Prestige and competing budgets undermine Germany's fleet plans

Germany is expected to suffer most from the capital-ship race because Nazi prestige politics would make smaller guns politically unacceptable. Rebuilding maritime infrastructure reduced after Versailles would already demand resources and time. Continually changing targets, as other navies enlarged their battleships, would make that work more expensive. The navy would also compete with the Luftwaffe and army for money. The criticism of Plan Z rests on the navy's record of obtaining budgets and resource allocations: a large fleet vision does not establish that it could be funded as a balanced force.