German procurement kept adding demands and engineering complexity that its shipbuilding base could not sustain. Even completed ships would have faced numerous modern Royal Navy capital ships and further replacements. The H class was also a moving sequence of proposals within Plan Z, rather than one settled specification. Its value therefore depended on whether Germany could build, support, and employ enough ships to alter the fleet balance.